Securities & Investment Institute (SII)

[Odyssee]

The full members of ACCA are one of two professional bodies' members (Another is the charterholders of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)) to be recognized by UK's Securities & Investment Institute (SII) as the equivalent level of SII full membership (MSI). Full membership of SII is recognized by several national investment professional bodies such as in Australia (Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia), formerly the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance) and Hong Kong (Hong Kong Securities Institute (HKSI)
http//www.sii.org.uk/

My question is that, is it worth getting membership of SII after ACCA?

[rabia-k]

hi Odyssee,

sorry i am not answering your q as i am unaware of SII. but one question pops up in my mind.
why gain another institutes membership after already gaining ACCA membership?

do you think ACCA membership is not enough to have a bright carrer?

[Odyssee]

@Rabia
There are multiple reasons why i am gaining info abt other professional qualifications. I do believe that ACCA is enough to have a bright career as i personally know quite a few ACCA members who are doing very well, locally as well as abroad.
But you would agree that there is a perception among students, whether substantiated by facts or not, that the more qualifications u have, the better ur career will be. Fortunately or unfortunately i have that perception as well.

Secondly, i will turn 21 years old in October and i will be an ACCA Affiliate in the coming August. I believe that i have ample time to gain other qualifications as well. Most of the ACCA Affiliates i know waste their time during their Professional Training, where they only focus on the work experience and cease with any further education. I believe that i can utilize that time to gain experience as well as other qualifications.

Honestly speaking, when i started ACCA i never considered it as an end itself, rather i considered it as a gateway to other qualifications. Totally regardless of the fact that whether it is the front door, the back door or the side door, you would agree that there are a lot of doors available after ACCA. And as long as those doors lead to other qualifications, i am content with it. My prime aim was and still is to be a CA from ICAP. But since, as an ACCA Affiliate, one has many options available to him/her, one should research about the best option for him/her. So currently i am researching that which is the next best option after completing ACCA. I will register with ICAP after a thorough research so as to satisfy myself that the decision i am taking is the best for my career.

[Odyssee]

@mroneflower1

I had no ulterior motive of this post. I dont know what SII is and what is its worth, thats why i posted this question.

Moreover, i dont want to be unnecessarily dragged into the "Royal Rumble09 ACCA vs ICAP Edition" debate. This is a point futile debate(infact its not even a debate) where i see everyone running around in circles, cursing and insulting others. I dont want to be a part of such a futile discussion, where everyone will end up with exactly the same point of view with which they began with. This would only create hatred and animosity among the members of the forum. As a student of ACCA, i can learn a lot from CAs and CA-Inters on this forum, and likewise i can share my point of view with them as well. Everyone is entitled to have his/her own opinions whether they are juniors or seniors ,and i believe that you should respect that.

I have a clear, simple and straightforward question that, is it worthwhile to gain the SII qualification after ACCA? How is this qualification considered in UK? I'd be very grateful if someone would provide a specific answer to this specific question.

[Toronto_Boy]

Dear Odyssee

Courses or designation from SII would be more beneficial for people currently working in or planning to work in future in securities and investment industry in UK. For others, and specially foreigners, such designations can be nice to have but not much preferable if they don't have specific country's relevant experience.

In my view, students in Pakistan should go for already tested designations (like CFA if someone has interest in finance or investment).

I hope it helps.

Regards

[Odyssee]

thanks a lot for the info