The Student Room Group

ICAS ACCA and ACA

Hello,

I've got a position in tax for a summer internship with KPMG. They offer joint qualification of ICAS and CIOT.

Is an ICAS much different from ACA or ACCA in terms of respect, prestige, etc they receive? I want to move to Australia in the future. Would having a Scottish body qualification affect being able to work as an accountant over there in the future?

I know they do an ACCA, CA or ACA qualification for audit. Just need to weigh up the differences between those three and ICAS. I don't really want to end up with a second rate qualification.
Reply 1
ICAS is the most established accounting body in the UK, if not the world. It was the first accountancy organisation to receive royal charter. In terms of prestige it ranks top, only members of ICAS can use the title CA (chartered accountant) as appose to ACA (AssociateChartered Accountant) in fact one of the merger attempts between the ICAEW and ICAS is said to have failed because members of ICAS didn't want ICAEW members to be able to use the title CA.

In terms of content they are almost identical. And I'm pretty sure all have mutual recognition in Australia (as the Australian institute does in the UK).
fubu
ICAS is the most established accounting body in the UK, if not the world. It was the first accountancy organisation to receive royal charter. In terms of prestige it ranks top, only members of ICAS can use the title CA (chartered accountant) as appose to ACA (AssociateChartered Accountant) in fact one of the merger attempts between the ICAEW and ICAS is said to have failed because members of ICAS didn't want ICAEW members to be able to use the title CA.

In terms of content they are almost identical. And I'm pretty sure all have mutual recognition in Australia (as the Australian institute does in the UK).


****. ACA is just as well known and respected as CA, and probably more useful seeing as it is more well known. most people in london given the choice between CA and ACA would go for the ACA.
Reply 3
ACA and ICAS are pretty much the same. In terms of the Big 4, KPMG and EY do ICAS whilst Deloitte and PWC do ACA. I wouldn't say ACA is more well known, I reckon they're both about the same.
fubu
ICAS is the most established accounting body in the UK, if not the world. It was the first accountancy organisation to receive royal charter. In terms of prestige it ranks top, only members of ICAS can use the title CA (chartered accountant) as appose to ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) in fact one of the merger attempts between the ICAEW and ICAS is said to have failed because members of ICAS didn't want ICAEW members to be able to use the title CA.

In terms of content they are almost identical. And I'm pretty sure all have mutual recognition in Australia (as the Australian institute does in the UK).

Here here! :clap2:
Reply 5
Ok, thanks for the help.

I just presumed because it had Scotland in the title, it might be limited to the UK or small and not well known. A lot of people talk about the ACA and ACCA exams being difficult and I hardly see ICAS threads so I presumed they'd be more prestigious.

You gave me the info I needed though so thanks for correcting me.
In reality there is no difference between these three chartered accountancy bodies.

There have been some inaccurate comments posted on this forum regarding their comparative status. Members of all three bodies are entitled to refer to themselves as chartered accountants due to the fact that all three professional bodies have been awarded royal charters by the Privy Council.

ACCA was the last chartered body to receive a royal charter and their members have only been allowed to refer to themselves as chartered accountants since 1997 (before this they were referred to as certified accountants), though the ACCA prefers its members to refer to themselves as chartered certified accountants in order to distinguish their brand.

The following link provides the most recent statistics regarding the UK chartered accountancy bodies provided by the Financial Reporting Council:

http://www.frc.org.uk/images/uploaded/documents/5th%20Edition%20Key%20Facts%20and%20Trends%20Final090807.pdf

From this it can be seen that the ACCA has successfully turned itself into the international chartered accountancy body whereas the ICAEW and ICAS are more provincial in their scope.

However, in terms of status, salary and exam syllabus there is no difference between the ACCA, ICAEW or ICAS.