The IFA - educate me!

Posted by philhendy PM | on Wed, 20/04/2011 - 21:35 1097 5 comments | report

I received today a post on Twitter about professional bodies and my opinion on whether a member of the IFA (Institute of Financial Accountants) is a qualified accountant.

My understanding is that they are not officially qualified accountants. When I stated this I got a bit of a shrugged response as if I was incorrect.

The truth is 2 things, Twitter you can't post a full opinion in 140 characters and secondly, I really don't know much about the organisation. As far as I am aware it is not affiliated in the same league as ACCA, ICAEW and CIMA, who I regard as the main accounting bodies.

I have had a look at their website and I can see that they offer their own qualification as well as CPD and the like. It does not necessarily indicate the scope of the work that can be undertaken.

Can anyone enlighten/ educate me as to their role within the accounting profession. I am more than happy to listen!

Comments

NO is only two characters

Chris Smail | Thu, 21/04/2011 - 09:49 | Permalink

They are just another membership organisation.

They have exams

Tosie | Thu, 21/04/2011 - 12:04 | Permalink

I am not a member but do know that they have exams which means that they are more than a membership organisation. I have had requests from building societys requesting references and IFA is listed as an acceptable accountancy body

IFA IS A RECOGNISED ACCOUNTANCY QUALIFICATION

jas-t | Mon, 09/05/2011 - 17:32 | Permalink

The IFA is an associate member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). As I know, IFA is applying to be a full member. Thus, it is a recognised accountancy qualification and not a membership organisation.

IFA

Monsoon | Mon, 09/05/2011 - 23:16 | Permalink

AFAIK it's one of the non-chartered accountancy bodies. You chartered folk have to have non-chartered accountant organisations against which to distinguish yourselves, right? ;)

As I understand it, it's exam entry based, as opposed to, say, ICPA where you just need a referee to verify your 5 years experience, pay a fee, and you're a member. A lot of people tend not really to know what the IFA is about.

Being a MAAT will get you into Diploma level IFA membership (Financial Accounting Executive), after which there are 2 more levels to gain (the next one up being Associate, letters AFA, and then Fellow), which implies they put themselves above AAT status, but I've never looked into the syllabus to see how it compares. AAT seems to be more widely recognised though :)

The IFA are just another membership organisation

Cecil | Wed, 29/02/2012 - 20:46 | Permalink

Entry to the IFA is by one of three routes. From the IFA website:

Routes to Membership

Find the route that works for you

The Institute recognises there are many ways of acquiring knowledge and proving competence which may be proven in different ways. As a consequence IFA provides three flexible routes to membership:

By IFA qualification
By professional recognition, where recognition is given to other relevant qualifications already held
By accreditation of prior learning, where workplace experience is evaluated (available in the UK only).

Not surprisingly, the sizeable majority of IFA members have chosen the third route to membership — get your referee to verify your five years' of experience, pay your entry fee, and you're an accountant.

Another IFA accountant will do nicely as a professional referee — ever wondered why so many small firms of non-chartereds are all IFA members? That's why.

They're a membership organisation first and foremost.