The reform of the mainland's Certified Public Accountants examination is intended to accelerate the development of China's accounting profession in order to support its economic development and ensure that the profession is on a par with other professional accounting bodies worldwide.
As part of the reform process, the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) conducted research overseas to understand the examination and qualification processes of the major professional accounting bodies.
'Revamping the exam is intended to enable the CICPA to seek mutual recognition of its qualification with other accounting bodies,' said Georgina Chan, executive director (qualification & education) at the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA).
'It makes sense that auditors supporting the development of Chinese business overseas can operate in a foreign environment.'
The CICPA exam reform project was led by the Ministry of Finance, which formed a national examination committee. Under this was a working group chaired by the CICPA, which oversaw two advisory panels, one domestic, the other overseas.
The domestic panel comprised people from universities, local accounting firms and lawyers. The overseas panel comprised people from foreign accounting bodies and the six largest international firms and was chaired by Ms Chan.