खाए खा नखाए घिचको शैलीमा ACCA Exemption Procedures

With the formal publication of “ACCA Exemption Procedures for ACCA members in ICAN” by ICAN, it has been a matter of discussion that whether the exemption awarded unilaterally is done on fair basis. Some ACCA stakeholders have argued that something is better than nothing. Yes it is, but is that “something” given on fair basis or worth to ACCA members? The awarding is not done on scientific and logical basis. I had tried to form some opinions on why the award was not done on equitable basis:

1.      Paper Exemption:

I am not clear what is the basis that ICAN has used to award exemptions upto CAP II level. ICAN is a respected professional and regulatory body of Nepal. Everything it does should have reasonable grounds. Some CAP III papers which ACCA members are now required to sit for are already covered sufficiently in ACCA. For eg: if an ACCA member has passed a financial reporting paper based on IFRS, then why he is again required to give the same paper based on NAS (when NAS in itself seems the derivation from IFRS). Paper exemptions should be awarded after thorough study and comparison of syllabus coverage of both qualifications and not in a way of ‘whole-selling’. Only the CAP III papers which are not covered by a member in ACCA qualification final exams should have been fair to examine.

2.      Training:

The procedure has not clearly mentioned the training requirement for ACCA members to be the member of ICAN. The first Para of the procedure contains “Pl;l;P o's] sf]  k/LIff kf; ul/ pQm ;+:yfsf] ;b:otf xfl;n u/]sf JolQmn]  o; ;+:yfsf] clGtd tx (CAP III) sf] k/LIffdf ;fd]n eO{ ;f] k/LIff pQL0f{ ePdf lghnfO{ o; ;+:yfsf] ;b:otf k|bfg ug{ pko'Qm x'g] b]lvPsf]n]”. This has somehow indicated that the training taken for ACCA membership may be recognizable by ICAN.

As per section 8 of the procedures, ACCA members admitted as CAP III students have to fulfill the criterion as required by Nepal Chartered Accountants’ Act and Rules, might imply that they have to undergo three years of articleship under an ICAN member before giving CAP III exams in the context that ACCA members would have already undergone on 3 years training in accounting/finance related role under a professional accountant. It means it takes 6 years minimum for an ACCA student to be a member of ICAN provided he completes all ACCA & ICAN exams in first attempt. Additionally, if one ACCA student has undergone training under ICAN member for three years to get the membership of ACCA, then why ICAN is requiring duplication of the same training for another 3 years.

Few months back, ICAN had published “One year internship procedure for persons passing chartered accountancy or equivalent exams passed from foreign institutes.’ It has not defined who the foreign bodies are (which, we heard in the market, was intended for ICAI members)  and in the context ICAN has now accepted ACCA as equivalent foreign CA body, then the same procedure might also be applicable to ACCA members rather than 3 years or no articleship training requirement as discussed above. These confusing provisions presented in different laws of ICAN are clashing at the moment. So being a public body, ICAN should clarify this issue.

3.      Exemption Fees:

What can be noted from international context is exemption fees are charged normally at par with the exam fees charged for the individual papers. The same is the provision in case of ACCA qualification. ICAN has moved in the motion of wind in this case also. The exam fee for student of CAP I level is Rs 500/paper and for CAP II level is Rs 700/paper. But the exemption fee required for ACCA members is fixed as Rs 5000/paper (around 10/7 times higher respectively). On what basis, ICAN has fixed this fee?

One interesting and humorous but dishonorable provision, ACCA members with +2 are required to pay exemption fee for both CAP I and CAP II level papers and ACCA members with BBS are required to pay for CAP II level papers only. If a BBS graduate (off course with +2) gets the exemption of CAP I without required to pay exemption fee but ACCA graduates (with +2) are required to pay the same fee, what is the ground standing on which ICAN has done this?

More or less, the issues of discussion are focused on the aspects covered above. If these issues are not addressed, then I see the days near that ICAN will itself set aside this procedure and throw in a dustbin because I am quite sure that 99% of ACCA members are in against of the provision. ICAN has introduced a new product for ACCA members but what if the product does not create the value amongst the target customers. The same is the case now. Yes, ICAN has made an attempt to kill the snake (note that ACCA is a key competitor of ICAN in Nepal) with the stick unbroken. 

At the moment, I remember a famous dialogue of a nepali movie “मन परेको जुत्ता पो जुत्ता, नभए त खाली खुट्टै ठिक छ ।” If “Something” is defined and given in such ways then I don’t want this something, I am happy at nothing.

(This is my personal view as an ACCA member over the current issue. In any sense, this does not represent the official view of ACCA, UK)