CA vs ACCA

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CA vs ACCA – Which One is Better?

Q – Is ACCA better than CA?

Well, I wish to yell “Yes” but let’s look into some reasons to justify

Number of Papers / Stages

CA – 4 stages (21 Papers)
AFC Assessment of Fundamental Competencies 4 Papers
CAF – Certificate in Accounting and Finance 9 Papers
CFAP – Certified Finance and Accounting Professional 6 Papers
MSA – Multi-Subject Assessments 2 Papers

ACCA3 Stages (13 Papers)
Applied knowledge 3 Papers
Applied skills 6 Papers
Strategic professional 4 Papers
(2 Essentials and 2 Optional from 4)


Difficulty Level & Passing Ratio
CA is quite tougher comparatively than ACCA, the reasons are as under:

– Consistency in paper difficulty level – ICAP examiners often find it harder to maintain the same difficulty level from one attempt to another and that is also evident from their volatile passing ratio (discussed below). A few years back, there was an exam which yelded only a 2% passing result.

– Area and depth in the syllabus. For instance, Corporate Law, it includes all the laws you have ever heard of (Companies Act 2017) or not (Modaraba Act) and sometimes you end up wondering if you are pursuing a Lawyer Degree.

-In CA Finals, the average passing results in a single paper in a single attempt vary between 5%-25%. Whereas, in ACCA Professional Papers exam results vary between 30%-50% in one sitting.

Affiliation with Other Institutions
– In addition to ACCA certification, you can simultaneously get a foreign Bachelor’s degree of Oxford Brookes by just passing two tests, read more.
– Both (CA qualified and ACCA members) are equivalent to the Master’s Degree (M.COM) equivalency in Pakistan, read more.
– Similarly, both can become a member of ICAEW by passing 3 additional papers.

Package
In Pakistan

ACCA members in Pakistan get less than they deserve. The starting salary of an ACCA affiliate without any experience usually starts from PKR 20 to 30 thousand. However, if you have 2-3 years’ experience from the Big Four firms you can get up to PKR 70 to 100 Thousand.
Whereas if you are a CAF Qualified – you can get PKR 25 to 35 Thousand even if you have no experience.
P.E. Above comparison is between CAF & ACCA Qualified, as they both comprise 13 papers.

Internationally
In Middle-East and Europe, the pay gap between the two isn’t much and both are considered as almost an identical qualification in the eyes of the employer. The main thing that counts to the employer is the experience (Big 4 audit firms > Other than Big 4)

What About CA?

Q – Do CA worth more than ACCA?

I would like to answer this as, in Pakistan, Yes.
Reasons to opt for CA rather than ACCA is.

  • Initial Investment and Duration

The whole CA qualification cost around somewhere between 500,000 PKR to 550,000 including tuition and exam fees. Whereas, ACCA will cost around 600,000 to 650,000 including tuition fees and exam fees.

The calculation assumes PKR to GBP rate at 200 and assumes if you clear the papers in first attempt.

It takes on average two to three years to clear all 13 ACCA papers and further three years of work experience to become an ACCA member. On the other hand, it takes an average student 6 years to 7 years to become a CA member (3.5 years Article ship included)

  • Reputation / Class of Accountants

    As we have heard, Scarcity increases the value and class of a particular item, accordingly.
    For instance, there are only around Ten thousand (10,000) Chartered Accountants since 1947, out of which many are no more with us. In comparison, around Two Hundred And Fifty Thousand (250,000) members operating globally.

Q- What is the difference in the package offered to ACCA than CA?

Starting Salary for ACCA and CA Qualified with 3 years of experience

Location

Pakistan

UAE

Saudi Arabia

United Kingdom

CA Qualified

PKR 130,000

AED 14,000

SAR 18,000

GBP 3,500

ACCA

PKR 100,000

AED 13000

SAR 15,000

GBP 3,500

Cost of Living

Low

High

High

Very High

* These are rough estimates which vary from employer to employer (Audit firm, MNCs, PVT-Companies) and nature of the department (Finance, Internal audit, etc).

Best institutes for ACCA / CA.

It is not necessary to register with an Institute, you can opt for self-study and get a Qualified Home Tutor at your convenience and in a reasonable price. However, if don’t mind the untimely classes and few hour breaks in between, few notable institutes are:

In conclusion, if you want to live abroad and don’t want to keep grinding yourself for 5 to 6 years in CA, then ACCA will be a far better choice.

MuzCA vs ACCA
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Which Education Board to choose?

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Which Education Board to choose?

Cambridge walla! Well I wished; it was that easy of a choice.

Let’s talk about education system, today; we have,

  • Aga khan University Examination Board (AKU-EB)
  • Cambridge system (O and A levels)
  • Federal Board
  • Sindh Board

Cons

These are some prominent boards in the Education system of Pakistan, well Cambridge is not a part of educational system of Pakistan, but mentioned here nonetheless, as in Karachi a decent number of student enrolls in Cambridge system every year, in order to get into top ranking universities of Pakistan, you have to issue an equivalence certificate to apply for a seat. However, there is a quota for Cambridge students but ridiculously proportioned so best of luck approaching this way.

Now let’s dissect AKU-EB, in my opinion the way they teach and the paper pattern is more similar to a strict law of rattafication. Rather than Project based learning they focus on memorization, which in turns affects the willingness of the student to learn. The very first page of AKU-EB, is all boast about their students scoring positions in SSC and HSC. Worst way to make your child learn.

Federal Board, as the name suggest not a good choice to take, if you want to enroll in any university in Sindh, very few schools actually offers this board in Karachi. However, if you are from forces than only board, they teach is federal to their child and Army Public school do support and provide a medium for the children of officials, still I have seen children suffer in education because of their drastic shifting in every couple of years.

Sindh Board, sounds a joke, course isn’t updated since the freedom of Pakistan (sarcastically), no one recognize Sindh board as an educational board except Sindh itself, system needs renovation inside out, from their ID card to their admission slip, course material to their paper pattern, teachers to their invigilator. I can mention a million more problems of this board, well if you need to listen all, contact me.

 

Pros

Cambridge system is one of the most updated system, where they do focus on the quality of education, project-based learning is encouraged, soft skills do develop and self-esteem eventually grows, students can dream finally and have a creative mindset as well. If you are planning to send your kid abroad for higher studies than this is the platform to go. Different cultures, religions and traditions are one of the best things your child can learn and respect in this education system. Again, which school to choose is an essential question.

 

AKU-EB, umm yes, they do let their students to appear for SSC and HSC, so make your child a breathing machine! Jokes apart Aga Khan hospital university is the most renown and expensive of bunch, this board increases your tiny bit chances to be a part of it, as well as, have a choice to enroll in other universities around Pakistan.

 

Federal board, one of the best boards in Pakistan, to be a part of any university of Punjab province, Islamabad or even Khyber Pakhtunkhwa you had to have background education from Federal board, still the system is same no focus on skills, or personality development but a little better than AKU-EB.

 

Now our beloved Sindh Board, the biggest benefit of it is the eligibility in any university of Sindh, just score close to an A and walla, admission confirmed.

In my opinion seats allocation should not be on the type of examination board, but the quality of the student and most part should play in an interview to assess the skills of the candidate, currently interview plays a role of a broken stick to a blind man! Yes, completely useless.

Well stay tuned for further updates, and hopefully an update to this where I can proudly announce an update to Sindh board!

Reach me at info@tutorsandtuition.com

Educational Boards of Pakistan.
Educational Boards of Pakistan.
itsmeWhich Education Board to choose?
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Is Mathematics really hard?

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It was an hour-long debate with Rehma, as per she, mathematics is the toughest subject, to whom I disagree completely! for me it was a game based on numbers, where you just need few tips and tricks to understand the basic concept of math and use it to make your life a little fun.

For example, lets talk about the divisibility rule, to have a smart edge over everyone else. It will help you to divide in situations where your parent asks you for a quick calculation or you want to divide the share of your bill amongst friends but alas don’t want to pull out a calculator.

  • First one is easy Every even number is divisible by 2: try it!

 

  • How to know that a number is divisible by 3 or not? Simply add all the digits of that number, if the answer is divisible by 3 than the whole number is.

For example. Want to divide 8,976 by 3, lets figure out, can it really be without any remainder?

8+9+7+6=30 and yes you don’t need a calculator to figure it out that 30 does come in the table of 3. The number 8,976 is completely divisible by 3 i.e. 8,976 divided by 3 = 2,992.

 

  • Divisibility Rule for 5, a piece of cake, if number ends with a digit 0 or 5 than close your eyes and divide it by

 

  • What about 7? Well this one is quirky, first take the last digit of a number than multiply it by 2, subtract the answer with the remaining digits. If it comes in table of 7 than the whole number is divisible by 7, if it is still big repeat the step again and again and again…

For example. 6,909 is our number to be in question, lets take its last digit i.e. 9 multiply it by 2 answer is 18, now subtract 18 from remaining digits i.e. 690-18= 672, well number is still big lets do it again! Take last digit i.e. 2 multiply it by 2 = 4, subtract it from remaining digits i.e. 67-4= 63

Walla! 63 does come in the table of 7 so the whole number belongs to 7.

Few things to note here, to make math easier, learn tables from 2 to 9 that’s all, and here I have taken the first few prime numbers to show the divisibility rule,

What’s prime numbers? Stay tuned to learn more.

For any suggestion or questions feel free to write us at info@tutorsandtuition.com

MuzIs Mathematics really hard?
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