02-26-2006, 09:10 AM
Zepphyrr,..
Well, the thing is CAs (which ever country it may be) hold similar sway in the world of Accountancy, finance and audit. Its same all over the Anglo Saxon model countries,.. re UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia (& NZ),South Africa, Pakistan, India etc. There are two reasons for this the first one being that the CA institutions in each of these countries have been the oldest regulator of the profession and hence enjoy complete support of their alumni (who ofcourse over time have become the market leaders). The second reason is that these bodies still attract the best and the brightest of the intake (this does not imply that bright and intelligent people do not opt for other bodies). If you take the case of the UK market around 70%+ of the CFOs of the FTSE 100 companies are Chartered Accountants either from the Inistitute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales OR Scotland. This is the country where ACCAs under law have the same regulatory capacity of signing audit reports. The CIMA qualification is only expected to fit the middle level ranks of the Financial world.
In Pakistan things are pretty much the same, and because ICAP is the only body that has a mandate to sign the audit reports it does reign supreme and will continue to do so in times to come. Even if other professional bodies like ACCA or ICMAP in time get the mandate ICAP will still keep its monopolist presence or better put be the market leader. There are a number of reasons to this, first, the brightest and the well placed still opt for the ICAP qualification, second the people on top of the finance world are CAs, the Big4 partners (who sway ICAP in policy making and operations)are now primarily ICAP memebers(with some still ICAEW dual members in)this forms a formidable network of professionals who hold the kegs to the profession. Now this is simply not because they hold some sort of monopoly, the position is because of proven skills.
Lets examine who the next best contenders are to CAs, ICMAP's CMAs. Now CMAs may have better knowledge of Cost accounting and some process based accounting but that is where the line draws, ICAP's sylabi in Auditing (ISAs), Accounting (IFRS) and Financial Management is undoubtdly more rigorous and practical. One of the biggest plus for CAs is the practical exposure they get by working in Audit firms, this not only gives them better exposure and skills in Accounting (IFRS) but also in Tax and Law. I have some very close friends who are CMAs and we studied together until Foundation stages,. but there after I found them (as I joined for articles) more bookish in their knowledge and less practical. While I went ahead to be more accounting and tax savy they were still in the 'bookish knowledge' compartment. Two years down my articles I was interacting with Senior Managers and Partners within the firm and with Financail controllers and CFO's outside the firm. By the time my CMA friends passed their exams and joined the industry they were still typifying into the professional accountant mold, whereas I had already interacted with and worked with people who called the shots in the industry. So it would only be natural for employers to hire some one who has had a head start, and can not only look at the books (financial as well as cost) but also talk to / handle the auditors/tax advisor/corporate affairs. Most business in Pakistan are not large MNC set ups,.. even the larger Businesses are huge family business houses who perfer to hire one finance professional who can actually take care of all business needs.
Next in line is the ACCA which has grown tremendously in Pakistan and I think will be a serious question mark for ICAP,.. since they now have local tax and law variants and quite a many ACCAs are being trained at audit firms. Given legal cover ACCA could stand on its two feet. But like CMAs, ACCAs two have a dilemma of the dual membership sydrome (I just coined this up), Most ACCAs and CMAs are CAs as well,.. so their interest rests with ICAP.
The sector I work for (in a London Big4) employes 37 nationalities and most of these are (apart from ICAEW & ICAS CAs and some ACCAs) CAs from South Africa, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Zimbabwae etc. The firm hires from these countries and goes on to employ CAs from each of these countries as CAs are the premium accounting qualification.
Things are ofcourse quite rigid in the US where its just the CPA that holds for an accounting qualification, however what business school you went to and if you have a Masters degree is more important, so you may be paid less if you were a graduate from a community college (and a CPA) and more and be better placed if you are say a Masters from an Ivy league college (and a CPA). Well the US is a funny place for accountants anyways,..
Well these are my observations, so you may or may not agree with me.
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"Failure is a word unknown to me" - M A Jinnah
Well, the thing is CAs (which ever country it may be) hold similar sway in the world of Accountancy, finance and audit. Its same all over the Anglo Saxon model countries,.. re UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia (& NZ),South Africa, Pakistan, India etc. There are two reasons for this the first one being that the CA institutions in each of these countries have been the oldest regulator of the profession and hence enjoy complete support of their alumni (who ofcourse over time have become the market leaders). The second reason is that these bodies still attract the best and the brightest of the intake (this does not imply that bright and intelligent people do not opt for other bodies). If you take the case of the UK market around 70%+ of the CFOs of the FTSE 100 companies are Chartered Accountants either from the Inistitute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales OR Scotland. This is the country where ACCAs under law have the same regulatory capacity of signing audit reports. The CIMA qualification is only expected to fit the middle level ranks of the Financial world.
In Pakistan things are pretty much the same, and because ICAP is the only body that has a mandate to sign the audit reports it does reign supreme and will continue to do so in times to come. Even if other professional bodies like ACCA or ICMAP in time get the mandate ICAP will still keep its monopolist presence or better put be the market leader. There are a number of reasons to this, first, the brightest and the well placed still opt for the ICAP qualification, second the people on top of the finance world are CAs, the Big4 partners (who sway ICAP in policy making and operations)are now primarily ICAP memebers(with some still ICAEW dual members in)this forms a formidable network of professionals who hold the kegs to the profession. Now this is simply not because they hold some sort of monopoly, the position is because of proven skills.
Lets examine who the next best contenders are to CAs, ICMAP's CMAs. Now CMAs may have better knowledge of Cost accounting and some process based accounting but that is where the line draws, ICAP's sylabi in Auditing (ISAs), Accounting (IFRS) and Financial Management is undoubtdly more rigorous and practical. One of the biggest plus for CAs is the practical exposure they get by working in Audit firms, this not only gives them better exposure and skills in Accounting (IFRS) but also in Tax and Law. I have some very close friends who are CMAs and we studied together until Foundation stages,. but there after I found them (as I joined for articles) more bookish in their knowledge and less practical. While I went ahead to be more accounting and tax savy they were still in the 'bookish knowledge' compartment. Two years down my articles I was interacting with Senior Managers and Partners within the firm and with Financail controllers and CFO's outside the firm. By the time my CMA friends passed their exams and joined the industry they were still typifying into the professional accountant mold, whereas I had already interacted with and worked with people who called the shots in the industry. So it would only be natural for employers to hire some one who has had a head start, and can not only look at the books (financial as well as cost) but also talk to / handle the auditors/tax advisor/corporate affairs. Most business in Pakistan are not large MNC set ups,.. even the larger Businesses are huge family business houses who perfer to hire one finance professional who can actually take care of all business needs.
Next in line is the ACCA which has grown tremendously in Pakistan and I think will be a serious question mark for ICAP,.. since they now have local tax and law variants and quite a many ACCAs are being trained at audit firms. Given legal cover ACCA could stand on its two feet. But like CMAs, ACCAs two have a dilemma of the dual membership sydrome (I just coined this up), Most ACCAs and CMAs are CAs as well,.. so their interest rests with ICAP.
The sector I work for (in a London Big4) employes 37 nationalities and most of these are (apart from ICAEW & ICAS CAs and some ACCAs) CAs from South Africa, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Zimbabwae etc. The firm hires from these countries and goes on to employ CAs from each of these countries as CAs are the premium accounting qualification.
Things are ofcourse quite rigid in the US where its just the CPA that holds for an accounting qualification, however what business school you went to and if you have a Masters degree is more important, so you may be paid less if you were a graduate from a community college (and a CPA) and more and be better placed if you are say a Masters from an Ivy league college (and a CPA). Well the US is a funny place for accountants anyways,..
Well these are my observations, so you may or may not agree with me.
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"Failure is a word unknown to me" - M A Jinnah
