CGAP

WHAT IS THE CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT PAKISTAN (CGAP):

Certified General Accountant Pakistan (CGAP) is a professional designation granted to the professional accountants. A person who meets the education, experience and examination requirements of the Institute of Certified General Accountants (CGA-PAKISTAN®) is entitled to use the professional designation and add the letters “CGAP” to their title.

CGAPs work throughout the world in industry, commerce, finance, government, public practice and the not-for-profit sector.

Education:

CGA-PAKISTAN®’s professional education program is competency-based. Competency-based education requires candidates to perform tasks and roles to standards expected in the workplace.

The knowledge, skills and professional values required of a CGAP are reflected in a list of competencies. These competencies extend over three areas: professionalism, leadership and professional knowledge. They are validated periodically through extensive survey analysis.

The complete academic program consists of 18 courses, three business cases, professional qualification exams, spread over several modules: Module1 and 2 (Technician Studies), Module 3 and 4 (Practitioner Studies), and Module 5 and 6 (Professional Studies). Module 5 is the mandatory module , while the Module 6 is the optional module with options of Audit Module, Finance Module, Management Module and Project Management Module.

A CGA must have a graduate degree. Students normally require 36 months of supervised work experience, but in special cases they require a minimum of 24 months. They may meet the experience requirements in any business sector and in a variety of fields.

Services provided:

CGAPs can also be employed by corporations—termed “the private sector”—in finance functions such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or finance manager, or as CEOs subject to their full business knowledge and practice. These CGAPs do not provide services directly to the public.

Although some CGAPs serve as business consultants, CGAPs also have a niche within the income tax preparation industry. Many small to mid-sized firms have both a tax and an auditing department. Along with attorneys and enrolled agents, CGAPs may represent taxpayers in matters before the Internal Revenue Service.

Whether providing services directly to the public or employed by corporations or associations, CGAPs can operate in virtually any area of finance including:

Assurance and attestation services
Corporate finance (merger and acquisition, initial public offerings, share and debt issuing)
Corporate governance
Estate planning
Financial accounting
Governmental accounting
Financial analysis
Financial planning
Forensic accounting (preventing, detecting, and investigating financial frauds)
Income tax
Information technology, especially as applied to accounting and auditing
Management consulting and performance management
Tax preparation and planning
Venture Capital
Financial reporting
Regulatory reporting

Ethics:

Institute of Certified General Accountant adopted the IESBA code of ethics for the professional Accountants as the other professional accountancy bodies of the world to maintain its standard of education and professional skills of its member.

Continuing Professional Education (CPE):

CGAPs are required to take continuing education courses in order to improve their professional education and skills. CGA-PAKISTAN® require an average of 40 hours of CPE every year with a minimum of 20 hours per calendar year. The requirement can be fulfilled through attending live seminars, webcast seminars, or through self-study (textbooks, videos, online courses, all of which require a test to receive credit).

CGAP Areas of Specialization:

Becoming a CGAP means you’ll have a wide variety of career choices, in two general areas: public accounting, or corporate and business accounting. From there, the options are many and include:

Internal auditing: Internal auditors verify the efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s internal controls, the accuracy of its financial data, and check for waste, mismanagement and fraud.
Forensic accounting: These specialists look for evidence of securities fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and tax evasion.
Managerial accounting: Consulting to and preparing financial documents for a company’s management team to help them make good business decisions. Preparing budgets and strategizing for the future are important aspects of the job.
Information Technology: Combining IT and accounting, this specialization includes activities such as testing systems to ensure security, accuracy and compliance with regulations.
Environmental accounting: Involves monitoring green initiatives, taking care of compliance audits, and managing disputes.
Tax: Guiding companies in effective tax strategies to avoid unnecessary costs. Tax accounting involves staying on top of complex and changing tax laws.

What Does a CGAP Do?

A CGAP is a Certified General Accountant, but what does that mean? What do they do? Here is a list of some areas in which CGAs work. You’ll see there are many ways that CGAPs help businesses.

Assurance Services
In addition to traditional audit services, such as examining the annual reports of public companies, exciting niche areas of assurance have increased the demand for the expertise of CGAPs.
Consulting Services
Individuals, businesses, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies need CGAs to offer objective advice and assistance in both financial and strategic areas.
Information Technology (IT) Services
Exploding IT growth has created huge opportunities for CGAs with strong computer skills to design and implement advanced systems to fit an organization’s needs.
Forensic Accounting
Also known as investigative accounting or fraud auditing, forensic accounting digs below accounting records, searching for evidence of criminal misconduct.
Environmental Accounting
With increasing resources focused on environmental issues, these CGAPs conduct compliance audits and design preventive systems to ensure compliance.
International Accounting
In today’s global economy, CGAPs with an understanding and mastery of international trade laws and regulations are in great demand.
Tax and Financial Planning
CGAPs help individuals and companies with financial planning, investments, taxes, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.

Benefits of Membership:

Being a CGA-PAKISTAN® member not only opens the door to great opportunities in your career and personal development, you also have access to a first-class range of services to support you as a member. Read and watch further to find out why CGA-PAKISTAN® members truly value their CGA-PAKISTAN® membership.

Member benefits and services

CGA-PAKISTAN® keeps you at the leading-edge of the profession with a range of benefits and services which include:

The CGA-PAKISTAN® designation – the choice among employers:

When you’re a member you can use the CGA-PAKISTAN® designation after your name – a symbol of excellence and recognizable to employers around the world. Our world-class global reputation helps:

increase your earning potential
improve your career progression opportunities
provide international mobility to your career.

Our qualification also provides you with complete flexibility in career choice. You can work in any business sector from the public or corporate sectors to financial services or public practice.

The chance to be a global influencer and build your professional network:

CGA-PAKISTAN® ’s global reputation coupled with our Research and Development program means members are regularly invited to play a part in developing the profession at all levels. This means you can ultimately create or influence policies that impact on individuals, businesses and communities alike.

All members have the opportunity to stand for Council, the body which governs CGA-PAKISTAN® ‘s activities, whilst you can find out more on how you can get involved at a regional level by contacting your local office. By becoming more involved with CGA-PAKISTAN® you can raise your profile, broaden your professional networks and learn new skills.

Supporting you in your continual professional development:

CGA-PAKISTAN® provides you with a wealth of materials and opportunities to assist you in your career and to support your continual professional development.
In collaboration with some of other professional institutions, we have also identified courses which complement the CGA-PAKISTAN® Qualification and allow members to specialize within a particular area of audit, finance, management or project management. Through our partnerships, members benefit from accelerated access routes and discounted fees on many of these courses whilst also ensuring the CGA-PAKISTAN® brand is synonymous with excellence in professional education.

Keeping you informed – online, in print and on the move:

CGA-PAKISTAN® keeps you up-to-date with what’s happening in the accountancy and business world through a variety of ways.

Accountants Gazette:
Members will receive CGA-PAKISTAN® ‘s monthly professional newsletter
Our member focused social media platforms
Not only do we provide members the opportunity to engage and network with each other online through our members’ only LinkedIn group, we also keep members up-to-date through our facebook and Twitter feeds.
Round the clock customer care and careers service
CGA-PAKISTAN® looks after its members 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year through our CGA-PAKISTAN® Connect service, the only professional accountancy body to do so.
CGA-PAKISTAN® Careers is our official global jobs portal, providing you with career guidance and free access to browse and apply for hundreds of finance vacancies worldwide – with many recruiters specifically looking for CGA-PAKISTAN® members.

If you are interested in becoming the Certified General Accountant Pakistan (CGAP), you may send your resume for the assessment to the info@cgaglobal.org , or contact office or apply online.