CA Program - Ask questions, get answers! (new and improved) (4 Viewers)

[seremify007]

Just wondering could CA be worth pursuing if I'm not an accounting major?

Just means you need to do a bridging course which some employers (e.g. big4 firms) will sponsor. If you want to be a CA then it's great and an extra year or studying isn't going to change your life. But you need to actually want to be a CA.

 

[CharlieB]

BRW recently published their list of 'Top 100 Accounting Firms' in Australia. Interesting to see Deloitte on it's way to surpassing EY and KPMG.

http://www.brw.com.au/p/sections/professions/accounting_the_fight_for_the_top_5LMrIBVlMqTF4JS2A9MpAK

Pro-tip: If you're still in uni, nearly all the top 25 firms have some sort of structured graduate program.

 

[Drifting95]

BRW recently published their list of 'Top 100 Accounting Firms' in Australia. Interesting to see Deloitte on it's way to surpassing EY and KPMG.

http://www.brw.com.au/p/sections/professions/accounting_the_fight_for_the_top_5LMrIBVlMqTF4JS2A9MpAK

Pro-tip: If you're still in uni, nearly all the top 25 firms have some sort of structured graduate program.

Thanks for the link, I think i'll peruse PWC & EY mainly next year when i apply for a cadetship, unless i manage to get into the B Accounting from UTS.

 

[seremify007]

BRW recently published their list of 'Top 100 Accounting Firms' in Australia. Interesting to see Deloitte on it's way to surpassing EY and KPMG.

http://www.brw.com.au/p/sections/professions/accounting_the_fight_for_the_top_5LMrIBVlMqTF4JS2A9MpAK

Pro-tip: If you're still in uni, nearly all the top 25 firms have some sort of structured graduate program.

It's difficult to rely on the numbers here given that a lot of growth in accounting is through M&A/inorganic growth. That being said it'll be interesting to see how things change over the next decade. Great pro tip btw- that's how I learnt about which firms were offering cadetships back in the day!

 

[RDX]

FML -> Tax exam in a week, and I haven't actually read or looked at the CLP at all throughout this subject. Just sat there in class, completely clueless and basically got a my work colleagues' project and submitted those, looks like I'm screwed :S

 

[Drifting95]

FML -> Tax exam in a week, and I haven't actually read or looked at the CLP at all throughout this subject. Just sat there in class, completely clueless and basically got a my work colleagues' project and submitted those, looks like I'm screwed :S

good luck !

 

[uberusername]

FML -> Tax exam in a week, and I haven't actually read or looked at the CLP at all throughout this subject. Just sat there in class, completely clueless and basically got a my work colleagues' project and submitted those, looks like I'm screwed :S

snowballs

 

[seremify007]

FML -> Tax exam in a week, and I haven't actually read or looked at the CLP at all throughout this subject. Just sat there in class, completely clueless and basically got a my work colleagues' project and submitted those, looks like I'm screwed :S

do the activities, case studies and practice questions/past papers. don't worry too much about the content as long as you have the index.

 

[RDX]

do the activities, case studies and practice questions/past papers. don't worry too much about the content as long as you have the index.

Yeah, exam wasn't too hard, surprised how much of it you can do to an average level without knowing too much.

 

[seremify007]

i think a lot depends on your own study habits/etc- and we have become conditioned to expect more self-study than the average punter i suppose. that being said there's still a high fail rate.

 

[RishBonjour]

hey serimify! What did you have to do to get into CA association? (as in work experience / grades) does that mean you are a CA now?

 

[seremify007]

hey serimify! What did you have to do to get into CA association? (as in work experience / grades) does that mean you are a CA now?

I believe this page from the ICAA's website explains the process well: http://www.charteredaccountants.com.au/Candidates/The-Chartered-Accountants-Program.aspx

And yes I am a CA now.

 

[prazo94]

Hey,
I'm planning to do a CA in the future (atm i've listed bachelor of applied finance/bachelor of commerce(professional accounting) at macq....)
I just wanted to get a few tips as to how to go about doing a CA....
- Did you apply for any internship/cadetship whilst you were in uni? (would this assist in the practical experience required for doing a CA?)
- Can you do a CA whilst you're doing your first degree or would it be better to do it after you've completed your first degree?
- What extracurricular activites would employers for accounting firms be looking for if I apply for practical experience? (I know that getting a high gpa is one requirement but do they look for examples of leadership, would going on global leadership programs be useful? not too sure on this...)

 

[seremify007]

Hey,
I'm planning to do a CA in the future (atm i've listed bachelor of applied finance/bachelor of commerce(professional accounting) at macq....)
I just wanted to get a few tips as to how to go about doing a CA....
- Did you apply for any internship/cadetship whilst you were in uni? (would this assist in the practical experience required for doing a CA?)

Cadetship- the work experience counts towards your CA practical experience component. By the time you've finished the actual CA program (i.e. 1.5 years after starting; typically started either when you rejoin as a grad or within half a year) you would've met the 3 year requirement. That being said there was a time when the ICAA waived the requirement (or reduced it significantly) from memory but this isn't the case at the moment.

- Can you do a CA whilst you're doing your first degree or would it be better to do it after you've completed your first degree?

Technically you can do it whilst you're still completing your first degree as long as you've finished all the pre requisite subjects (I know one guy who did this) but it's definitely a struggle and also requires you to be working/mentored by a CA. Much easier to just do it the normal way when you join as a grad.

- What extracurricular activites would employers for accounting firms be looking for if I apply for practical experience? (I know that getting a high gpa is one requirement but do they look for examples of leadership, would going on global leadership programs be useful? not too sure on this...)

Practical experience is really just normal work experience either as a cadet or a graduate in the firm. Nothing too special/different from the standard recruitment process. GPA isn't the only thing employers look at, and the leadership program at Macquarie I've heard is quite good but I personally haven't done it (given I'm from UNSW).

 

[prazo94]

what's the difference between CA and CPA?

 

[nik17121988]

Hello Seremify007, first of all thank you. You are doing a great job by helping people in making such a big career decision.

To start with, I am a chartered accountant from India. I got enrolled as a member about 6 months back.
My brother is an Australian citizen and I too wanted to move here seeing the beautiful life people live here.
I came across with the MRA between ICAI and ICAA, that the members can get membership to counterpart institute by taking up the bridging studies. For India, it was the EBA module.
So I am in Australia right now. And have enrolled for the EBA module.
As you are already a chartered accountant, can you please tell me something about this module. How to prepare for this module ? Is the CLP provided enough from exam point of view ?
And can you also tell me what has been the students passing percentage for this module in the past ? Because what I think is, after coming across 4 such massive technical modules, do people ever fail in EBA ?
In India we have something called GMCS(general management and communication skills), where we come across similar agenda. Discussing real life cases in a meeting kind of environment and like that. Can EBA be compared with GMCS ?

And apart from this, I also wanted some help with the migration procedure. Have you ever come across someone who has become a member of ICAA under the MRA scheme ?
Because, as I am a fresher, I do not have any employment experience, hence I am falling short of the point based migration route. Though I have completed three and a half years of compulsory full time internship under a mentor CA in India.
Is there any other way by which I can gain PR in Australia ?
And given the present economic conditions, is it possible for me to get sponsorship from an employer ? given the fact that I have no real job experience.

All and any input to this will be highly appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[seremify007]

what's the difference between CA and CPA?

Different programs/qualifications but both are recognised as professional accounting qualifications. That being said, CA is generally considered to be more challenging and is recognised overseas with more bodies- e.g. I was able to practice in the US with my Australian CA. Google it and have a look but keep in mind that CPA in Australia is very different to CPA in America (same acronym, different body altogether- the CPA in the US is aligned with our CA).

 

[seremify007]

Hello Seremify007, first of all thank you. You are doing a great job by helping people in making such a big career decision.

To start with, I am a chartered accountant from India. I got enrolled as a member about 6 months back.
My brother is an Australian citizen and I too wanted to move here seeing the beautiful life people live here.
I came across with the MRA between ICAI and ICAA, that the members can get membership to counterpart institute by taking up the bridging studies. For India, it was the EBA module.
So I am in Australia right now. And have enrolled for the EBA module.
As you are already a chartered accountant, can you please tell me something about this module. How to prepare for this module ? Is the CLP provided enough from exam point of view ?

I personally found EBA to be one of the easiest modules but that could be because I pushed myself quite hard to do well in it since I knew it required knowledge from all four technical modules previously. The reality is it's very much focussed on management accounting and ethics behind it, with a little bit of tax. They know there's overseas people doing it so it's not too Australian specific, and that's why quite a bit of it is driven by current events and the readings they provide. The CLP is pretty useless as it's very thin/light so try to get your hands on the CLP from previous modules if possible- particularly MAA as that's the one which most of the questions (in my opinion) relate to.

ps. I'm not sure if EBA is still offered? I did mine in 2011 and heard that they changed to Capstone instead to align more closely with the practice in other countries e.g. NZ.

And can you also tell me what has been the students passing percentage for this module in the past ? Because what I think is, after coming across 4 such massive technical modules, do people ever fail in EBA ?
In India we have something called GMCS(general management and communication skills), where we come across similar agenda. Discussing real life cases in a meeting kind of environment and like that. Can EBA be compared with GMCS ?

And apart from this, I also wanted some help with the migration procedure. Have you ever come across someone who has become a member of ICAA under the MRA scheme ?
Because, as I am a fresher, I do not have any employment experience, hence I am falling short of the point based migration route. Though I have completed three and a half years of compulsory full time internship under a mentor CA in India.
Is there any other way by which I can gain PR in Australia ?
And given the present economic conditions, is it possible for me to get sponsorship from an employer ? given the fact that I have no real job experience.

All and any input to this will be highly appreciated.

Cheers.

Apologies but I have absolutely no experience in this area. You're best off contacting the Institute of Chartered Accountants directly but in all honesty, I think without work experience nor the recognised qualification here, it might be a challenge.

 

[bksan]

Hi all,

I am in the final semester of Commerce International in UNSW. I've got a question about the prerequisite courses for CA.

I started in 2010, so I've been following the requirements listed under the CA website for the last 4 years, and done the required courses. I've checked the 2011/2012 lists as they came out, and nothing changed so I figured everything was fine. So I checked the 2013 pre-req list and they've added Management Accounting 2 as one of the pre-reqs, which I haven't done and won't be able to do before my degree ends.

When I apply for CA, do they check your course eligibility using the year you started your degree? Or do they use the most recent list, which requires Management Accounting 2 now despite not needing it until recently?

I really should have kept up to date with this earlier...

Thanks in advance.

 

[seremify007]

Hmm.... good question, I'm not really sure TBH as it didn't affect me. Maybe drop the Institute an email to get it in writing?