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Student Handbook

3. Development of the Qualification Programme

3.1 Background

With the implementation of the Institute's Third Long Range Plan, the Institute set up a
Steering Committee on Professional Accreditation in 1994 to study and draw up proposals for a
new professional accreditation system. It was believed that the initiatives for change would
help the Institute successfully maintain its standing and reputation for high quality. After four
years of policy formulation and consultation process, a finalised plan of the Institute's new
Professional Accreditation System was derived.

The objectives of the Institute's Professional Accreditation System are firstly, to ensure that
professional accountants will have the required competence to meet future challenges; and
secondly, to enable the Institute to assume the full responsibility of ensuring the standard of the
Institute's professional examinations is on a par with world-wide leading professional
accountancy bodies.

The Professional Accreditation System introduced in 1999 includes the new requirements for
student registration and membership admission, and the structure of the professional
examinations. Under the new membership framework, two important elements are
introduced – the graduate entry and the competence standards.

3.1.1 Graduate Entry

All students for admission to the Institute will be required to hold a recognized degree
and to have acquired, through tertiary studies, an appropriate level of competence in
the key fields of accountancy. These include:

(a) Auditing
(b) Financial accounting and external reporting
(c) Financial management
(d) Information management and technology
(e) Legal environment of business
(f) Management accounting
(g) Professional ethics
(h) Taxation and tax planning

3.1.2 Competence Standards

The definition of competence-based standards at specified stages will allow the
Institute to have full control over its own admission standards at an internationally
accepted level with university autonomy being recognized and preserved.

Under the new system, a student must fulfil three requirements prior to seeking
admission to the Institute as a member: pre-entry education or the equivalent, practical
experience and knowledge by means of completing the Institute's professional
qualification examination, the QP.

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