First of all, it must be said that it is quite difficult to equate as an accountant, especially if you have only studied economics, but not accounting. Even in the case of those who have graduated from economics with an accounting profile, it will not be easy. Which doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It’s hard but it can only depend on how much you want it.
The equivalence in the case of accountants is made exclusively on the basis of studies, having nothing to do with professional experience. From this point of view, this equivalence is accessible to all those who have graduated from a university with economic specifics.
There are three professional bodies to which equivalence can be made, namely:
Certified Practicing Accountant of Australia (CPA Australia) –www.cpaaustralia.com.au
National Institute of Accountants (NIA) – www.nia.org.au
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) – www.icaa.org.au
The equivalence fee is the same for all three bodies namely $ 350 AUD. Payment can be made through the Taipun card issued by BancPost, at a rate very close to the official exchange rate of the NBR, as no other fees are charged by the Australian bank that withdraws the money.
I will refer mainly to the CPA as this was the body with which I made my equivalence. Reasons for doing so:
– in order to apply to the ICAA, you must be a member of a specialized organization, such as CECCAR – the Body of Expert Accountants and Chartered Accountants in Romania, and this was not the case;
– The NIA charges a reassessment fee of AUD 100, while the CPA does not charge any reassessment fee;
– even if only the above two reasons would be sufficient for anyone else in my situation, it should be noted that the CPA Australia, unlike the NIA, is a much more reputable body, due in part to its antiquity and tradition, and on the other hand there are similar CPAs in the United States, England and other European countries; so if the applicant wishes to pursue this profession in Ozzie Land, it would be advisable to apply to either the CPA Australia or the ICAA.
In order to obtain a “positive migration assessment” from the CPA, you must:
1. have a university degree “as at least comparable to an Australian Bachelor’s degree”; in other words, to have graduated from an accredited faculty in Romania, with a bachelor’s degree; In this regard, it appears that Australians have a list of universities in each country that they consider to be comparable to Australian universities;
2. cover at least 9 of the 12 core curriculum areas required for Associate membership; these are for CPA:
· Accounting Systems and Processes (basic)
· Financial Accounting (financial and corporate)
· Management Accounting
· Accounting Theory
· Commercial Law (introductory, Including Contracts)
· Economics
· Quantitative Methods
· Finance (corporate)
· Information Systems Design And Development
· Auditing
· Australian Taxation Law
· Australian Company Law
How the last two are specific subjects Australian universities in reality be covered 9 of the top 10 disciplines.
It should be noted here that although the names of the subjects differ for example from those of NIA
· Basic Accounting instead of Accounting Systems And Processes (basic)
· Financial and Corporate Accounting instead of Financial Accounting (financial and corporate)
· Current Issues in Accounting (standards and theory) instead of Accounting Theory
· Cost And Management Accounting instead of Management Accounting
· Business Finance instead of Finance (corporate)
· Auditing
· Introductory Law (including contracts) instead of Commercial Law (introductory, including contracts)
· Economics
· Statistics instead of Quantitative Methods
· Computer Information Systems instead of Information Systems Design And Development
· Australian Taxation Law
· Australian Company Law
In principle, the equivalence criteria are similar if not identical. So from this point of view, there are no differences, so it doesn’t make sense if you got a negative equivalence from one of the bodies, to apply to another in the hope that maybe the other one will be more forgiving.
The equivalence process lasts between 4-6 weeks, but may differ depending on the period (Christmas) or the complications that may occur (someone who sent his Master’s degree in Accounting, was asked to first obtain an equivalence from NOOSR ( National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition – Australia) regarding this master’s degree, this does not mean that any master’s degree will follow this path but I do not know much, not my case, or maybe if the description of the courses is insufficiently detailed, you will be asked probably send a more detailed description of those courses).
They are quite cooperative on email, but you have to insist, be persevering. I will give here osassess@cpaaustralia.com.auwhere a girl named Barbara Boulton – Manager Qualifications Assessment Unit answered me.
It is good to attack on many fronts, to know that you exist. One email a day doesn’t hurt to remind them of you. But if they do not meet the 6-week deadline, or a similar situation, there is no point in blocking their mail server just because you are not satisfied with the result received.
Usually they only have conversations with those who have already applied for equivalence, in case you want to know more information, “what would happen if …”, it is quite likely to invariably receive a polite answer by to be suggested to apply first and only then to ask questions.
Documents to send to the CPA:
1.University diploma – legalized copy and authorized translation; more exactly as they say:
“1. ACADEMIC AWARD – a certified true copy of the original degree which clearly indicates the title of the award, name of the institution, the year the degree was awarded and the grade achieved. If this is not in English, an official translation must also be provided. “
2. Registration sheet – legalized copy and authorized translation; exactly as they say:
“2. ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPT – a certified true copy of the original itemized transcript. The transcript must show each subject studied and the pass or fail result for every year of your study. The codes for the grades must be included. If the transcript is not year official translation in English must BE Also provided in. If exemptions have been given please Provide documents related to previous study.
3. syllabus – certified copy and certified translation, exactly as they themselves say:
not handwritten. Failure to provide adequate syllabus detail may adversely affect the outcome of your assessment. “
Those paragraphs are taken from the Application Form on the third page.
Please note that the documents you send will not be returned to you, so do not send any original documents. The only exception in this case is the analytical program, because in many cases its legalization can cost several times more than the fee for issuing another analytical program. But it is best to ask beforehand and make sure you can get another one.
Documents submitted to the CPA file would be preferred to be legalized copies accompanied by certified translations. Also, keep a copy of each paper sent, so as not to risk getting confused later when sending the final file to DIMIA (graduation dates, institution name, various small details that should not be neglected) when you fill in other forms. The information must be identical, not just similar. Be careful.
There is not much to say about the bachelor’s degree and the transcript, just that it will probably cost you a fee to issue them, if you have not already done so.
As for the analytical program, (this case also charges a fee for its release, so rest assured that the time has long passed when education was free in Romania J), this together with the related translation are the most important documents in terms of of equivalence. First of all, you have to make sure that the content of the analytical program faithfully and completely reflects the courses studied in the faculty, and secondly, you have to make sure that the translation also faithfully reflects the content of the analytical program.
There are the following possible situations:
a) the analytical syllabus accurately and completely reflects the courses studied in the faculty, in which case all that remains to be done is to obtain an adequate translation;
b) the analytical syllabus does not accurately and completely reflect the courses studied in college, in which case you will have to rewrite the analytical syllabus, based either on the content of the course materials or on various other sources such as other analytical programs developed in previous years. or later, the suggestions of the tenured teachers, etc., after which you have the following two possibilities:
– either you go to the secretariat of the faculty and determine those there to insert the new description of the respective courses in the analytical program initially issued, and to apply on the respective sheets a stamp certifying its authenticity (in the case of the Academy of Economic Studies from Bucharest, usually on the first sheet it says that this is the analytical program of the graduate … the promotion …, and in the rest a round stamp with the Faculty of … Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest) is stamped on each sheet;
– or, if the first alternative fails, send both options together with a Statutory Declaration in which you explain the reasons why you used this method (in this case it is preferable to correspond with those from CPA to explain them situation and see what I advise you).
c) an analytical program cannot be issued to you, for various reasons such as: destruction of the archive, non-existence of the archive, dissolution of the institution; in this case you will have to follow the steps from point b) the second option.
Please note that no one encourages the “adaptation” of the analytical program in the sense desired by the applicant in order to comply as much as possible with Australian standards, especially since no one knows exactly what Australian evaluators should find there in order to considers that matter as equivalent. There can be a lot of speculation, but you have to know what you’re getting into. Someone said at one point that Australian officials were verifying the authenticity of the documents sent by contacting the applicant’s Ministry of Education in their home country. In how many cases does this really happen or what are the documents that I submit to this verification (I assume that I can only check the bachelor’s degree and transcript because I doubt anyone will be able to check if the analytical programs really correspond to what the student sent in the case, especially what is the chaos from the administrative point of view in most institutions in Romania) I do not think anyone can know, but I consider it an unnecessary risk that should not be assumed, because later complications may occur from DIMIA, complications that can permanently compromise your chances of ever reaching the dreamland again. So better with small and slow steps, even on your stomach if necessary, than in jumps that can break your neck. especially to what chaos is administratively in most institutions in Romania) I do not think anyone can know that, but I consider it an unnecessary risk that should not be assumed, because complications may occur later from DIMIA, complications that will they can definitely compromise the chances of ever reaching the dream land again. So better with small and slow steps, even on your stomach if necessary, than in jumps that can break your neck. especially to what chaos is administratively in most institutions in Romania) I do not think anyone can know that, but I consider it an unnecessary risk that should not be assumed, because complications may occur later from DIMIA, complications that will they can definitely compromise the chances of ever reaching the dream land again. So better with small and slow steps, even on your stomach if necessary, than in jumps that can break your neck.
Be careful to send the analytical program for ALL the courses in economics, computer science, accounting, law and finance studied, because once the result is obtained, it is quite difficult to reconsider the initial decision.
It is possible to allow the subsequent completion of the equivalence file with the respective courses that were not initially sent. But this is not recommended, because it will involve another equivalence, which even if it will not cost you more money, will cost you time, and may not be as benevolent in all cases. It happened to me, but maybe they showed me a little more indulgence. I repeat, I am a singular case. However, as few complications as possible. Think that maybe such a thing could raise questions from DIMIA, which could take your case more lightly from this point of view. So, be careful to send ALL the courses studied in college that may have little to do with the areas covered by the CPA,
It should be added here that in some cases, if the CPA considers that the description of a particular course is insufficiently detailed, they may specify this in the letter you will receive, suggesting and at the same time allowing a more detailed description to be resubmitted. that course.
As for the translation of the analytical program, this is a rather delicate subject. It is very important who will do the translation, because the accuracy of the equivalence largely depends on its accuracy. An inaccurate translation will not only nullify the efforts made so far with obtaining the analytical program (or even worse the rewriting of the analytical program), but especially once the application is sent you will not be able to return to the result obtained, apologizing for the poor quality of the translation is responsible for the result.
If you are fluent enough in English, it would be preferable to translate the analytical program yourself. This is justified for several reasons, namely:
First of all, in order to have some certainty about the quality of the translation, you should use a technical translator, preferably with relevant experience in translating economic documents. Because for a fairly common term in Romanian such as “turnover” or “rate of return”, you can find many equivalent terms. It is important to find the right fit. Here is a handful of analytical programs for similar subjects that you find published on the Internet by some Australian universities. I used the syllabus from the University of Southern Queensland for this purpose, which can be found at www.usq.edu.au/course/specification/2005/or another institution that publishes the program for free on the Internet would be CIMA which can be found at the following address: www.cimaglobal.com/students/studying/syllabus/full/ . There are probably others, but I am not aware of them, and this one is reaching me personally.
Secondly, you make a significant saving of money, because a skilled translator probably practices a rate of at least 200,000-300,000 lei per 1800 characters (this is just a personal estimate, or in other words at least the fee I pay -as pretinde J). And since this translator is also a man, he may have died in the family two days before and he is crazy, or he may be in a hurry to go on vacation to ask for his girlfriend’s girlfriend and he will do the translation in a hurry. I am of the principle that if you want something to go well, you have to do it yourself. But, of course, if you are able. I do not recommend this to those who have difficulty obtaining a satisfactory IELTS result,
And last but not least, this way you will get a little familiar with the economic terms that you will probably have to use there. Just kidding … 🙂
The respective translations should not be legalized at the notary, especially since they state in the application form that: ” It is not necessary to submit official translations of the syllabus. However, translations should be typed, not Failure to provide adequate syllabus detail may adversely affect the outcome of your assessment.“So, in theory, an unofficial computer-based translation is enough. this case CPA), it’s better to have it certified translations. Some would say that the translation should be even notarised, but their interpretation of ” official translation ” does not make me think so. But after all, it’s a free country, it’s democracy, everyone thinks what they want, right?
After submitting the application and paying the “assessment fee”, as I said above, you have to wait between 4 and 6 to six weeks, or at least that’s how they commit to processing the file. In my case, it lasted exactly 6 weeks. Since I was in a time crisis at the time, I asked them to email me the result, but for security and privacy reasons, they refused to do so, but told me that if I gave them a number of fax where to send that result, they will be more than happy to do it (probably they were a little tired of me J). The strange thing is that I still sent the fax number to the email address. The email address that was specified in the application form. They would have had their reasons, which I could not understand.
In the happy case, in which you have obtained a positive equivalence of the studies, you will receive in approximately 2 weeks after the expiration of the initial term of 4-6 weeks, in the mailbox an envelope containing a sheet of paper in which you will be notified of the 12 the subjects have been equivalent to you and also which subjects you are missing in order to obtain the quality of “associate member”. As far as I know, in order to become an associate member, all 12 subjects must be equivalent, to have a certain professional experience in the field of accounting, and to this is added a training course that you must follow under the guidance of a CPA member. But as this did not interest me and I did not get this far, I just want to mention these, not having too accurate knowledge. Anyway, It would be good to keep the letter received, because if something happens to it, and you ask for a duplicate, it will cost you (as if they were saying something about 20 AUD) and I don’t know under what conditions it can be released ( probably take some time). So pay close attention to all the papers you receive.
That would be a happy case. The most unfortunate case, and also more frequent is the one in which you are missing 1, 2, 3 or even worse 5 subjects until covering 9 of the 12 subjects. In this situation, the letter received from the CPA will specify the subjects you are missing, for example if 8 subjects were positively equivalent to you, in that letter the 4 missing subjects will be listed until obtaining the status of CPA associate member. This does not mean that you will have to follow all 4, but only 1 of them, there is no preference or order that needs to be studied. This is everyone’s choice, depending on the possibilities, the preference or what they find easier to study. The CPA should also send a list of accredited Australian universities where you can take courses approved by them. But this list is not very useful, because it does not specify in detail for each core curriculum the area that you have to follow at a certain university, but only the respective universities, with their address and an email address through which you can correspond. To check which course or courses should be studied for the equivalence of a certain subject, this can be found at the following web address: www.cpacareers.com.au, where you go to Study options, and then click on the link the one that says accredited courses search, and from there selects each one that interests him. After which, of course, it must be checked whether the respective university offers the respective courses and distance, single-unit distance-learning (or distance-education) non-award (or non-degree) as they are called. So be careful not to confuse the courses that are taken only in a degree program with the ones you need. Non-degree or non-award means that their graduation does not contribute to obtaining a diploma or degree but for completely different reasons than this (one of which is to obtain a positive equivalence for example; or professional reconversion or broadening the horizon of knowledge; or simply a hobby, personal achievement). Even if they do not contribute to obtaining a diploma, you will still receive official proof that you have taken and passed the course, proof bearing the name in some cases of Statement of Attention (USQ) or Letter of Academic Achievement (in the case of OLA). In any case, you should still receive an official recognition from the university where you graduated from that course.
From my internet searches I initially found what I thought was the cheapest university to meet my goals (I was primarily looking for a low cost, as most of you will probably do; I have no idea anyway). about the quality of education in Australia, but there are such tops on the Internet if you are concerned about this) namely the University of Southern Queensland which can be found at www.usq.edu.au. In their case, an undergraduate course (which is part of a bachelor’s degree program, ie a university degree) costs AUD 1065, and a postgraduate course (ie part of the program of a program after obtaining a university degree, so master or doctorate) costs 1170 AUD. If the payment is made in full at enrollment, you also benefit from a 5% discount on the cost of the course, which means that for an undergraduate this would mean 1011.75 AUD and for a postgraduate 1111.5 AUD. To this fee must be added the cost of textbooks (textbooks as they are called) which can range from AUD $ 60-70 to AUD $ 120 per textbook. A rather confusing thing is that there are quite a number of textbooks for each course, about 3-4 on average, and I don’t know if they are all necessary or only optional with each other.
But I was not interested in this because in the meantime I found out about another Australian academic institution that offers such services at significantly lower rates, namely Open Universities Australia which can be found at www.open.edu.au . The OAU is a university consortium of the following Australian universities: Curtin University of Technology, Griffith University, Macquarie University, Monash University, RMIT University, Swinburne University and the University of South Australia.
A good thing is that you can request that your Letter of Academic Achievement be issued upon completion of all courses (according to the officials the results are published on the internet and implicitly the issuance of Letter of Academic Achievement within 4-6 weeks from the exams), having the ability to send them the destination address directly to the CPA address, thus saving valuable time that would require shipping to the personal address and then resending it to the CPA. Personally, I think it would be safer to send one to the CPA directly, and one to the personal postal address, the second one being needed when sending the final file to DIMIA.
The fax number to which the signed request must be sent is 03 8628 2955.
The costs in this case for undergraduate courses are as follows:
· Unit Fee: 495 AUD
· Overseas Student Fee: 195 AUD.
· Total cost: 690 AUD.
And in this case we must add to these fees the cost of textbooks which averages about 100 AUD per subject, but in this case there is not a bibliography as thick as in the case of USQ, usually requiring only 1 or 2 textbooks for each course studied. Shipping costs must also be taken into account. The textbooks are available online from McGills Bookstore, which can be accessed online at www.mcgills.com.au, but you must warn them not to send you the manuals via UPS, the service they use, because it is very expensive, being able to exceed the value of the textbooks in question, but to be sent via Australian Post and preferably in one package all. For example, for the two textbooks required for the BLW16 – Introduction to Law course, which cost about $ 110 AUD, the postage was also about $ 40 AUD.
An advantageous option would be to find someone who has previously studied after them and buy them from this person. But be careful to check that the editions correspond to those on the site, because you may be surprised that they do not correspond.
For an easier understanding of the above, I will publish here a table taken from the sitewww.cpacareers.com.au regarding CPA accredited courses in the case of OLA:
Now, the money paid for the Australian tuition is not, as many may be tempted to believe, a necessary and sufficient condition for obtaining the coveted equivalent. To pass the exam, a serious study of at least 10 hours per week is required for each course, as recommended by them. This is probably the reason why you cannot enroll in more than 4 courses in the same semester, considering that you probably do not have the necessary physical time to be able to prepare thoroughly. Or maybe out of academic pride, for the prestige of the institution, who knows. However, the rule is clear: a maximum of 4 courses can be studied in a single semester.
In order to overcome this obstacle, you must schedule your academic course in advance, because not all subjects are offered in all semesters and therefore you must check well before what is available and in what period. In the case of OLA, the academic year is structured in 4 semesters (study period as they are called) lasting 13 weeks each, so about 3 months and starting at the beginning of each month of each season, respectively December, March, June and September. (In the case of USQ, the year is divided into 3 periods, the actual study period being only 12 weeks, but with some buffer periods between longer semesters, probably intended for administrative activities – proofreading, publication of results). The last date until which registration can be made is the last Friday of the third week before the start of the courses, thus remaining a buffer period of two weeks and a weekend between the date of last registration and the date from which the semester actually begins. OLA also uses a system of classifying the courses according to the degree of difficulty, the level of knowledge necessary to be acquired previously for a better development of the educational process, specifying in the case of each course “undergraduate level”. It is possible that this is also the year in which the course is studied at the respective university within a university program, because it varies from 1 to 3, in the ascending order of the degree of difficulty (1 – the easiest, 3 – the most difficult). But,
To take the exam you have to arrange with an “invigilator” to supervise you, which is quite convenient because his choice belongs exclusively to you, you do not have to go to any specified location, as may be the case of an Australian university that may have international exchange relations with any other Romanian university located about 100 km away, let’s say about your place of residence, and where you might be scheduled to take the exam. And let’s not forget the element of surprise, which in this case would be on the side of the examinee, who can win the goodwill and sympathy of the examiner. This does not mean that you have to get drunk before J. I have taken this paragraph and I reproduce it in its entirety to understand what everyone wants regarding the quality of the person who can be designated as a supervisor:
” Exams are a part of many OLA units, and in most cases, you’ll need to organize an exam supervisor, called an invigilator. There are many people who can supervise your exam, for example, Ministers of Religion, School Teachers, Managers , Police Officers and Librarians.Your unit materials will include information on any special requirements, as well as an inviglation form.“Everyone is free to choose this invigilator, but once appointed, he will receive in an envelope the instructions for conducting the exam, specifying all the details from the date of the exam, along with the identification data of the candidate until the time they must open the topics and the time at which the paper must be submitted.
After taking and passing the exams required to cover the holes, you will receive on request a Statement of Academic Record (which costs $ 10 AUD), which will mention the name of the university with which you studied the respective course (s). Australia, so not Open Universities Australia). Only now can you say that you have entered the straight line with the equivalence process and relax with a glass of champagne with your friends. After you make some legalized copies at the Australian Consulate in Bucharest after this Statement of Academic Record, necessary later for the file that you will send to DIMIA, but also for the case of any eventuality, you will send this diploma to CPA. They should re-evaluate their studies within about 2 weeks of receiving the documents. I repeat in the case of CPA reassessment it costs nothing within 2 years from the date of initial application. And with that I think I said pretty much everything, maybe a little succinctly in the last part, because I haven’t gotten that far yet.
PS This information is not exhaustive and ABSOLUTELY correct, but it is the sum of my experiences in the process of equivalence of the profession of accountant, as well as a lot of other information taken from here and there, from britishexpats, various other cases that I was aware of. and the like. In this regard, any further suggestions are welcome and especially do not forget to check any information on the official website of DIMIA and / or the respective professional body (this is valid for all professions). If I made a mistake somewhere, I apologize, that was not my intention and I am waiting to be corrected.
In the hope that I have not demoralized you beyond the limits of the bearable all those who have nowhere to go and you have to take this path, I can’t wait to tell you from my personal experience “I succeeded” like many before me.