"In 1997 the Privy Council which governs all professional bodies in the UK and Commonwealth gave members of the CACA the right to prefix their titles with the word chartered. Before this they were known as certified accountants. The change of status occurred because the Privy Council gave the CACA a royal charter and therefore its members were now fully entitled to call themselves chartered accountants in much the same way that the ICAEW and ICAS had been allowed to do for many years due to their established chartered status. This new found chartered status did not just affect the CACA but also affected members of CIMA and CIPFA who were also now allowed to refer to themselves as chartered accountants. To reflect this new status the CACA changed its name to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and chose to allow its members to refer to themselves as Chartered Certified Accountants in order to differentiate themselves from other chartered accountants. However, the Privy Council directive of 25 August 1996 makes it clear that all members of the CCAB bodies are equally entitled to refer to themselves as chartered accountants if they so wish. If you become a member of one of the CCAB bodies and for one reason or another you wish to become a member of one of the other chartered accountancy bodies then it will mean that you will have to take additional exams. For example, if you are a member of the ICAEW and you wish to also become a member of the ACCA, perhaps to allow yourself to work in some jurisdictions where the ICAEW is not recognised, then you will need to take the final level exams of the ACCA in order to become a member of this body. The reverse will also apply. However, all of the chartered accountancy bodies are deemed to be of equal standard, ie. masters degree level, and from a scrutiny of recruitment adverts in business journals you can see clearly for yourself that the remuneration which is paid to members of all bodies is of the same standard which recognises this equality of status. Once qualified as a chartered accountant you will not need to take exams every year but you will need to undertake Continuing Professional Education (CPE) which could take the form of attending courses or reading magazines in order to ensure that your technical knowledge is kept up to date. This is because accountancy and taxation legislation changes frequently and it is very important that you keep abreast of developments.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 20:28:27 +0000
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