What’s the second most crucial step to qualification after passing your exams? Your CA Diary. Hugh Carroll, Education & Training Support Manager at Chartered Accountants Ireland, explains why
The secret of making progress is to get started’ –Mark Twain
The Training Support Unit (TSU) welcomes all our new intake trainees for the 2022/23 academic year. We also recognise the continuing efforts of our established and progressing trainees. Each of you has a fantastic opportunity to push on and join over 31,000 members of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
One key area the TSU oversees is the online CA Diary. As you should be aware, the CA Diary is an essential tool used throughout the training period that demonstrates incremental development of skills, knowledge, and competence. This detailed record and success in the FAE form the eligibility requirements for membership.
In short, the CA Diary is as important to qualifying as a Chartered Accountant as success is in your exams, so now is an excellent time to start (or to restart)!
Keeping up momentum
There is no better time to consider your approach to completing your CA Diary than at the beginning of a new year. Similar to your study and exam technique, setting out (or revising) your plan for ensuring your CA Diary is up-to-date is time well invested.
If you are joining us this academic year, you should be aware that two items need to be in place before you can access and record experience in your CA Diary:
- You need to have an approved formal registration, which is either an approved Training Contract or an approved Flexible Route registration; and
- You need to have an assigned CA Diary Mentor. In larger firms, this is typically overseen by human resources or the learning and development/education teams.
Whether you are a new or established trainee, we strongly advise engaging with the available resource materials, including the recently published ‘Trainee checklist for CA Diary entries’, before engaging or re-engaging with your CA Diary record.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your record is kept up-to-date and that you maintain regular contact with your mentor on this crucial aspect of your qualification.
Please be aware that the TSU, in conjunction with our Professional Standards Department, monitor the compliance of trainees and mentors in this area.
If you have any questions about the above, contact the relevant team/person in your training organisation, or contact us at the TSU.
Audit qualification
An important future consideration for all trainees working in audit is a (post-membership) qualification called the
Eligibility Requirements for the Audit Qualification (AQ). This is separate and distinct from the ACA qualification.
To meet the AQ, the CA Diary record needs to document specific details around your audit engagements. Before creating or updating entries, trainees should consult the ‘Guidance for recording audit experience’ section of the
CA Diary Resources webpage.
Resources and support
The TSU provides guidance and direction on the CA Diary, and documents such as the
Professional Development Requirements guide,
CA Diary Guide and
Sample Entries document are essential reading. These and further resources, such as onscreen tutorials, are available on the CA Diary Resources Webpage.
Should you wish to contact the team, we would be happy to hear from you at trainingsupport@charteredaccountants.ie or by phone: +353 01 637 7202.