The International Accounting Education Standards Board has released an International Education Information Paper to help professional organizations conduct written examinations of aspiring accountants seeking qualification.

IES 4 prescribes the learning outcomes for professional values, ethics, and attitudes that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of Initial Professional Development. Professional values, ethics, and attitudes are defined as the behavior and characteristics that identify professional accountants as members of a profession. These include the ethical principles generally associated with, and considered essential in defining, the distinctive characteristics of professional behavior.

IES 3 prescribes the learning outcomes for professional skills that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of Initial Professional Development. Professional skills are the (a) intellectual, (b) interpersonal and communication, (c) personal, and (d) organizational skills that a professional accountant integrates with technical competence and professional values, ethics, and attitudes to demonstrate professional competence.

IES 3 is effective from July 1, 2015.

IES 2 prescribes the learning outcomes for technical competence that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of Initial Professional Development. Technical competence is the ability to apply professional knowledge to perform role to a defined standard.

It is effective from July 1, 2015.

This At-a-Glance is a summary of the 2014–2016 IAESB Strategy and Work Plan.

Revised Definition of the Professional Accountant

Project Status

Active

Objective

To develop an international definition of the term professional accountant.

Scope

To support IFAC's members and other professional accountancy organizations in the adoption and implementation of the International Education Standards by clarifying the definition of the professional accountant.  

PROJECT CONTACT

David McPeak