CPA Australia

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CPA Australia is one of three professional accounting bodies in Australia, the others being the National Institute of Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia.

CPA is an acronym for Certified Practising Accountant, as opposed to United States (and other countries') usage of Certified Public Accountant. CPA Australia is one of the largest global accounting bodies, having members through Asia Pacific as well as its home base.

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[edit] History

The name CPA Australia dates from April 2000. Prior to that, the society had been known as the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants since July 1990. In its current form the society dates from 1952 when it was incorporated as the Australian Society of Accountants. The main predecessor bodies of the Society, with year of formation, are:

  • Incorporated Institute of Accountants, 1886 (changed name in 1921 to the Commonwealth Institute of Accountants)
  • Federal Institute of Accountants, 1894
  • Association of Accountants of Australia, 1910
  • Australian Institute of Cost Accountants, approximately 1925

In 1952, the Commonwealth Institute and Federal Institute merged to form the Society. The Association of Accountants of Australia was merged into the Society some years later, with the Australian Institute of Cost Accountants following in 1966.

[edit] Membership

Full membership requires academic qualifications from an accredited university, of at least undergraduate degree level with an accounting major, completion of three years mentored work experience, and completion of six CPA Program segments (subjects) supervised by the organisation. Further qualifications are necessary to provide services directly to the public (Public Practice Certificate) or to offer financial planning services. Non-accounting graduates can achieve CPA status by studying approved graduate conversion courses (Graduate Certificate, Masters etc) before commencing the CPA Program.

Fulfillment of 120 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours per triennium (3-year period) with a minimum of 20 CPD hours in each year is required for continued membership. Members must monitor their own CPD hours and declare their compliance with the annual renewal of membership. CPA Australia also conducts random audits of members to confirm that they are meeting the CPD requirements.

Full members of CPA Australia use the designatory letters CPA, (CPA (Aust.) in Hong Kong). Senior members may become Fellows and use the letters FCPA, (FCPA (Aust.) in Hong Kong).

The entry tier of membership, Associate level, can use the designatory letters ASA. Applicants must hold recognised or accredited degree AND must fulfill the core curriculum stipulated by CPA Australia in order to be admitted as an Associate. Membership at this level must successfully complete the CPA Australia CPA Program and fulfill the CPA Australia practical experience mentor program (or similar, offered by certain accounting bodies that are under mutual recognition agreement with CPA Australia) to become 'qualified' as full member of CPA Australia.

CPA Australia has approximately 112,000 members (CPA/FCPA/ASA). An increasing proportion of these members are from other countries or Australians located overseas.

[edit] Skill Assessment

CPA Australia is a gazetted Assessing Authority for accountants, external auditors, corporate treasurers and finance managers seeking to migrate to Australia, in common with ICAA and the NIA. This is done under contract to the Australian Education Internation - Australian National Office of Overseas Skill Recognition (AEI-NOOSR).

[edit] Related Organisations

In the Australian regulatory framework, CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia co-operate in an advisory role in formulating and interpreting accounting standards. Both bodies co-operate closely on professional matters, and issue joint handbooks. There was some discussion about merging the membership of both bodies, but there are no concrete plans for this move.

[edit] Mutual recognition

CPA Australia has mutual recognition agreements with:

Not every member of CPA Australia is eligible for these mutual recognition agreements. In particular, but not limited to, those CPAs who do not hold a recognised university degree or qualified before the 1980s, may be excluded from their scope. Please contact CPA Australia for more details.

A mutual recognition agreement with New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) was terminated (by NZICA) in 2003.

CPA Australia has had a mutual recognition agreement with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland but as of 2006 this appears to have lapsed[citation needed].

[edit] See also

[edit] External links