Chartered Accountants & CPA Merger

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Is this not anticompetitive? Does it need competition authority approval?
The accountancy institutes sector was already a cartel long before this. Firms are effectively prisoners of whichever institute of they are a member. Moving between institutes is variously either prohibited or fiendishly complicated.
 
Members already voted to merge.
I wold be surprised if these once off costs arent already incurred.
Some would have been, but other will not yet have been.

Do you have some skin in the game?
 
Do you have some skin in the game?

Apart from being a member - none.

However, I attended a town hall meeting and put several questions to the top table. I wasn't surprised members of both Institutes backed the merger.

We will be better together plus the institute will be stronger financially.
 
I don’t think it’s anti competitive. Merging one small body into the largest one isn’t really affecting the market much.

A regulatory body with 5 or 6k members isn’t sustainable IMO. The admin of registers etc is too much. Let alone inspections and exams and all those overheads,

I did watch some videos but I didn’t bother attending any presentations. I was attracted by the idea of calling myself a CPA if I wanted to move to USA but I gather that’s not as easy as it sounded and I’d have to do exams etc. And pay more fees
 
I don’t think it’s anti competitive. Merging one small body into the largest one isn’t really affecting the market much.

It won't impact our daily work much - but it will create the largest professional association on the island of Ireland.
I see some teacher's unions are considering amalgamation to improve their clout.
Combining resources will also help.

There is one resolution on courses for public sector finance that I must look into. I was unaware of changes in that area
 
We will become the largest professional association on the island

The Asti and TUI are even considering a merger at the moment.

Members already voted for the CAI/CPA merger. Having one Irish accountancy institute should give us a stronger voice
 
Why is becoming bigger better? The Institute didn’t rate or recognise the CPA qualification academically. Now they’re giving these people parity. It’s ridiculous.
Members of both institutes voted to merge. We already voted for one Irish accountancy institute.

The biggest professional association on the island will have greater clout and one institute will be stronger financially. The vote to merge has already been endorsed by members.
 


The vote on the 17th is on a range of resolutions.
 
A majority of those who voted, not a majority.

CAI is already the largest accountancy body on the island. 32k members

CPA 5k

Bar of Ireland 2k
IPAV 1.4k
Law Society of Ireland 11k
Society of Actuaries in Ireland 2.1k

I don't see numbers for any professional body in Ireland that are higher than CAI.

The arguement for financial strength has been severely weakened by messaging that there will be no redundancies and that CPA have their own white elephant on Harcourt Street.
 
Thinking through the process of becoming a member… exams, paying subs, regulated if you are running a practice, getting investigated if you are naughty

There must be a cut off point to make members subs cover the costs, and I’d say 5k members is tight so I can see why they aren’t economically feasible. Someone did comment that they made a loss last year. So in the interests of not letting that organisation fail and leave the 5k floundering it makes sense. Wasn’t there another body that vanished a few years ago when they were simply too small to be sustained.

Takeover rather than merger I’d say given the relative size but sure that’s just language.


Anyway as someone said it’s been voted on and passed. Be interesting to see how the balance sheet stacks up end of 2024, or whenever the legal merger happens.

A few million from the sale of the smaller building and some staff shrinkage maybe.
 
lol so they are currently the largest professional body, that argument was surely not aimed at aca members was it? Bit sketchy on the truth then if it was.
 
The merger would have been palatable if CPAs were prevented from using the ACA/FCA designation. But the Institute has sold its members down the river. They’ve taken a professional qualification that’s tough to get and handed it over for free to a cohort that were either unable or unwilling to achieve the qualification.
 
I think the qualifications are pretty similar now, maybe not « back in the day ». But the syllabus and exams seem to be pretty much the same now. And the older members who might not have made the grade for entry 30 years ago will be heading for retirement in a few years anyway so I don’t think that’s a big deal in the overall scheme of things.

I’m just seeing a very expensive campaign and a spot of disinformation, eg using CPA designation in USA, as an irritant more than anything else. And not much information about how savings are actually going to be made. I do believe that someone has done the maths but why not share this?

In terms of efficiency for the profession in the country closing unprofitable ´branches’ makes sense.
 
Anyway as someone said it’s been voted on and passed. Be interesting to see how the balance sheet stacks up end of 2024
Pooling resources makes financial sense and it will give the organisation greater clout.

Cost of student acquisition should also drop.

Bigger changes coming to accountancy from AI..
 
The CPA qualification is so highly regarded by the Institute that it isn’t recognised academically in terms of credits or exemptions versus something like ACCA which is. The Institute needed a financial bailout and has chosen to go down the road of allowing people with certified accounting/accounting technician type qualifications in the back door.
 
The CPA qualification is so highly regarded by the Institute
While you are indeed entitled to your tuppence worth - the boards and membership of the CAI and CPA differ from it.

Can I refer you to the IASSA and CAI websites that you may find enlightenment?
 
Members of both institutes agreed to merge.

Is it with CAI members that you have now have an issue with?

That decision has already been made by members.

That race already has been run
 
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