The Qualifications of Chartered Accountant in United Kingdom
Introduction
The accountant is the one that keeps, insect and audit the financial records of the business or the individuals the prepares and concerns financial and tax report. The chartered accountancy is a rewarding and prestigious profession in the society. This is a career that full of challenges wherein they impart the best of the technical skills in the management and in the financial areas. The chartered accountant is the equivalent of the United States Certified Public Accountant which is commonly used in Australia, in Canada, and in Britain. It is member of one of the institutes of accountants that had granted a chartered royalty (The Free Dictionary, 2008). Accordingly, the chartered accountant holds position as top management in the private and public sector enterprises. This professional also renders its services as management consultant and as accountants to the several public and private sector organizations. The economic changes and globalization had opened for the opportunities in many rewarding and challenging careers for the Chartered Accountants for its options in career development. The responsibilities and roles of accountants are not merely in the context of traditional duties as in Accounting, Taxation, and Auditing. Rather, it is expected to have the knowledge and experience in the fields of information technology, business finance, to the corporate management and to the other fields (Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nepal, 1997).
According to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the code of ethics in the accountancy profession has Code of Ethics and it is essential for the general public. It has also the obligations and responsibilities to the persons that rely in the work. The responsibility of the chartered accountant is not only to satisfy the needs of the individual employer or clients but it was determined and knows by the public interest. The chartered accountants have significant roles in the society. The Creditors, investors, employers and the other sectors are relying on the chartered accountants for the financial reporting and accounting, competent advice and to the financial management on the variety of taxation and business. This means that the behavior and attitudes of the chartered accountants in the provision of the services can definitely have the great impact on the well being of the country and in community. This also means that the chartered accountants can be advantageous in its position upon the continuing provision of uniqueness in the service. The use of the ethical standards for the chartered accountant is important for striving and ensuring the high level of performance. The objectives of the code ethics are subjected to credibility, quality of service, professionalism, and confidence. In achieving the said objectives, they are tapped with the principles of integrity, professional competence, objectivity, professional behavior, confidentiality, and technical standard.
In general, the signature of the Chartered Accountant is synonymous with the reliability, objectivity, and credibility which prove that they are financial expert and they are the advisor of the management and business. The report that the Chartered Accountant needs to prepare are the review, the audit and the compilation of engagement (Chartered Accountant Ontario, n.d.).
The Association of Chartered Accountant in UK
The membership for the professional association in United Kingdom needs to have qualified and examine persons with the goal of becoming practitioners in the chosen field. The membership is divided into two as Non-Corporate which are the people who are not yet admitted for full membership and the Corporate which had been member and has the experience as well as they are fully qualified. The major requirements in admitting to be one of the members are the ability and the knowledge in passing the association exam. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in UK (ACCA, UK) is the country’s official association in the profession chartered accountant. In order to become member of the association, the candidate must pass the exam of ACCA and gain the approved financial experience whether in the commerce, in the industry, public practice and public service. The ACCA had been respected and recognized in the entire world for nearly 100 years which has 300,000 members for the 160 countries. The ACCA is the one responsible in addressing for the individual goals and needs throughout their careers for whatever their background is. The role of the association is to regulate and to train the practicing Chartered Certified Accountants. It is also responsible in assuring to the awareness of its members and its students regarding the changes of the legislations and to the accounting standards. The association had launched the new syllabus that had been transformed for training the future and leads to the extensive consultation and provision internationally. In this new scheme, it plays new attention to the management and design of the business system, strategic financial analysis, and to the risk assessment while keeping the important technical knowledge in modern financial professional.
The Requirements of ACCA in UK
The requirements to be a member of the association is the professional examination which covered 14 pages and gained the minimum of 3 years related training. The study can be full time and training later or it can also be part time by the day and having the evening class. The training can get through any country and through any employment sector as in commerce, industry, etc. For the entry level, the minimum entry requirements are the 3 GCEs and 2 A levels or equivalent. The graduates from the universities allow registering and having the relevant degrees will be exempted for some of the qualifications and examinations for up to 9 exemptions. This means that the parts 1 and 2 for the new scheme can be eligible for the application of the awards of BSc in the Oxford Brookes University’s Applied Accountancy. The Diploma in the Financial management (DipFM) is the qualification for the post graduate which being designed in order to equip the managers with the understanding in communicating, analyzing, and compiling the financial information. The candidate must hold a degree with the level 4 membership of the non-accounting professional body otherwise it will be admitted on the experience basis with the age of 23 while having the reference to employers (Kogan Page, 2003, p. 415 – 416).
The Qualification for Institute of Chartered Accountants
In England and Wales (ICAEW)
The ICAEW is considered to be the largest Body of Accountancy in the whole Europe with members of 123,000. The membership in the Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) who successfully completed in the formal training as well as it passed the professional exams Institute that applied in admission. The other membership is the Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) which is the associate members of 10 years who passed all the requirements for the continuing education of professional which are eligible. The training is available in the industrial/commercial organization, in the public practices and sector. The students are trained in the formal contract of training with the authorized training office. The contracts for the trainings are duration of 3 to 5 years.
The entries for eligibility are the potential students who met the minimum entry requirements as the 18UCAS minimum points, 220 scores of UCAS Tarrif or their equivalent. Nowadays, the qualification in Chartered Accountant, the students must be able to complete the training elements as the Professional Examination (Advanced Stage and Professional Stage) and the Practical work experience in the authorized training office trough the institute. For the professional examinations, the subjects covered by the professional stage are the Audit and Assurance, Accounting Financial Reporting, Business Finance, Taxation and Business Management. For the advance stage, the examination is the application of the theoretical knowledge in issues of real business and with the preparation of the final assessment so that it can test the ability of the students and it can also respond and identify the problems arising in the commercial situation. These are subjected by the Test of Advanced Technical Competence and the Advanced Case Study (Ibid, p. 420).
The Qualifications for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
The applicant for the eligibility of the membership must have the satisfactory completion of the requisite service of period under the contract of training service in the recognized training firm. Apart from that, it should also passed all of the parts of requisites n the institute examinations as includes the Final Admitting Exam as it completed the special course for practical computer as being designed by the Institutes as membership’s requisites. For the graduate, the typical contract period is 3 ½ years while the post graduates have 3 years contract and 4 to 5 years for the non-graduates. For the non-graduates, in seeking for the entry into the training contract must be of the age of 17 years and must have the standard requisites in the CCSE/GCE and leave the certificate exam which is all detailed request. In fulfilling for the requirements in the directors of EU, the members must have to practice the requirements in the meeting the criteria prior granting the auditing certificate (Ibid, p. 421).
The institute is consisting of the two professional exams and the final admitting exam. The key subjects for the syllabus is comprises of the Business Law, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Business Finance, Management Accounting, Information Technology, Business Information System, and Financial Management. The institute had place considerable reliance for the full time students and the facilities that are available in the non-graduates, post graduate program in meeting the business needs and the availability of the non-business graduates. The block-release and the PT study during the training of the students is being carried out in the contract ad under the auspices of the Institute own incorporate periods.
The Qualifications for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
The membership for the ICAS is the security of the students in the training contract with the authorization in training CA students. The program of 3 year training is made up of completion of competency-based Achievement log, the supervised experience in the work at the training office, and the participation at the ICAS education program as the preparation in the professional examinations. There are two routes in the training for CA training as the membership on Association of Accounting Technician (AAT) and the graduate entry route. For the preparation in the examination of ICAS, the students must attend intensive classes, either at day or block release for one of the training centers of ICAS that are located in the whole UK. For the test and competence, the subjects that includes are the Principles of Auditing, the Financial Accounting, Business Management, Finance and Reporting. In testing for the professional skills, it consists of the Assurance and Business Systems, the Financial Reporting, Taxation, and Advanced Finance. The test for the professional expertise are designed in testing the ability of the candidates in applying their knowledge on theories and their practical skills into the problems to be encountered as they will qualified as Chartered Accountant. There are additional syllabus materials as the Corporate Strategies, the Corporate Planning, the Business Improvement and the Management of Financial Structures and Ethics (Ibid, p.422).
The Economic Relation of the Qualification of Chartered Accountant in UK
The qualification for the Chartered Accountants in UK plays an important role in UK’s economy. These are the qualified people who are responsible for the audit and analyzation whether in the enterprise, firm and industry and to the public and private sector. Accordingly, these accountants are generally working in the commerce or in the industry as in the industrial or in the commercial sector. This is the primary reason in growing the producer and financial services in the country. This profession had been affected by the trend and the domination of large firm in mixing the tradition way of accounting. The discussion on the relationship of the qualification of Chartered Accountant and to the economy and economic status of UK is the fact that majority of the number of accountants are working in this sector or to the group of sectors. This includes the industry, the manufacturing, the commerce and its established retail, traditional economy of the country, insurance industry and banking. These industries are growing rapidly in past years from the size and in diversity. The developments of the said industries are the emergence of the multinational companies and to the group of companies. These are the reasons of using the Chartered Accountant and its qualifications in distinguishing its work from the commerce and in the industry in the public or in the private sector as it can build credibility and reliability in the firm (Roslender, 1992, p. 47).
The importance of the Chartered Accountants is the truth that they are concerned on the markedly size as to the niche market, and to the reluctant share information of commercially-sensitive. In this manner, the public service are required in adopting the commercial views of the world as there is great emphasis to the accountability, performance management, and to the value-for-money. The local government is systematically generating the frameworks and its accountability. Through the growing responsibility and ethics can make the chartered accountant to be independent to their employers as well as to its clients in the behavioral terms. This qualification can also goes with the flow of computerization and automation so that the country and the firms can be competitive. As examples of increasing regulations to commerce and in industry are the control and prices and structures of reducing the risk of cross-subsidization. In this regard, the chartered and qualified accountants must give the more detailed reporting and analysis of the financial data. In the sector of financial sector, it demands competence and specific evidence of regulations before the individual can have the function of the job. Furthermore, the qualifications plays important roles in provision of necessary will and evidence that needs for the reflection of changing demand and can meet the expectations of regulations (Financial Service Skills Council, 2008).
The framework for the qualification can also have to migrate in the emerging qualifications and credit frameworks across the UK. These qualifications can also provide the structured routes to higher level of qualification and professional institutes. This only means that the profession must be supported by the qualifications use as it made up of programs of apprentice. The national development can also have the significant impact in changing the market conditions with the aide of introducing the entire new tier of qualifications and to the changing profiles that seeks the progress. This can also open for the new progression of platforms wherein the new funding is highly influential. However, the different responses and aspirations can greatly influence the approaches of the qualifications and design. This is valid as the experiences can gained the international market in the accountancy qualifications and can influence or inform the UK’s provision (Ibid).
In general, the strategy in the qualification of the sector had built the information of labour market so that the groupings of occupations can agreed in the job titles and it can build a clear distinction in the roles of their workplace. The qualified chartered accountant varies from the different sector of economy and it can also gather the strategic challenge and the market information.
Since the chartered accountants are the center of the conference, then are required to determine the aspects of the change that will be using for the benefit of the business and the profession as well as to drive the changes if necessary. The professionals are also facing trials as in the economic change because there is a huge impact of the economic change and to the economy and business. These changes can also affect the industries and the profession. These were cause of the evolution of the technology and the global organizations are growing faster which can have the impact on both sides. This significantly emphasizes the fact and importance of qualifications for the Chartered Accountants which have to be aware and qualified in facing these economic dilemmas as it also faces the business problems. These must also have the precise knowledge for the accounting matters and accounting profession (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, 2008).
Conclusions and Recommendations
Based on the findings and the context written, the investigation had been used so that there can be the summary for the Association regarding the successor and its involvement with the accounting qualifications and standard particularly the chartered accounting. Continues stakeholders’ engagement to the stakeholders can establish the vibrant promotions and strategy development work as it aligned to the needs of emerging skills. It is also important to recognize the role of the professional institutes and universities which intends in giving priority to the qualifications and pattern for level 1 to 4. The said strategy can give the idea that the qualifications to all of the levels can promote the access and can also open for the opportunity and progression to career. Joining in the association can definitely have the benefits as the being leaders in the chosen field as in the business, in the accountancy practice, as entrepreneurs or in the public service. Being member can also offer to the top and continuing professional development that can get stay ahead to the others. With the association’s expertise, it can lead to the professional and academic thinking in the field of accounting. In this case, it can have to experience the top quality of service, it can direct to the leading publications, and it can have the exceptional and technical help lines. It has also national, regional, and international networks who offered unparalleled opportunities for the career and networking development of the overseas business. This means, in order not to suffer the business and the economy, it is only important to hire the people who passed all of the requirements in UK Association Accountants and proud to say that they are qualified CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS.
Bibliography
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Roslender, R 1992, Sociological Perspective on Modern Accountancy, Routledge, London.
Kogan Page 2003, British Qualifications, Kogan Page, United Kingdom.
Chartered Accountant n.d., CA Service for your Business, viewed 30 April, 2008, http://www.charteredaccountantontario.ca/services.html.
Be a Chartered Accountant 1997, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal, viewed 30 April, 2008, http://www.ican.org.np/.
Chartered Accountant 2008, The Free Dictionary, viewed 30 April, 2008, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chartered+accountant.
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