Does 'professional accounting' give you chartered accounting status? (1 Viewer)

[El Magnifico]

Was just wondering if these courses the one offered at MQ in professional accounting will give me chartered status or have to do that after the degree?

 

[Azure]

The prerequisite subjects to the Chartered Accountants program are included in the degree, so you don't need to worry about structuring your major in a standard commerce degree to suit. After that, you'll need to complete the required work experience before undertaking a GradDip.

 

[seremify007]

Was just wondering if these courses the one offered at MQ in professional accounting will give me chartered status or have to do that after the degree?

The CA designation is a post-graduate qualification for people who have completed their tertiary studies. That is, you can structure your degree so you do the right subjects to be eligible for the CA program, but the uni subjects are nothing more than educational requirements to ensure you can enrol. As Azure mentioned, you still need to have the other requirements (i.e. pass the exams for the four technical modules + the ethics module) before you become a CA (and hence get the status).

Note the only exception to the above are either people who have qualified abroad and are recognised here to be of equivalent status (or only requiring conversion courses), or those who work in an industry where there is sufficient training on the job which is recognised by the institute as being sufficient for CA requirements to bypass a specific module (e.g. tax).

 

[Azure]

I heard they relaxed the work experience a few years ago, although I'm not 100% this is true.

How long was your work experience period seremify?

 

[seremify007]

I was a trainee/cadet so I automatically passed the requirements, but in my year after graduating (i.e. 2010) they relaxed the work experience requirements... that being said, some firms (mine included) decided to impose rules later on that you could only commence the CA program after a set amount of time anyway to discourage people from starting full time work and CA at the same time.

Not sure what the rule is now with regards to the practical experience requirements but most people tend not to start CA until a few months or more after they start.

 

[hollyy.]

My cousin was talking about a log book that you have to keep while you're working. I guess to show that you've had an adequate amount of experience in different areas before you can qualify for CA

EDIT: He has been an accountant for quite some time so not sure if this is still true

 

[El Magnifico]

Thanks for the input i would have guessed that you had to do it after your tertiary qualifications. Then does the 'professional' accounting degree come with any advantage over just doing just a B Com and then majoring in Accounting?

 

[seremify007]

My cousin was talking about a log book that you have to keep while you're working. I guess to show that you've had an adequate amount of experience in different areas before you can qualify for CA

EDIT: He has been an accountant for quite some time so not sure if this is still true

Never heard that one before... more than 10 years ago? even my sister who got her CA in the early 2000's didn't have such a system of logkeeping. It's simply a matter of saying when you started employment in a relevant role/field and getting confirmation from your employer.

 

[seremify007]

Thanks for the input i would have guessed that you had to do it after your tertiary qualifications. Then does the 'professional' accounting degree come with any advantage over just doing just a B Com and then majoring in Accounting?

Reading this site: http://www.international.mq.edu.au/...Ryde (Sydney)&CourseLevelID=1&StudyOptionID=1

This makes me think the only benefit of the professional accounting degree is everything is nice and tidy for you similar to UTS. That is, by doing that degree, you will have done all the prereq subjects for the CA program (and CPA) by default. UNSW on the other hand has an accounting major in B Commerce, but you need to pick the right subjects both within the accounting major as well as outside of accounting (e.g. business law and finance) to ensure you meet the requirements. It's a bit harder/inconvenient in a way but at the end of the day you learn the same stuff.

 

[Azure]

I'm currently doing the Bachelor of Commerce - Professional Accounting and found myself asking the same question. There's really not as much of a difference as one would think.

Basically, a major in accounting is more flexible. Like seremify said, you will need to make sure you choose the right subjects to be eligible for the CA program. The tagged degree (professional accounting) is a little bit more rigid. There's really no choice of electives other than your people/planet units and one subject at level 300, however you will automatically be eligible for the CA program.

The reason I chose the tagged degree was because I initially wanted to double major in finance, but after doing a little bit of digging, found I had a huge interest in accounting and not so much in pure finance. With the tagged degree I still get to do quite a bit of finance (e.g financial management and other accounting subjects which naturally incorporate finance), while keeping the focus on what I am genuinely passionate about.

Apparently the tagged degree is suppose to better prepare you for a career in accounting in comparison to a standard major and it is suppose to go into slightly more depth. I don't think employers see a difference between studying a major and doing the tagged degree in the work force.

I think ultmately there isn't that much of a difference and it comes down to whether you want to double major or not. Sorry if I confused you even more!