Who are the Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants?

The Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants is an Ireland based Internationally recognised body of professional accounts, auditors and accounting technicians.

The Institute is a "Recognised Accountancy Bodies" under the terms of section 191 of the Companies Act 1990. We are also recognised under the Professional Services Directive and the Statutory Audit Directive across Europe.

On a pracitcal basis, we engage in the education, training, monitoring, investigation, discipline, and a wide range of matters in respect of our Members who are Professional Accountants, Statutory Auditors, Accounting Technicians and Accounting Students.

This is achieved through the Institutes Key Structuctures including:

• Membership
• Education and Training
• Continuing Professional Development
• Technical Standards
• Membership
• Practice
• Investigations
• Discipline
• Professional Standards

Professional Accountant

The "Incorporated Public Accounting Technician" is the premier accounting qualification of the Institute, and provides those with the drive and commitment to achieve the status of Incorporated Public Accountant access to the to the fantastic profession of Accounting.

Incorporated Public Accountants currently engage in a wide a range of work, from being principals in their own practice to managing the risk management functions in large quoted financial services companies.

You can find more detail on how to qualify as an Incorporated Public Accountant here>>

Statutory Auditor

Incorporated Public Accountants who achieve the training required by the European Communities (Statutory Audits) (Directive 26/43/EC) Regualtions 2010, may in addition to operating as a Professional Accountant, take on clients requiring Statutory Audits. Statutory Audits involve reviewing the financial statements of a company and offering a formal opinion on whether the accounts give a "true and fair" representation of the underlying financial position of the company (the Audit Opinion).

Auditors provide a very important assurance service to the shareholders of the company that they are auditing. This service is considered so important that Governments and the European Union, have established considerable bodies of law on the of the operations of companies and the role of the auditor.

You can find more detail on how to qualify as an Statutory Auditor with the Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants here>>

Accounting Technician

The other major professional operating in the accounting sphere is the Accounting Technician. Incorporated Public Accounting Technicians operate in companies and other types of entity, inside accounting practices, and indeed as providers of services in their own right. The Accounting Technician is one of the lynchpin roles in accounting.

Accounting Technicians undertake a lot of the "day-to-day" accounting work. They perform book-keeping functions, entering transactions into the appropriate records (including computerised accounts) and ensuring that the records that support the accounting funcition are kept properly.

Certified Finance Professional

The IIPA also recognises the achievement of those who have progressed academically beyond the Accounting Technician qualification, but have not yet reached the full requirements for recognition as an Incorporated Public Accountant.

Certified Finance Professionals can progress to areas of more responsibility and may begin to produce budget reports and financial statements. They may also have responsibility for supervising more junior staff and meeting directly with clients on more advanced matters.

Education and Training

At the IIPA we have been providing education for many years through our affiliated colleges and distance learning. We are now entering confidently into the future of education and training by being the very first professional accounting body in the world to offer its complete accounting qualification online. Beginning in September 2008, students will be able to study to become an accountant entirely online (although exams will continue to be organised in the traditional manner for the moment). We are very serious about this initiative and have established it under the name the "Institute of Finance Training" (IFT) - which we anticipate will become our key mechanism for delivering the training and development programs of our Institute into the future.

You can have a peek into what we will be offering at our dedicated training and development website - www.financetraining.ie - where we have already started to offer some of our CPD program. We are using an open source, state of the art solution called Moodle. Moodle is used by many of the largest educational institutions, both nationally and internationally. It allows teachers and lecturers to develop rich, engaging, and educationally sound course material. Students are immersed into their education because the tool allows the widest use of media including:

• Video and Audio Lectures
• Slideshows
• Interactive learning materials
• Links out to useful information
• Documentaries
• Online Activities and Assignments
• Bulletin boards that allow students and lecturers interact
• Quizes, and many other options