And this reminds me to an msn conversation I'd with someone yesterday that sorta irritate me as the conversation went.. let me just name this person as Minnie. I think Minnie was thinking of changing line to accounting.. think she is doing something unrelated to accounting and she does not have an accounting backgrd...
Minnie was asking me about how to be a certified accountant . Oh well, assuming that she is enquring on being a certified public accountant (i.e. CPA), told her that she would need to register with the ICPAS which will require either recognised accounting degree or professional certification by accounting bodies like ACCA. So, since minnie doesn't have accounting background, I advised her to perhaps, take a dip in acc then a bcc with local or overseas uni.. if not she could always do the acca course.. Told her that to practise as a certified accountant in sg, have to apply to be members of ICPAS and even she has the ACCA certificate or membership, she has to apply to ICPAS cuz ACCA is a uk accounting body.. if it's aussie she is interested in, then need to get certification from the auz authority.. [Different countries have different accounting standards and different tax laws too..]
blood was at boiling point by the questions/ statements of hers, among which were:
(1) I don't want a degree, I just want to be certified.
This was after learning that it was expensive to take up ACCA (cuz in addition to course fee by modules, there is membership fee as well.. in GBP) Uhm, in order to be a certified accountant - which certified i assumed is that certification from the recognised professional body - u need to have the relevant academic credentials - i.e. either a degree in accountancy from recongised uni or a professional cert from the recongised accounting body. so told her, you can practising accounting without being certified (i.e. like those merely doing bookkeeping..) but you can't be certified without the revelant degree or certs..
(2) 2 years is too long, any shortcut to get certification?
Her friend apparently passed her acca within 2 years and ms minnie thought was too long.. (@#!!#$$ I spent 3 years in full time to get the bcc.. 2 years parttime or full time is not long! ) Told her that if she was doing the course part-time, it might take longer...
(3) Are the accounting modules easy?
[I hated accountancy.. for the record, it's not because I don't get the theories but I dislike the course of study while I was at it and had the intention to switch course but due to procrastination, didn't go about doing it.. ]Duh, told her acc was more than figures.. She was amazed that there are theories behind computations when i informed her that accounting course is more than computations and figures (obv there are theories to be understood before you can apply the figures and make sense out of the nos and trends..) - and not just theories but laws & legislations too.. .. accountant's bible equivalents would be the accounting standards like the FRS or the GAAP.. and mine.. are the various tax acts and oso the accounting standards too..
In short, ms minnie wants to be certified as an accountant in the shortest time possible and cheapest means.. Uhm.. accountant is a professional post rite, along with engineers and architects.. SO definitely there are barriers to entry - And if you are not willing to invest in your time and $$$ to enter into this market, then, what the .... i guess maybe ms minnie was lured by the potential pay of the accounting profession.. then.. pay the price please.. o.O
okie.. having said that, for once, I'm happy to have chosen accountancy in ntu on the notion that 3 years is the shortest route among the others to get a professional degree.. (which resulted in me not choosing architecture in nus...)
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