ICAA program

You may know that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), is one of the 2 professional accounting bodies in Australia (CPA Australia being the other). The ICAA have recently lowered its entry requirements to its professional program. You can now qualify for their professional program by completing only one 'financial accounting' unit (note: from 2008 this will be increased to three courses). This seems to be a response to the difficulties in accounting firms currently face in attracting graduates. Hmm. Part of the problem is that accounting graduates are extremely sought-after in the employment market, and in particular are able to earn significantly higher salaries from the investment banks and consulting firms than they can by going to a Big 4 accounting firm. I'm not convinced that lower entry requirements is going to solve the problem. Given the increasing complexity of business, this strikes me as going in exactly the wrong direction. More here and here.