Admissions to Associate Membership

In order to be eligible for admission to associate membership of Chartered Accountants Ireland, as a Chartered Accountant, students are required to meet the following criteria:

• Pass Chartered Accountants examinations
• Serve their training contract in full
• Submit the appropriate application form and the appropriate Record of Experience/ CA Diary of Professional Development together with the fees due

How do I apply?

Submit an original admission application form, duly verified by your Training Principal - You will receive a welcome email that will include an admission application form along with an invoice when you become eligible to apply for membership. Further blank forms are available for dowload on this page.

Important - time bar rule

The new time-bar rule will apply to all students registered under training contract with effect from the 1 July 2005.

The rule specifies that students must apply for associate membership of the Institute within a ONE YEAR period from the date they become eligible to apply for associate membership ie. Joining within 12 months of FAE success or expiry date of training contract. The eligibility of students who do not join within the ONE YEAR period will be deemed to have lapsed. The consequence for students not joining within the ONE YEAR period may be a requirement to:

• re-sit the examination (s) and/or
• complete further relevant experience

Submit the Summary/Record of experience

(For Training contracts registered prior to 1 July 2006) - the record maintained during the training contract period and duly signed off by Training Principal (Member of Chartered Accountants Ireland). Only the period spent under training contract should be recorded here. As a pre-requisite for membership, students under contract prior to 1 July 2006 are required to have 12-14 months exposure in at least two of the three core areas i.e. Preparation of Accounts, Auditing or Taxation (Min. 200 days x 2 areas). For further details on completion of your record, contact Sandy Grant.

CA Diary of Professional Development

(for Training contracts registered after 1 July 2006) - the on-line CA Diary maintained during the contract period. The Final Training Review and Certification for admission to associate membership must be submitted, duly signed off by the Training Principal (Member of Chartered Accountants Ireland). As a pre-requisite for membership, students registered under training contract after 1 July 2006, must have acquired the following competencies :

• demonstrated the professional values espoused by ICAI (PV1-7)
• acquired the mandatory competencies in Financial Reporting (FA1-4)
• have demonstrated ability to apply a broad business perspective to specific situations(CB1-6)
• have attained an in-depth level of experience in any (minimum one) of the following areas ie. Auditing, Taxation, Finance, Organisational & Strategic Management, Information Technology (Details of the range of competencies are available on the CA Diary)

Admission to Membership Fees

Admission to Membership fees are set by Council and back dated to students eligiblity date.  Going forward as a new member please expect your annual membership subscription invoice every January.

Please contact Sandy Grant for the fees due in respect of your application.

Payment of Admission to Membership fees are the responsibility of the individual applicant for membership. Payment must accompany the admission application form together with CA Diary of Professional Development being submitted to the Institute.

Students eligible 5 or more years

Candidates applying for associate membership in 2012 who have successfully completed their training contract more than five years ago (i.e. in 2007 or prior), will be required to submit the following additional information with their application for admission to associate membership :

• a detailed analysis of post contract experience
• position held under each employment post contract
• written references from current/former employer (s) to confirm above
• certification of further studies, if any, (CPD/Other) Structured or un-structured

Admission to Associate Membership

closing dates for receipt of application 2012

(this page is updated on a regular basis and the above dates maybe subject to change)

Unfortunately it is not our policy to retain incomplete admission applications indefinitely and should you be unable to progress your application, regrettably it will be returned to you together with any existing fees paid to us.

For further assistance on any aspect of your application, please contact Sandy Grant.

Important Notice

Holding oneself out as Qualified or an Associate whilst still a student member is prohibited and maybe subject to disciplinary action by the Institute.
Employers regularly check with the Institute if students have been admitted to Associate Membership of the Institute. Misrepresentation of membership status has resulted in dismissal by employers.