Chartered Accountant - A Truly Global Passport
Author:
Ronan O'Brien
One of the less recognised advantages of the Chartered Accountant qualification is its global reach. While other accountancy qualifications make much of their global reach, the reality is that the ACA qualification is unbeaten as a passport into the most significant capital markets globally.
The most obvious example of this is the Mutual Reciprocity Agreement (MRA) negotiated between ICAI and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants/ National Association of State Boards for Accountancy, obviously in the United States. ICAI is the only professional accountancy body in these islands to have such an agreement which allows ICAI members a fastrack route to AICPA membership. ICAI members have been availing of the agreement since its inception in 2004, though be warned because of the state by state based nature of the US system it can be complicated.
MRAs are of course only one facet of ICAI’s international dimension. The Institute is active in a number of international groups of accountants. Two of members, former President, Henry Saville and Richard George chair committees of the International Federation of Accountants, the accountants world body with over 170 member institutes. An Irish Chartered Accountant, David Devlin, has been President of the Federation of European Accountants for the last number of years. FEE is the body charged primarily with negotiating on behalf of the European profession with the European Union and as much of the legislation effecting the profession now eminates from this source, this has becoming an increasingly important role in recent years. The latest international development is the GAA or the Global Accounting Alliance. It would appear that Ireland is the only country in which this particular title gave rise to difficulties so we decided to live with it. This particular GAA was established in 2005 (not 1884!) and in effect grew out of a similar grouping called the CAGE+2. What is CAGE+2? Well leaving aside the professions obsesssion with a…, the original CAGE representing the coming together of the global chartered bodies like ourselves to discover issues of common concern. CAGE+2 includes the American CPAs and the Hong Kong CPAs.
The reason by this increased level of international cooperation and activity is obvious. The business environment we work is becoming increasingly global. As recent merger activity confirms so too is the perspective of many of our firms. Correspondingly it makes sense then to internationalise our own activities. In recent times there has been an increase in the amount of discussion and interaction taking place between international regulators so it makes sense too for institutes to discuss best practice and share common experiences.
But the GAA is not just a talking shop. Nor are its activities confined to high level policy issues. It aims to improve the level of services institutes are able to offer members through cooperation and product sharing.
PASSPORT FOR MEMBERS
Its first initiative in this area has been to establish a ‘Passport for Members’ scheme. What the scheme involves is member bodies of the GAA committing to make some of its services to members available to members of GAA institutes either resident or working in its country. In doing so it goes some way to address the difficulty all Institutes face in providing support to members who reside outside their operational jurisdiction though ICAI has been running district societies in countries like Australia for quite some time. So if you’re a CA reading this article and resident in a GAA member country this bit is for you. The establishment of the GAA ‘Passport for Members’ scheme was announced first in eNews and relevant members should have received a letter from the Chief Executive about the scheme. The full details and most importantly the contact points to enquire about GAA services in each jurisdiction are available at www.icai.ie/gaa but generally include notification of CPD and access to journals as a minimum.
In addition to ICAI, the GAA membership comprises: - The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants - The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants - The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales - The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia - The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland - The New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants - The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants - The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
(ICAI also holds MRAs with each of these bodies and links to the relevant contact details are also available on the website)
As indicated the ‘Passport for Members’ scheme is merely the first initiative of the GAA. At ICAI we will be placing a greater emphasis on our international dimension on our marketing and support for the qualification going forward.
Unlike similar bodies, the GAA has put in place a Chief Executive, (a former CEO of the Australian body) to coordinate the work of the member bodies. Each institute is deeply committed to the scheme so expect to hear more about ongoing developments in these pages.