Professional finance/accounting courses

[Ah_ZhaN]

ruth, erm, I am blur to the CPA terms you mentioned.

[lydiaruth]

ah zhan

CPA =Certified Public Accountant
ICAA/CA = Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia

Both are professional accounting bodies that you are encouraged to join after your degree because they give you more credibility and place you in a better salary bargaining position.

Essentially they are the same, however, ICAA is more prestigious because the exams are more difficult to pass. You are required to take 5-6 or 7 modules + 3 years experience before qualifying as a CPA/CA member. On average, if you take one module a semester, the earliest you can finish is about 2 years.

ICPAS = Institue of Certified Public Accountant Singapore
(Singapore equivalent of CPA Australia mentioned above)

Local accounting grads will take up membership with ICPAS, however, as I was telling mark, this is a one week course. Hence, it does not have international recognition. However, I heard that there are plans to change it to a module system. So maybe it's worthwhile getting it while it's still a one week course thing.

[w3nqian]

thankz lydiaruth for the info wondering should i take up UOL paper which more to theory base while australia paper is more to project base right?

[lydiaruth]

w3nqian

No problem! Glad the info was of some use to you. Actually, in terms of project versus theory, which do you prefer? As I am an Aussie grad, my knowledge is limited to Australia. I'm guessing after your degree you want to go join one of the professional accounting bodies? I am not sure what your choices are if you take a UOL degree however, I do know (iirc) that Institue of Chartered Accountants is based in the UK? You might want to check that out to be sure.

However, if you choose to join ICAA, you would need to do a bridging program consisting of Company Law and Taxation modules before being able to undertake the program. This is for non-aussie grads.

I'm not sure what are the procedures for CPA Australia as I dont know of any local grads undertaking this program.

Hope this is of some help~

[w3nqian]

thanks a lot anyway which is better? proceed to have a degree course or taking up the courses at acca?

[lydiaruth]

well... I cant really tell which is better. In a sense, they are on par but ACCA would definitely be the harder one to pass. My dad's view (which i kinda agree) on this is ACCA is a professional body. A degree... is a piece of paper. If you are caught doing something unethical (fraud, taking bribes.. yada yada yada) you can get kicked out of a professional body but you will never lose your degree. Soooo.. depends on you? I dont know what are the advantages of taking ACCA so I wouldnt be that much help in this area.

[ckn22]

thanks a lot anyway which is better? proceed to have a degree course or taking up the courses at acca?

it have to depends on what type of degree compared to acca...

if you are planning to do your accounting degree in one of the Australia university like Uni of Sydney, i reckon it is better than taking up for ACCA. As a degree offers versatility, you are not constrained to accounting sector only.... The likely hood being employed by BIG4 stands the same chance as that of ACCA graduate. The only disadvantage is the conversion to CPA Spore thereafter....

if you are planning to do a distance learning accounting degree, i reckon ACCA might be better.... DL accounting degree will not gain u a job in the BIG 4 if u are not a 1st class honor holder... evidence can be read from here : http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/sh....php?t=1392397
Coupled with the fact that you will need to take ICPAS PE exam to convert to CPA spore further add-on the disadvantage of DL accounting degree as compared to ACCA.

I would rate the following
1) NTU, SMU, NUS Accounting Degree
2) University of Sydney Accounting degree, or the top tier uni accounting degrees
3) ACCA or ACA
4) MPA From SMU
5) UOL or RMIT Accounting degree

I anticipate UOL or Rmit accounting degree will suffer a steep drop in enrollment once UniSIM introduces its part-time Accountancy degree. It is recognised by ICPAS and was done with collaboration with 5 public accounting firm. read here:http://www.unisim.edu.sg/uni/pub/mrs...ms=accountancy To addon, if u are a Singaporean, u can save 40% of the course fees... so which suits you better, i think you would have know by now.

[natazha]

I am currently finishing up my study in US. I am wondering how do I contact with HR/Recruiter for Big4 firms in Singapore? Anyone working in Big4 willing to share some tips on recruitment? TIA

[sesame]

Hello,
I'm kind a blurred reading all the pages before. I'm thinking to take some accounting courses, ie CPA or ACCA, but still dunno which one yet. can anybody enlighten me please?

What is the difference between both? I saw so many subjects to cover too. so, will be exam for each or? any assignment? etc etc etc...

thanks

[erinn]

I am currently finishing up my study in US. I am wondering how do I contact with HR/Recruiter for Big4 firms in Singapore? Anyone working in Big4 willing to share some tips on recruitment? TIA

Hi, I suggest going to their local website and they'll have a career page there? If there isn't such a position, maybe you can email them?

[erinn]

I think.... it dosent really matter. In the end.. its all the same. seriously. It's not that hard to get into the Big 4. Dosent matter where your degree is from. Assuming you want to go into the Big 4.

For those who are considering ICPAS. ICPAS is useless. It's a freaking 1 week course. It's recognised no where except in Singapore. Try Australia CPA. If you can Australian CA (ICAA) thats even better.

Lydia, I didn't know that! Thanks! My friends in local Uni told me about ICPAS and it sounds better than CPA Australia. I heard Australian degree holders have to take extra papers.

[burberry]

does anyone know where to take up FRM courses in sg.