Each year, just when the cherry trees blossom and the sun finally breaks through the clouds, students lock themselves away, cramming for summer exams. For the thousands sitting professional exams, this time of year represents the culmination of months or even years of juggling work commitments with lectures, assignments and study.
Naturally there are payoffs for this dedication. Students who sat their final certified public accountant (CPA) exams at the end of April, for example, will soon discover the major advantage of combining work with study.
Unlike full-time master's degrees, once accountants pass their final exams, they hit the ground running. They're already on the first or second rung of the career ladder and the question they face is "what's my next step?" rather than "what's my first step?" says CPA chief executive Eamonn Siggins.
The commitment is incredible but the rewards are there at the end. The career paths available are a far cry from the outdated stereotype of a dull bean counter.
As a result of the increasingly diverse roles opening up to finance professionals, CPA commissioned independent research to ensure that its qualification remained market-relevant.
Feedback revealed that the key attribute the marketplace now seeks in an accountant is the ability to influence a business at a strategic level. The CPA syllabus has been tailored to meet this need and the updated programme will be introduced when lectures resume this autumn.
"We're focusing on developing the strategic accountant," Siggins says. "That's where we want the CPA of the future to be positioned - with all the technical skills but with the capacity to operate at a strategic level.
"What we want is for the finance professional to be able to evaluate critically the strategic options and to lead in the implementation of change, rather than to just facilitate change," he adds.
The research also revealed a marketplace expectation that finance professionals would be guardians of ethics in the business, and would look after corporate governance requirements in a pro-active way.
So how did CPA introduce a greater emphasis on strategy, ethics and governance without paring back on fundamental components such as auditing and financial reporting?
"The fundamentals remained," Siggins says. However a "one-size-fits-all" syllabus was clearly no longer possible. "Because of the diverse range of career opportunities for accountants, we realised that we had to introduce the opportunity for people to specialise prior to qualification."
Students will now choose their career path in their final year, by selecting from "pre-qualification specialisms" available.
Students who intend to work in public practice, ie in accountancy firms, will specialise in technical areas such as auditing and tax, whereas those with a preference for working in industry will focus more heavily on strategic performance management.
CPA members are predominantly based outside practice, with a 30/70 split at the moment and the fastest growing area of employment being financial services. Recent years have also seen an influx of women enrolling for the CPA exams, reflecting a wider trend across the profession.
Another trend Siggins has noticed in the market is the increased sophistication of the needs of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
"They need a financial adviser who understands entrepreneurs and understands innovators, and somebody who will guide them to success rather than frustrate them," he says. "It's that type of accountant we're creating."
