Is Acca Equivalent To Cpa

[Tabita Knezevic]

Thefoundation-level qualification is the perfect place to start if you are a school leaver who does not have the minimum entry requirements to start studying for the ACCA Qualification. This qualification can therefore be considered a 'stepping stone' on the way to becoming a fully certified chartered accountant.

If you have no prior qualifications, we recommend you start with the Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting. Although it may be tempting to skip the Introductory and Intermediate Certificates and start directly at the Diploma level, students who start at the Introductory Certificate and work their way through the foundation level qualifications tend to perform better in the higher-level exams.

Wondering how you can still earn while you learn? The best part about our foundation-level certificates are that you can work in a range of different accounting and finance roles from the very start of your ACCA journey. For example, once you have completed your Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting you are able to work in a number of junior accounting or book-keeping roles.

If you are a school leaver with a minimum of three GCSEs and two A Levels, in five separate subjects including maths and English, or if you have equivalent qualifications, you can start your studies at the ACCA Qualification.

The ACCA Qualification is broadly equivalent to degree standard when you take the first nine papers (the Fundamentals level). When you take the Professionals level, it is equivalent to a masters degree.

I just completed my ACCA level 2 last year and was awarded the Advance Diploma. I lived in the US and would like to apply for the CPA exams. Does anyone know if ACCA Advance Diploma qualifies as a Bachelors Degree in the US?

I am not sure, but it is worth checking with a US school and present to them the equivalency letter provided by ACCA. You may also convert it to Oxford Brookes BSc degree by completing a project to obtain the academic Bachelor degree.

The final exams of the ACCA Advanced Diploma are at the same level as a UK Bachelors Honours degree so there should be no problem with an equivalent level. What you need to establish is if the amount of credits (ECTS) you have studied will be sufficient.

ACCA, one of the most popular accounting qualifications in the world, takes the center stage as one of the most prominent and recognized courses. It offers members perspectives and skills in a wide range of topics across accounting, finance, and other allied sectors. Most tax jurisdictions across the world recognize and accept ACCA as a qualification of repute. The ACCA title and qualification puts members in a different league and opens up a world of opportunities in a melange of sectors including Accountancy, Banking, and Finance.

ACCA is a Professional Qualification or Professional Degree that is recognised by several countries across the globe. It is offered by an internationally recognised body that has many decades of repute to its credit.

ACCA Certificates are offered in proper convocation ceremonies conducted across the globe. In all aspects, pursuing an ACCA is either equivalent to or better than pursuing a conventional degree program.

Being equipped with an ACCA qualification is an indication that the person is equipped with skills and knowledge in accountancy, finance, and corporate law, which indicates the ability to plan finances, conduct a range of accounting operations and deal with all current and future monetary transactions. It also indicates a level of proficiency in the numeracy and analytical abilities of the person. ACCA members have the authority to sign audit reports in Singapore, UK and several other nations!

I have been told that ATT is probably the easiest of the three qualifications. Have also heard that if I was to do cta after att, there would of course be a jump and it would be similar to going from the F papers to the professional papers in ACCA. I am of course willing to study for the next couple of years but I wanted to ask for anyone's experience regarding these qualifications in last couple of years.

Time wise I can't comment on ATT but CTA can be done in as little as a year if your willing to put the time and study in, I actually did it over 2 years as I funded it myself, but there were people in my class who planned to do it over one, how they got on I don't know.

ACCA you would need to set aside 3 years at least. A friend of mine has just started the P papers and is sitting 2 papers every 6 months, but you can take a slower pace, I believe they give you up to 10 years to complete all the papers.

I wouldn't go any further than ATT/AAT without being in relevant employment though as you could quickly find yourself over qualified and under experienced. Once your in employment they may end up dictating which path you go down, which is the reason I switched from ACCA to ACA.

I think I understand the point that johngroganjga is making. Att is the sister qualification of cta. People who attempt cta after doing att may find it much more easier as they already have a more 'sound knowledge base'. Whereas if you jump into cta from an accountancy qualification (aat/acca/aca/cima) you will probably find it more difficult as you haven't studied tax in depth.

ATT and CTA is basically one qualification (just like ACCA) but split into two smaller pieces (am I right here). In other words, if you go into cta with acca/aca you are basically jumping into the 2nd part of the tax qualification without doing the first part (att).

I might be right/wrong here- don't know? Just my opinion.

I definitely want to be a tax advisor but as I am right at the beginning of studying, I just wanted people's opinions and experiences generally about all of the qualifications, esp. att/cta/acca.

Right, will try to study this evening and check back on this forum later.

Thanks.

Anyone who has done ACA (or, I assume, ACCA) has already done a lot of tax - possibly more than someone who has just done ATT, or at least not much less. So it's not necessarily a bigger step from ACA / ACCA to CTA than it is from ATT to CTA.

If you are already sure you want to be a tax adviser rather than an accountant - but bear in mind that there are some advantages in being both - being an accountant may make you a better tax adviser - you won't want to do ACCA. It will force you do lots of stuff that has nothing to do with tax!

I taught for one of the major tuition providers, I didn't teach tax but the perception I gleaned from the experiences of my colleagues was that the CTA exam are probably the hardest of the lot (but that said, there are fewer of them!). CTA outstrips the tax content of ACA and ACCA, ATT is probably similar in scope to the tax elements of ACCA/ACA, but has more emphasis on application and compliance. With either, you would also get to grips with more tax legislation and how to use the legislation in practice.

The CIOT website has a "Moving from ATT to CTA" section that compares the papers of each to show how questions for each qualification could cover the same topics, but assesses them in different ways. The focus of ATT is compliance, CTA is advisory.

johngroganjga- Yes as you can see I've only just started studying so I clearly don't know much about the whole accounting/tax world!

I did look at some acca and also cima study text books but I wasn't really interested in management accounting, financial reporting etc and I felt like ATT would appeal to me more. For now though I shall knuckle down and study att and maybe in a few yrs time cta or even ADIT (has anyone done ADIT) or who knows I might go for acca or aat- there are a lot of different qualifications and variety in tax/accountancy.

Wish I had known this yrs ago as I am taking a career change now. Oh well.

Personally, I did the ACA then the CTA. ACCA (or ACA) covers a lot of tax in any case. The additional subjects will be useful to you as well, and open more doors. ACCA should also give you exemptions from the CTA if you want to study it additionally later on.

To neilRH: I think I understand your point. The way I see it is that cta is probably more intensive than acca but its a 'much shorter period', whereas acca/aca will probably take 3-5 yrs. Incidentally,I do know someone who has been studying acca for 5 years and is now studying for the professional papers, so its taking at least several yrs. He's also v worried about P2 (which I have heard can sometimes be a horror movie).

Looking at the pass rates for all the papers, cima seems to have the best- why is that?

acca have decent pass rates for the f papers but they drop dramatically for the p papers. Cta pass rates seem to be a bit choppy but in general similar to the pass rates for acca professional papers. I'm not comparing acca and cta as obviously they are diff. papers but just the level of difficulty if that makes sense.

From what I've understood (my own experience and talking to many others over the years) I would say that CTA is probably the hardest set of exams just because of the question style. ACA questions at least tend to 'lead you through it' while CTA are much more 'here's a scenario, what do you think?'. I wouldn't say the actual tax content is dramatically more in CTA, although because it is open book, they'll expect you to be able to provide more specific detail.

My understanding is that ACCA has low pass rates because a lot of people take those exams that aren't really in a work environment to support them. It is much easier if you deal with at least some of the issues in practice. Some of the CTA choices are easier than others (OMB is definitely easier than Individuals or Advanced Corporation Tax and I'm assuming OMB will have higher pass rates).

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