ACCAMigrantAccReportLR

8/2/2019 ACCAMigrantAccReportLR

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/accamigrantaccreportlr 1/16

The talent is in the choiceExploring newly-arrived accountants’ experiences

gaining employment in Australia

An ACCA research paper



Contents

About this research 3

Methodology 4

Key findings 5

Report 7

Conclusion 15



PAGE 3

About this research

There has been much debate over the past 12 months about the shortage of qualified

accountants in Australia.

To address this shortage, the Australian Federal

Department of Immigration has been encouraging

skilled migrants such as those with an ACCA

designation to consider living in Australia.

ACCA members have been migrating to Australia

from around the world for many decades and

the numbers are increasing each year.

Australia has welcomed over 4,000 people who

have earned the ACCA designation. Indeed, the

bulk of ACCA’s members in Australia obtained

their ACCA qualification in another market.

This means that ACCA members working in

Australia are truly diverse, originating from many

countries around the world.

It is important to acknowledge that migrating

to another country is a life-changing decision.

To assist newly arrived accountants to adjust

to working conditions in Australia, and to

encourage ACCA members living in other

countries to consider working here, ACCA has

commissioned research to explore members’

experiences working in Australia and adapting

to life in a new country.

It is hoped the findings from the research

will help newly-arrived ACCA members to adjust

to life in Australia. It is also anticipated the

findings will be used by members considering

migrating to Australia as background research

before taking the decision to immigrate.

Importantly, ACCA wants the wider accounting

community to take note of this paper when

considering hiring an accountant who has

gained overseas experience.

As the findings show, an accountant with the

ACCA designation has skills that are directly,

and immediately, transferable to the Australian

working environment. An accountant who has

gained experience overseas is also likely to be

able to provide a perspective on a business that

someone with only local experience cannot.

While it is easy to assume that a newly arrived

accountant won’t have the same skills as an

accountant with an Australian background,

there are many benefits a person with overseas

experience can bring to an organisation that

a local person does not have.

Picking up specific local knowledge can be

learned relatively quickly – what takes time

is developing the skills and knowledge to pass

the exams and complete the training

requirements to become an ACCA member.



PAGE 4

Findings from this research are based on responses received from 536 ACCA members to an electronic

questionnaire of 12 questions.

The questionnaire was originally sent to 1,112 members, with the response rate to the questionnaire

being 48 percent.

The questions were a mix of short answer questions and questions developed on a Likert Scale.

The questions were developed after a roundtable discussion ACCA held in early 2006 with leading

members of the accounting and business communities to ascertain the most common challenges newly

arrived accountants face in their workplaces.

A copy of the questionnaire appears in Appendix A.

Methodology



PAGE 5

Key findings

• 70 percent of ACCA members felt they were

able to fully utilise their skills in their current

role. In particular, respondents said that

accounting principles are the same the world

over, and what they had learned during their

training with ACCA was directly applicable to

the Australian situation. Many said that

learning Australian differences in tax and

business law did not take long.

• However, 26 percent of members indicated

they were not fully utilising their skills,

indicating an opportunity for some Australian

businesses to further utilise their accountants

with the ACCA designation.

• ACCA members felt that they had skills that

accountants who had only trained in Australia

did not have. In particular, ACCA members

felt they had particularly strong skills in

International Financial Reporting Standards,

international tax and working on large

transaction.

• Despite this, 52 percent of members reported

that they had trouble having their overseas

experience and education fully recognised by

Australian employers.

• ACCA members in Australia are truly culturallydiverse – responses to this survey were received

from accountants who received their initial

training in 20 different countries. Despite the

geographical diversity of the membership

base, the training ACCA accountants receive

is the same: no matter where they are located,

every ACCA member has to pass the same

set of very challenging accounting exams.

• The majority of members who responded

to this survey (55 percent) said that it took

them less than six months to adjust to

working life in Australia.

• ACCA members in Australia are most likely

to have gained their formal accounting

qualifications from ACCA in either the UK

(36 percent of respondents) or Asia

(35 percent of respondents).

• ACCA members in Australia are also members

of a range of other professional bodies in the

financial services area, demonstrating ACCA

members’ propensity to extend their

education and experience in fields related to

accounting through further study. Other

professional bodies to which ACCA member

belong include:

– Certified Senior Advisors

– Institute of Indirect Tax (UK)

– Management Information Systems

Association

– Singapore Insurance Institute

– The Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK)

– The Chartered Institute of Marketing

– The Chartered Insurance Institute (UK)

– Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK)

– Financial Services Institute of Australasia

– Irish Taxation Institute– The Chartered Institute of Taxation (UK)

– Information Systems Audit and Control

Association

– Institute of Chartered Secretaries and

Administrators (UK)

– Certified Management Accountants

(Canada)



Key findings

PAGE 6

• The majority (61 percent) of respondents had

not gained any other formal qualification

since arriving in Australia. This demonstrates

that the skills learned through ACCA are

sufficient to gain skilled employment in the

accounting industry Australia.

• A number of ACCA members have, however,

chosen to continue their education after

having arrived in Australia and interestingly,many have earned qualifications in disciplines

other than accounting. Respondents to this

survey had also earned qualifications from

professional bodies in the areas of marketing,

securities and insurance. Cross-disciplinary

education allows an individual to bring a

valuable range of different perspectives to a

problem or task.



PAGE 7

Report

1. What is your current position?

Job title %

Account director > 1

Accountant (hybrid role) > 1

Accounting team leader > 1

Associate director > 1

Banker > 1

Bookkeeper > 1

CEO > 1

Chairman > 1

CIO > 1

Company secretary > 1

Compliance officer > 1

Divisional heads > 1

Financial planner > 1

Forensics > 1

Group accountant > 1

Group finance manager > 1

Insolvency practitioner > 1IT > 1

Managing director > 1

Migration agent > 1

Partner > 1

Project manager > 1

Real estate agent > 1

Student > 1

Treasury > 1

Assistant accountant 1

Assistant manager/deputy manager 1

Finance officer 1Internal audit 1

Self employed 1

Taxation accountant 1

Academic lecturer 2

Accounting analyst 2

Accounting manager 2

Accounts clerk/admin 2

Business analyst 2

Business owner 2

CFO 2

Finance manager 2

Financial analyst 2

Director 3

Management accountant 3

Consultant 3

Financial accountant 4

Senior accountant 4

Auditor 5

Financial controller 7

Not employed 7

Manager/supervisor 14

Accountant 17

A wide range of people holding different job

titles are represented in the research, with

a total of 50 different job titles named by

respondents.

By far the most common response to this

question was ‘accountant’, with a total of

17 percent of respondents calling themselves

an accountant.

The sample also includes representatives at

various levels of seniority, from bookkeepers

to chief financial officers and even a CEO.

2. How long have you been employed

in your current role?

%

Less than one year 41

One to three years 36

Three to five years 10

Five to ten years 8

More than ten years 5

Forty-one percent of respondents had been

in their job for less than one year, the highest

percentage of responses. This was followed

by respondents who had been in their jobs for

one to three years, 36 percent of respondents.



The third most common response was those

who had been in their roles for between five

and ten years.

This indicates the liquid nature of the

employment environment in the accounting

and financial arenas.

3. In addition to your ACCA designation,

which other qualifications do you possess?

Twenty-five percent of respondents only carry

the ACCA designation.

Seventeen percent of respondents possess

a post graduate degree in addition to their

ACCA designation.

Twelve percent of respondents possess an

undergraduate degree in addition to their

ACCA designation.

Of those that carry designations from other

professional bodies, respondents were most

likely to have also earned a designation

from an accountancy professional body other

than ACCA, with 13 percent of respondents

having earned a designation from another

accountancy professional body.

Six respondents had earned designations

from professional bodies in the tax area.

Five respondents had earned designations

from professional bodies in the information

technology areas.

Respondents had also earned qualifications

from professional bodies in the areas of

marketing, securities and insurance.

#

American Institute of Certified 1

Accountants (US)

Certified Senior Advisors 1

Chinese Institute of Certified 1

Accountants

Institute of Chartered Accountants 1

of Pakistan

Institute of Indirect Tax (UK) 1

Management Information Systems 1

Association

National Institute of Accountants 1

Singapore Insurance Institute 1

The Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK) 1

The Chartered Institute of Marketing 1

The Chartered Insurance Institute (UK) 1

The Institute of Accounting Technicians 1

in Ireland

Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK) 2

Financial Services Institute of Australasia 2

Institute of Certified Public Accountants 2

of Kenya

The Institute of Chartered Accountants 2

in England & Wales (UK)

Irish Taxation Institute 2

Association of Accounting Technicians 3

of Sri Lanka

Institute of Chartered Accountants 3

of India

Institute of Chartered Secretaries 1

and Administrators (Canada)New Zealand Institute of Chartered 3

Accountants

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (UK) 3

Information Systems Audit and Control 4

Association

CPA Australia 4

Institute of Certified Public Accountants 4

of Singapore

Institute of Chartered Secretaries 4

and Administrators (UK)

Report

PAGE 8



PAGE 9

Report

Certified Management Accountants 5

(Canada)

Hong Kong Society of Accountants 8

Malaysia Institute of Certified 9

Accountants

Hong Kong Institute of Certified 11

Accountants

Chartered Institute of Management 12

Accountants

Association of Accounting Technicians 14

(UK)

4. What qualifications have you gained

since arriving in Australia?

The majority of respondents had not gained

additional qualifications since arriving in

Australia.

While a small number of respondents –

just under three percent – had opted to

gain additional accounting qualifications

in Australia, the vast majority of members

had not gained an Australian accounting

qualification since arriving here.

This demonstrates that members do not

necessarily need to gain a local accounting

qualification in order to practice in Australia.

Interestingly, a total of 20 respondents had

chosen to extend their education once in

Australia by earning qualifications in a field

other than accounting, including in the

fields of mining and metallurgy, digital

communications, insolvency and even event

management, demonstrating the ability of

ACCA members to develop experience in a

range of different fields.

%

None 61

CPA designation 13

Other 12

University degree 7

ICAA designation 3

NIA designation 3

TAFE course > 1

Other qualifications gained from:

• Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK)

• Australian Institute of Mining and

Metallurgy

• Certified Management Accountants

• Certified Senior Advisors

• CFA Institute

• Chartered Secretaries Australia

• Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public

Accountants• Hong Kong Society of Accountants

• Information Systems Audit and Control

Association

• Insolvency Practitioners Association

of Australia

• Institute of Chartered Secretaries

and Administrators (Canada)

• Institute of Internal Auditors

• Institute of Management Consultants

• Mortgage Industry Association of Australia

• New Zealand Institute of CharteredAccountants

• Taxation Institute of Australia

• The Financial Planning Association

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants

in England & Wales



Report

5. Where did you gain your formal

qualification(s)?

%

UK 36

Asia 35

Africa 13

Other 9

Middle East 6

North America 1

Europe >1

Accountants trained in the UK (36 percent)

and Asia (35 percent) were the largest groups

represented in the sample.

The cultural diversity of the membership base

is reflected in the response to this question,

with members originating from countries

including Mauritius, Kenya and Malta.

Respondents from a total of 20 different

countries completed the survey.

6. Did the Australian Federal Department of

Immigration recognise the qualifications you

gained overseas?

Sixty-seven percent of respondents said

their ACCA designation was considered

to be the equivalent of a local undergraduatedegree ONLY after successful completion

of a bridging course in Australian law

and taxation.

Eleven percent of respondents said their

undergraduate degree was recognised by

Australian immigration. Other qualifications

that were officially recognised include

qualifications provided by:

• Hong Kong Institute of Certified

Practicing Accountants

• Institute of Chartered Secretaries

and Administrators

• Institute of Cost & Management

Accountants of Pakistan

• Institute of Internal Auditors

• Institute of Taxation Ireland

• New Zealand Institute of Chartered

Public Accountants

• The Association of Accounting

Technicians (UK)

• Hong Kong Society of Accountants

• The Chartered Institute of Management

Accountants

7. Do you believe you are able to fully utilise

your professional skills in your past and

current roles in Australia?

Seventy percent of respondents answered

yes to this question, with 26 percent

answering no. Four percent of respondents

did not respond.

Of those who said they were able to fully

utilise their skills in Australia, comments

included that they were:

“…able to gain employment in a bank whichwould have been more difficult in London…”

And that “accounting principles are the

same…the only differences are tax and legal

issues.” This was a common sentiment,

with other respondents stating that

“accounting skills are transferable from

one boundary to another” and that “audit

is the same everywhere.”

PAGE 10



PAGE 11

Report

Another respondent stated that there are

“better opportunities available to me in

Australia than in the UK to utilise my

professional qualifications.”

One respondent noted that “employers want

overseas trained accountants as they have a

good reputation and a good work ethic”,

while another said that there is a “high

demand for skilled finance professionals”.

One stated that “the working culture is good

over here and it is just a matter of time to get

familiarised with the local laws and practices.

Another said that “a lot of the skills gained

with an ACCA qualification are generic and

indicate you have the aptitude for highly

skilled accountancy roles.”

In terms of specific experience overseas

members can bring to Australia, one

commented that he felt his employer

appreciated the “IPO and listing experience

[he] gained in the UK to Australia.”

Another said that “knowledge of IFRS is

beneficial as it has been adopted in Australia

in 2005/6.”

Of those that said they did NOT feel they wereable to fully utilise their skills once in Australia,

some of the comments included that:

“Corporate life is quite different in Australia”

and that the “working culture is different in

Australia…tax and governance is also different.”

Another said that “it’s been difficult getting

a job. Despite experience gained overseas

in positions such as financial controller and

finance manager I have failed to get similar

positions in Australia.”

Another said that “you cannot be granted

membership to the associations here without

significant additional study.”

8. What emphasis do employers in Australia

place on local qualifications and experience?

%

Very high 39

High 32

Average 22

Low 4

Very low 3

These findings show that local employers

place a high emphasis on local experience.

(There appears to be a perception gap here

between members’ perception that their skills

are transferable and applicable to the

Australian environment, and the perception

that local employers place a high level of

importance on local qualifications.)

9. Do you have skills that your colleagues who

gained qualifications in Australia do nothave?

Yes 59

No 38

No response 3

A majority of respondents reported that

they felt they had skills and experiences

that colleagues who had only Australian

experience did not possess.



Report

PAGE 12

When asked to state what these skills were,

respondents reported that they had additional

skills in the following areas:

• Interpretation of International Financial

Reporting Standards

• Knowledge of overseas tax, accounting

and business legislation

• A broader outlook than colleagues with

Australian experience only due to having

worked in more than one market

• A wider view of commerce and more

experience, which equals more confidence

to initiate change and ask why?

• Flexibility and adaptability

Others said they had:

• Better experience working with large firms

and clients than domestic accountants

• Better all-round skills – Australian

accountants tend to specialise in

functional areas.

• Better ability to deal with people of

different backgrounds

• Better exposure to how corporations work

in different countries, especially in GST,

which has been in place in the UK and

Ireland for more than 20 years

ACCA members are also very likely to speaka language other than English, another

advantage over peers solely educated in

Australia who are unlikely to be able to speak

a second Language fluently.

Other comments included that:

“Having worked in insolvency in the UK, I have

had exposure to much larger insolvency projects

than most Australian workers could imagine.”

“Having worked in London I have had a

greater exposure to financial markets, on a

bigger scale than Sydney”

Another said that he believes “that my ACCA

[designation] gave me an edge over other

Australian qualified accountants.”

Another commented that, thanks to the

skills he has acquired through ACCA, he has

“a combination of accounting, audit, taxation

and company secretarial skills that none of

my colleagues have.”

Another noted that “I have found it very easy

to pick up Australian law.”

10. What were the main challenges you faced

when you arrived in Australia in terms of

obtaining employment?

(Responses total more than 100 percent

because respondents could provide more than

on response to this question.)

%

Difficulty in having overseas 52

qualifications and experience recognised

Understanding the Australian business 28

environmentGaining employment 27

Understanding cultural differences 23

in the workplace

Other challenges respondents reported:

• Don’t arrive in Oz two months before

Christmas when no employer is in a

recruitment frame of mind! (This is

extremely important – I arrived at the end



Report

of October and began work in February.)

• At 47 some employers considered me too old.

• Getting Australian experience is important,

but once you get your first contract it’s

easier. Big four experience is very useful

for overseas candidates.

• Understanding the regulatory environment

11. What did you do to overcome these

challenges?

Responses to this question were varied.

A selection of the more common responses

appears below:

• I tried all possible employment

opportunities (relevant to my skills and

professional qualifications) to increase

my chances of becoming employed.

• The Australian Taxation Office’s website

was very useful in gaining an

understanding on the Australian tax

regime. Business programs on TV and

newspaper The Australian Financial

Review are other sources of information.

• Be emotionally and mentally prepared to

face the difficulties of getting a job in

another country.

• Present well at interviews. Fully explain

your previous positions. Join lots ofagencies. Be patient.

• I applied directly to the firm.

• I was offered a job through my former

employer in the UK.

• It took me about two years to fully

understand the cultural differences in the

workplace and to recognise the need for

personal change if I was going to be

continuously successful in the Australian

workplace. To overcome these challenges,

it helped to be exposed to the Australian

way of life by socialising with as many

people at work and outside work,

and not just mix with members of my

own community.

• Join a multi national corporation.

• My big four experience and my ACCA

qualification got me a three week

contract with ING, which was extended

to three months.

• Peer feedback was a great help.

• I undertook bridging subjects in Australian

taxation and company law to gain

knowledge of local legislation.

• Work for an overseas company –

my current employer is a French company

so they are used to people from overseas

• I work harder than my peers.

• I wrote a good CV and worked hard to

make employers understand the

experience I have at interviews.

12. How long did it take you to adjust to

working in Australia?

Less than six months 55

Six months 14

One year 14Two years 6

Three years 2

Five years and over > 1

These figures show that for most people,

it does not take long to adjust to working life

in Australia. The majority of respondents

reported adjusting within six months (55%).

PAGE 13



PAGE 14

Report

13. When you were first employed in Australia,

did you perceive that your skills filled gaps

in your place of employment that were

previously lacking?

Responses to this question were almost

evenly split, with a small majority, 51 percent

indicating they felt they did have skills that

were lacking in their place of employment.

Forty-nine percent of respondents stated

that they did not believe they had skills

that were previously lacking in their place

of employment.

Some of the skills respondents reported that

they felt they had that were missing in their

place of employment before their arrival included:

• Better experience of working on large

transactions

• International Financial Reporting

Standards experience

• Analytical skills

• IT skills

• Audit skills in a small professional practice

• Experience gained working for large

London companies

• Experience in organisations being privatised

• Financial modelling, knowledge of

financial markets and instruments

• Experience in the hedge funds industry

• Insurance experience learned during a year

in Bermuda gaining these skills

• International business acumen

• International treasury management

• UK tax system

• VAT/GST knowledge

One respondent commented that “balance

sheet risk-based auditing was severely lacking

in Australia when I arrived in 1998. I saved

my company many thousands of dollars in

changing the approach to auditing.”

Another said that “I was the only one who

was prepared to sit down and trawl through

pages of data to reconcile an international

company's business activity statement which

had not been correct for 6 months.”

Another member stated that: “in my first role

I was specifically employed because I was an

accountant with SQL report writing abilities

which was not a common skill here then.”



PAGE 15

Conclusion

Newly-arrived ACCA members are often presented with similar objections when applying

for a job in Australia.

They are told they do not have the requisite local

experience to carry out a particular role.

Sometimes, employers do not fully comprehend

the strenuous nature of the training they receive

through ACCA.

In addition, in certain instances members’ skillshave not been fully appreciated by a prospective

employer, forcing an ACCA member to take a

job that does not utilise their experience to its

full potential.

While it may be natural for local employers to

favour an Australian candidate over an overseas

candidate, it’s also important to recognise the

benefits an ACCA-trained candidate who may

be newly arrived to this country can bring to

a business.

International business acumen, an understanding

of International Financial Reporting Standards

and the propensity to work hard and learn

quickly are just some of the key attributes

ACCA members possess.

With the current severe shortage of finance

and accounting staff in Australia, ACCA is urgingthe Australian business community to think

about its attitude to job candidates with overseas

experience and, instead of emphasising a lack

of local experience in the hiring process,

appreciate the unique talents an overseas

candidate, particularly one with an ACCA

designation, can bring to a role.



A study by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Completed December 2006

ACCA Australia and New Zealand

Suite 707 109 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000

tel: +61 2 9233 1242 / fax: +61 2 9233 1245 / [email protected] / www.accaglobal.com

© The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, 2006

ACCAMigrantAccReportLR

Documents

Transcript of ACCAMigrantAccReportLR