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New look CA Program for tomorrow's Chartered Accountants
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26 August 2005 
 
Changes to the CA Program to help address national skills shortage and increase flexibility for candidates  
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia today announced changes to the Chartered Accountant graduate diploma that offers candidates more flexibility and will help alleviate the nation-wide accountancy skills shortage.  
 
The changes, to be phased in during the next 18 months, are:  

  • Graduates from non-accounting degrees will be able to enrol after passing a pre-entry exam
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  • Modules will be offered twice in any 12-month period
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  • Technical content will increase with four technical modules and a final integrative module
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  • Exemptions for the tax module for Institute accredited in-house tax training or post graduate tax qualifications
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  • Nine months mentored work experience prior to commencing study
 
“The changes will significantly improve the program and strengthen the technical prowess of Chartered Accountants. All stakeholders have been taken into consideration offering greater flexibility to the candidates, and for employers, more ‘work ready’ employees in the shortest possible time,” said Sheena Frenkel, General Manager for CA Program and Admissions, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.  
 
The CA Program can be completed in two years, which is fulfilled during three years of mentored work experience. There are more than 11,000 candidates presently studying the graduate diploma, across Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.  
 
The changes are based on intensive 12-month research that included quantitative research with candidates, CA employers, and more detailed qualitative investigation with representatives from major professional services firms, corporates, public practitioners and other member segments.  
 
The CA Program will now be open to a larger and more diverse pool of talent from outside the traditional accounting discipline. Non-accounting students wishing to enrol will take a diagnostic test to assess their core knowledge. The test will produce a gap analysis report that employers can use to identify the training required to bring the prospective candidate up to the level needed for the CA Program.  
 
The feedback from firms employing Chartered Accountants has been extremely positive towards the changes. According to Lewis Culliver, Training Principal at Australian financial services firm, AXA, widening the funnel of students eligible for the CA Program helps address the skills shortage and introduces to the profession, people from diverse backgrounds.  
 
“Firms will be able to leverage the ‘outside-in’ perspective that non-accountants bring to the profession and help identify business opportunities not previously considered,” said Culliver.  
 
The new look CA Program will cover core technical subjects: Taxation; Audit and Assurance; Financial Accounting and Reporting; and Management Accounting and Analysis. The current introductory CA Foundations module will be phased out at the end of this year. CA Integrative will remain as the final module with an increased emphasis on ethics and corporate governance.  
 
Under the new trimester (three term) timetable to be launched in 2007, candidates can plan their study around busy times in the business cycle with modules offered twice every 12-months.  
 
“The mentored practical experience coupled with the CA Program content goes hand in glove for a well rounded executive. The additional technical content allows candidates to be ‘work ready’ sooner, that is, people with technical knowledge and understanding of the latest regulatory requirements that they can put into practice,” said Mark Donnellan, Division Director, Internal Audit at Macquarie Bank, one of Australia’s leading investment banks, and a major employer of Chartered Accountants.