The Game of Exemption played by Professional Bodies

The word "exempt" originated from the Latin word "exemptus". Exemption can be defined as a deduction from the normal amount of tax (in relation to tax). The almighty Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as an excuse to someone or something from a duty, payment etcetera. The popular dictionary.com defines it as "to free someone from an obligation or liability to which others are subject. While I'm going to simply define exemption as been released from something.

There are various professional bodies in accordance to various professions but in this article I would be discussing about professional bodies in the accounting profession. If I may say, almost all (if not all) professional bodies in the accounting profession offers exemptions at their various levels. I would like to mention a few affiliated to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC): Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA), Association of Accounting Technician (AAT), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of International Accountants (AIA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and so on and so forth.

The advantage exemption gives is that you wouldn't have to sit for certain exams based on the qualifications or experiences you must have acquired. While the demerit i see in the exemptions provided by these professionals bodies is that the charges levied on these exemptions are quite outrageous been meant for administration costs only. It's either the same amount as writing the papers you are exempted from or even in some cases more than the amount charged if you actually sat for those papers.

I believe a very close match to exemptions is "Direct Entry into Universities". In which you would have gone to acquire a more advanced knowledge than the ordinary level (o'level) knowledge acquired from secondary schools, and you would be admitted directly into 200 or 300 level of the university. And to the best of knowledge, the universities don't charge you for the school fees of the 100 or 200 level you didn't attend in such a case. So why are these professionals bodies charging such outrageous amounts for exemptions?

My advice to these professionals bodies is to stop charging for exemptions because the people been given exemptions had as well gone to acquire a more advanced knowledge and that is why their could have been able to qualify for those exemptions. And in case their can't stop the charges immediately their can start by cutting down the charges until it would be erased out finally.

This is the cry of a bitter student of professional bodies who has been trying to achieve professional qualifications to kick-start his on his own but is been faced regularly with the roadblocks of huge charges on exemptions. And I believe this is coming at the right time because as I'm aware ICAN would be restructuring/reviewing her syllabus next year (2018) and ACCA is as well (or even already) restructuring/reviewing her syllabus. And if these two accounting professional bodies giants can take bold steps towards the direction of evacuating exemption charges the lesser ones would follow suit.

My name is Oso Ayotunde Gbenga. I would love to hear your opinion, feel free to oppose if you think otherwise. You are allowed to share this, which would also create awareness for these professionals bodies to implement this. Spread the Word Out, use the Share Button below to share this on Social Media.

Thank You!!!

?2017

By Oso Ayotunde Gbenga