My IAB tutor at college is AIA qualified (Association of International Accountants) and has suggested I look into doing their exams when I finish the IAB.
I'm very keen to continue my studies and I hope to one day qualify as a professional accountant. I follow this forum quite a bit and I don't see AIA mentioned much compared to the ACCA and AAT etc.
Is the AIA worth doing or should I look at the ACCA etc?
AIA and IFA were about the same level for a long while but IFA have now got IFAC recognition where AIA have not.
The links between IAB and IFA are very close and many people wanting to move from bookkeeping to accountancy take that route. (It's also now fillinng up with ACCA people like myself who find it impossible to get the ACCA post qualification experience requirements).
ACCA is worth looking at if you are able to get the experience requirement to become an accountant which is three years in a suitably qualified practice of which two must be post qualification.
Even though IFA is coming on in leaps and bounds ACCA is still the next higher level and of course above that you have chartered (ICAEW etc.).
The AIA have been mentioned a few times on here but there haven't been many responses.
You might also want to try Accountingweb although both AIA and IFA get savaged a little over there I believe quite unfairly.
The only thread that saw much activity related to the AIA was this one which is quite old (October 11) so probably now the inforkmation in it is out of date :
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Sorry to high-jack the thread. My sister-in-law is an ACCA qualified accountant and she would have a fit if anyone said the ICAEW was a higher qualification than the ACCA!
My understanding is that the ACCA and ICAEW are the same level. It's more of a historic snobbery issue, with the ACCA being classed as 'Certified' and the ICAEW being 'Chartered'. The ACCA got their own Royal Charter about 30 years back so they changed their name to Chartered Certified.
I still believe that ICAEW accountants think they're a set above the rest, but in reality they're the same level as the ACCA, at least in the small/medium business community. Quite a few of the accountants I deal with are ACCA and some offer audit services.
It might be a different case in the top 10 firms where I'm sure the old boys networks still remain strong, although I'm told even ICAEW is out of favour, with the scottish insitute ICAS being the qualification of choice!
I'm neither ACCA or ICAEW unfortunately, but I like the ACCA title Chartered Certified, two for the price of one in terms of titles!
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John
Full Time Book-keeper, Dad of 3 Teenage Girls, Part-Time Taxi Driver :)
it's a complete confussing minefield of qualifications out there.
ACCA is the association of chartered certified accountants and are commonly referred to as certified accountants.
ICAEW / ICAS / ICAI are respectively the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Commonly these are refered to as Chartered and are very much at the top of the tree (There is also the chartered institute of Taxation up there in the clouds as well).
Lets give the tree a few levels (top down).
ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI, CTA
ACCA, CGMA (CGMA used to be CIMA. Its probably safe to say that at the moment ACCA is ahead of CIMA but that's a close one)
IFA, AIA (Some current debate as to whether IFA have edged ahead of AIA)
ATT (Association of Tax Technicians. there is arguement to suggest that this should be level with or above AIA / IFA but as it's a tax only qualification I've put it below)
AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians. Debatable as to whether at level IV this should also be at the same level as AIA)
ICB, IAB (Bookkeeping Qualifications which wander into accounting territory at the higher levels)
There are other institutions and because of where I've put someone on the tree doesn't detract from the qualification in it's own right.
Many of the qualifications slip into each others territory and I'm not in any way suggesting that someone with an ICB qualification could not hold their own in a technical debate with someone with another body as it's very much down to the person, not really the bit of paper that they hold.
Sure others will move my tree around a bit but for a starting point I don't think that it's too far off.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Sorry to high-jack the thread. My sister-in-law is an ACCA qualified accountant and she would have a fit if anyone said the ICAEW was a higher qualification than the ACCA!
My understanding is that the ACCA and ICAEW are the same level. It's more of a historic snobbery issue, with the ACCA being classed as 'Certified' and the ICAEW being 'Chartered'. The ACCA got their own Royal Charter about 30 years back so they changed their name to Chartered Certified.
I still believe that ICAEW accountants think they're a set above the rest, but in reality they're the same level as the ACCA, at least in the small/medium business community. Quite a few of the accountants I deal with are ACCA and some offer audit services.
It might be a different case in the top 10 firms where I'm sure the old boys networks still remain strong, although I'm told even ICAEW is out of favour, with the scottish insitute ICAS being the qualification of choice!
I'm neither ACCA or ICAEW unfortunately, but I like the ACCA title Chartered Certified, two for the price of one in terms of titles!
Hi John,
an awful lot of chartered firms out there started out as Chartered Certified but took the additional exams to convert over (unfortunately no longer an option as ICAEW have stopped this route to entry).
You have to keep your ACCA membership as well as the ICAEW membership and hold two practicing certicates.
If they are the same level why on earth would anyone do that?
Conversely I agree with your sister in that ACCA paper P2 (commonly referred to as the beast) is officially recognised as the most difficult paper of any body ICAEW included so how can one say that ICAEW is higher when the papers of the "lesser" body are more complex?
However, the pecking order is a simple statement of fact.
There are more jobs for chartered accountants than people to fill them. The same cannot be said of certified so being chartered it would seem is quite litterally a passport to employment.
On the top firms comment, thinking of the top four, ACCA outnumber ICAEW but that makes sense as surely in a market of supply and demand it is going to be considerably more expensive to hold on the chartered than to certified.
My own path has been chartered certified but I would not be so brave as to consider myself up there with the chartered demi gods.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
But many thanks for your help! 
