Chartered Accountants considering a career abroad can benefit from a number of mutual reciprocity agreements with fellow Institutes worldwide.
Chartered Accountants Ireland, through the Common Content Project (CCP), has been working with leading European Institutes to develop a new education benchmark for professional accountants that is fully EU and IFAC compliant and which supports auditor mobility within the EU. Following the agreement of the new benchmark, the Institute’s own education and assessment processes were assessed, confirming compliance with the CCP requirements.
If you are a registered auditor in Ireland, you can gain audit rights (and depending on the country, membership rights) through the passing of a local law and tax examination. Further details are available about the project at www.commoncontent.com.
Other agreements include:
Access to membership
Chartered Accountants Ireland has mutual reciprocity agreements (MRAs) with a number of other leading global Institutes, which allow Chartered Accountants Ireland members to apply for membership of those bodies and allow members of those Institutes to apply to Chartered Accountants Ireland for membership. Applicants to Chartered Accountants Ireland will usually have access to membership without examination. To do so, you will need to contact the relevant reciprocal body and provide evidence of good standing and pay the requisite fee. Retention of membership is a requirement of this process.
Practice rights
Access to practice rights is not automatic and will normally require the passing of local company law and taxation (or similar) exams. Should you wish to gain practice rights, it is suggested that you should preferably gain rights in Ireland before seeking rights overseas. In those jurisdictions where practice rights and membership are synonymous, an examination must be passed. Audit rights are not automatically covered by these agreements as there can be specific local requirements in some cases. Irish Chartered Accountants who are planning on gaining audit practice rights should gain Irish audit rights first before leaving home.
Chartered Accountants Ireland has MRAs with the following Institutes:
- The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)/National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). This agreement provides access to membership, practice rights and audit rights subject to members meeting the specific entry criteria and the passing of the IQEX examination. NASBA administers the IQEX and issues the AICPA license;
- Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ, formerly the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants);
- Chartered Professional Accountants Canada (CPA Canada, formerly the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants);
- The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA);
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). No examination is required to gain practice rights);
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). No examination is required to gain practice rights;
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ);
- The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA); and
- The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
For more information, contact Paula Dreelan on +353 1 637 7216 or email registry@charteredaccountants.ie. For any technical queries, contact Ronan O’Loughlin, Director of Education and Training at ronan.oloughlin@charteredaccountants.ie or 01 637 7329.
You can read more about living and working overseas in Chartered Accountants Abroad, the publication from Accountancy Ireland for Chartered Accountants Ireland members abroad.
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