The Institute of Certified Public Accountants Ireland (CPA Ireland) has launched a programme to reduce the time it takes for students to enter the profession.

CPA Ireland has partnered with 12 third level institutions, including Trinity college Dublin, to introduce ‘CPA FastTrack’ to allow students to qualify as professional accountants a year quicker than what was previously possible.

The programme has been introduced in an effort to increase the pipeline of students entering the profession which is currently not keeping up with demand.

CPA Ireland president Cormac Mohan said: “Globally the number of new students pursuing accountancy is increasing and was up 2.4% last year. However, Ireland and the UK are bucking the trend with a fall of 0.4%. The number of accountancy students in Ireland (16,425 in 2017) remains far below pre-crisis levels (18,289 in 2007) and this is going to cause considerable problems in the years ahead.”

He continued: “Currently students who want to qualify as accountants are required to undertake three years of on-the-job training. Now for the first time in Ireland students who complete accredited work experience or internships as part of their degrees can count this towards the CPA training requirement.”

Efforts are being made in Ireland to evolve the accountancy profession in the country. There is a planned review of the Accounting exam in the Leaving Cert. to be published by the Chief Examiner in spring 2019.

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Mohan has previously been critical of the syllabus, citing issues with its lack of adoption of emerging technology.