British qualified accountants

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British qualified accountants are full members of those United Kingdom accountancy bodies which are themselves members of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies, a private organization or otherwise one of the six professional bodies legally recognised by Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) of British Government under British Companies Act 1989 as Company Auditor. The UK market often refers to CCAB qualified as though it was a specific qualification rather than a group of qualifications , but this is in order to determine whether an accountant is fully qualified or not.

In addition, there are a number of historical qualifications awarded by non CCAB-qualified UK bodies whose members provide accountancy and related services and which set regulatory requirements for their members. These include the [Association of International Accountants] (AIA)as recognised by DTI under Companies Act, Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) and the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).^[1]. In UK, for choice of auditors/accountants and their statutory supervision, please refer to DTI for list of British accountancy bodies and details. Historically, there has been no ranking table for six DTI-recognised company auditors published by Financial Times or other News Papers.

In EU, under EU law and EU mutual recognition directive, all SIX British DTI legally recognised accountancy bodies and accountancy bodies from 27 EU member states are with absolute equal status. FIVE CCAB-qualified British Accountants (except CIMA) and AIA are the only SIX company auditors recognised under British Companies Act to practise auditing in other EU member states. [Note: British or EU citizens who disagree with any one of the SIX DTI-recognised accountants may apply to the DTI or the European Court of Justice for any one of EU auditors under the EU mutual recognition directives.]

1 CCAB-qualified British Accountants
2 Titles of British Accountancy Qualifications
3 British Practising Qualifications
4 See also
5 Others
6 References
7 External links

[edit] CCAB-qualified British Accountants

All full members of Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (known as CCAB) which is an umbrella group for the major British qualified accountancy, are deemed to hold equivalent-level qualifications and advertisements for jobs often state that an organisation is looking for a CCAB-qualified accountant in United Kingdom.

The CCAB was formed in 1974 and has six members, with the first four listed holding the Recognised Qualifying Body (RQB) in relation to company auditing under the Companies Act 1989:

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)

All the British and Irish professional accountancy bodies with a Royal Charter are members of the CCAB. In addition, all United Kingdom professional bodies that belong to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) are members of the CCAB.

Many job advertisements for accountants in the United Kingdom specify CCAB qualified or Chartered qualified in cases where an employer wishes to hire a professionally qualified accountant with Royal Charter, but has no specific preference as to which institute.

[edit] Titles of British Accountancy Qualifications

In the UK, there is no licence requirement for individuals to describe themself or practice as an accountant (except for audit or insolvency work). However, to use certain titles and designatory letters requires membership of the appropriate professional body, thus:

Bodies with royal charter
- Chartered Accountants must be members of one of the following:
  - the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) (designatory letters ACA or FCA)
  - the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) (designatory letters CA)
  - the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) (designatory letters ACA or FCA)
  - a recognised equivalent body from another Commonwealth country (designatory letters being CA (name of country) eg CA(Canada))
- Chartered Certified Accountants must be members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) (designatory letters ACCA or FCCA)
- Chartered Management Accountants must be members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) (designatory letters ACMA or FCMA)
- Chartered Public Finance Accountants must be members of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) (designatory letters CPFA)
Other recognised bodies
- Authorised Public Accountants must be members of the Association of Authorised Public Accountants (AAPA) (designatory letters AAPA)
- Incorporated Financial Accountants must be members of the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) (designatory letters FFA or AFA)
- International Accountants must be members of the Association of International Accountants (AIA) (designatory letters AIAA or FAIA)

Except the Association of Authorised Public Accountants (AAPA), each of these bodies admits members only after passing examinations and undergoing a period of relevant work experience. Once admitted members are expected to comply with ethical guidelines and gain appropriate professional experience.

In addition to the bodies above, the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) and of International Accounting Technicians (SIAT) offer their members training and support in accountancy skills.

[edit] British Practising Qualifications

According to UK's Companies Act 1985, Insolvency Act & Financial Services and Markets Act, only the Chartered accountancy bodies - ACCA, ICAEW, ICAI and ICAS are able to authorise members to conduct the legally restricted works including audit, insolvency and investment business work in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

Moreover, Association of International Accountants is a Recognised Qualifying Body (RQB) in relation to company auditing under the Companies Act 1989.

Also, the Association of Authorised Public Accountants (AAPA) achieved the status of a Recognised Supervisory Body to eligible AAPA members to use the designation Registered Auditor for audit purposes under the Companies Act 1948.

In each case Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Accountants (ICAEW, ICAI and ICAS), Association of International Accountants (AIA), Authorised Public Accountants (AAPA) engaging in practice (ie selling services to the public rather than acting as an employee) must gain a "practising certificate" by meeting further requirements such as purchasing adequate insurance and undergoing inspections.

Chartered Certified Accountants and Chartered Accountants holding "practising certificates" may also become Registered Auditors in accordance with the Companies Act, providing they can demonstrate the necessary professional ability in that area and submit to regular inspection. It is illegal for any individual or firm that is not a Registered Auditor to perform a company audit.

Further restrictions apply to accountants who carry out insolvency work.

Under the European Union 's Mutual Recognition Directive, all CCAB-qualified British accountants with practising rights including the full members of ACCA, ICAEW, ICAI, ICAS, and Recognised Qualifying Body (RQB) with practising rights - AIA and Recognised Supervisory Body (RSB) with practising rights - AAPA could practice as a public accountants in all member countries of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland, but could only describe him/herself as his/her accountancy qualification rather than local professional accountant qualification. Access to local professional qualifications is based on an aptitude test. However, it is necessary to be a citizen of one of the EEA states or Switzerland to benefit from this Directive.

[edit] See also

There are nine major professional bodies operating in the British accountancy profession, with the first six listed holding the Recognised Qualifying Body (RQB) in relation to company auditing under the Companies Act 1989: