QUALIFIED ACCOUNTANT: WHO IS A QUALIFIED ACCOUNTANT?

Having an accounting academic qualification is not enough for you to be called a qualified accountant / certified accountant– even when you are called, you are not one!

Someone with B.Sc in accounting or MACC (Masters of Accountancy) qualification cannot be said to be a qualified accountant.

As a matter of fact, passing all the exams required by one professional accounting body or the other like ACCA, CIMA, CPA, or ICAN does not make you a certified accountant / qualified accountant. This is because accountancy is a professional career that is backed by ancient laws. In fact, Medicine, Law and Accountancy professionals were required in the olden days to take an oat.

Someone may at this point be yelling- what then does it take to become a certified accountant or qualified accountant as the case may be? If you are among those that have asked this kind of question in the past, or still asking this kind of question, read on as this article is specifically written with you in mind.

Certified accountants or qualified accountants are finance professionals groomed by the two most powerful and influential institutions of our time. They are “world of academic” and “world of experienced”. Yes, you read it right – they are world on their own.

ACADEMIC REQUIREMENT OF A CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANT OR QUALIFIED ACCOUNTANT

Before one can become a qualified accountant, that individual must have the basic academic qualification which varies from country to country. This basic academic qualification will allow you gain admission into any professional accounting body of your choice. It can be O’level, A’level, college degree, polytechnic degree or university degree. If you have not got any of these and you want to become a certified accountant, please do the first thing first by acquiring any of these qualifications.

Once this is done, you can then proceed to write and pass professional papers required by the professional accounting route you chose to follow.

EXPERIENCE / PRACTICAL REQUIREMENT OF BECOMING A QUALIFIED ACCOUNTANT / CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANT

Because accounting is a practical profession, possession of the right mix of qualification and experiences make a sizeable portion of the accounting syllabus / curriculum. Qualities of accountants and critical qualities for business successes are all acquired through the practical segment of the overall training that accountants go through. Some professional accountancy bodies like ACCA have training partners / accredited recruiters that place student accountants in the right position to enable him or her acquire the necessary on the job training.

This training usually cut across the four main aspects of accounting – financial accounting, managerial accounting, auditing and taxation. Consulting experiences are also gained by accountant trainees.

Time tag is usually attached to this training- meaning it is time bound. This is to ensure that the minimum skill / exposure are acquired.

I am sure you will agree with me that becoming a certified accountant or chartered accountant is not a day’s job but, is worth every single effort put into qualifying as an accountant.