ACCA recognition with CPA Australia ...how I did this!

Update: Thank-you for your interest in this article. I'm not in a position to help you personally. I suggest you read this article and contact the relevant professional bodies directly or post your question in the comments section of the article.

I choose to study accountancy as it was an easily transferable skill across countries and businesses. A debit is a debit in any language. In 1991 I choose to study an international accounting qualification, rather than simply an Australian-centred one.

I’m one of only two people I know born in Australia, holding the global ACCA accounting qualification. It’s served me well - sometimes.

Some countries I lived in recognised my qualifications with open arms – hello Singapore and England! While back in the late 90’s some countries struggled with protectionism and their own hairball mess of qualifications, and would not recognise my international qualifications - hello Canada – where there were a plethora of competing accounting bodies there. Fortunately, though it’s simplified over the years in Canada as far as I can tell. [Here's a link about ACCA recognition in the USA someone asked after I published]

Since I’ve been back in my birth home Australia (I returned in 2000) Australia has gradually recognised my qualifications in different areas, Audit, BAS, Tax etc.

In the last few months there have been a few surprises in the Accounting world. The first was the CA merged AU & NZ offices. Note the CA NZ fully recognised ACCA, but CA AU only partially recognised ACCA – weird huh?

UPDATE : ACCA CA ANZ Strategic Alliance announced. 

The second is that CPA are recognising ACCA and seem to be granting some ACCA members full direct CPA membership. Yes you read that correctly. After so many years it was a shock that the CPA have kindly recognised my hard earned qualifications here in Australia. This signifies that the world is becoming a bit smaller, common sense is prevailing, and a debit is a debit in any language. Strangely though ACCA is not listed as having a mutual recognition with CPA Australia- what’s that about?

So I’m grateful the Australian CPA have recognised my existing qualifications and granted me full membership in December.

When I told people, someone asked me:

What does the CPA give you in Australia that you did not have with the ACCA?

I thought long and hard about this. Well, technically the only thing I could think of is that I can now witness a statutory declaration. Ha! Yes, anyone from the ACCA office reading this needs to get on to this and get us added to that list – I’ve been harping on about that for the last decade. But for me, that’s technically the only thing I can think of. What I do have with CPA accreditation – which I haven’t even added to my LinkedIn profile, is greater recognition in Australia. Unfortunately, unless the qualification is locally sourced, some think you’ve purchased it online from an unreputable company – and they have no idea of the depth of the qualification – or the blood sweat and tears you put into earn it. Believe me – my University degree was a walk in the park, compared to the additional four years I put in studying an international accounting qualification.

But enough about me!

                                      image Wexor Tmg via Unsplash

How did I get direct recognition with the Australian CPA with my ACCA qualification? Here's how I did it: 

1. Contact the ACCA UK office: [email protected] PH: 444 141 582 2053 and ask them to provide you with a true copy of an original letter of good standing from ACCA, which confirms 1) current membership status,2) the date you joined as a member,3)the date your membership fees are paid until,4) that you have completed the required professional program and have not obtained your membership through mutual recognition with another professional body.
2. Create an account with the CPA https://bit.ly/1PcLpM9
3. Apply for membership recognition. This was lots of paperwork, visits to Justice of the Peace’s, signed copies of transcripts and membership certificates etc. (I went to university as well as studying ACCA - so both were submitted). In Australia a Justice of the Peace (JP) is an independent and objective witness to documents for official or legal purposes. So you sign a document in front of them and they sign and officially stamp it. In the long run – it seemed as long as the CPA had the letter from the ACCA they were happy – but I dotted the I’s and crossed the t’s. The CPA website seems to have changed in the last month – so I will leave you to navigate the submission portal it as it may change again: https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au

Note: I have since been contacted by someone applying for this and he said there was also a requirement to hold ACCA membership for a minimum of 5 years. I had so did not notice this extra hurdle.

The initial review cost $160.

Within ten days of submitting I was called – and they offered me full direct CPA membership and asked me over the phone to commit to paying the annual membership fee of $710. I got out my credit card, and the deal was done.

The End

About the Author

I provide Xero Training, Xero Set-Up Packages, Xero Migration, Ongoing Xero Support Packages, Data Detox, Cloud Suitability Scoping Services, Management Report Development, and Mentoring. I’m the author of the Xero for Dummies series and have an in-depth understanding of the working of Xero and how it works with the eco-system, to create a cloud-based business platform.

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