CPA Australia skills assessment

The CPA conducts two types of skills assessments. They are;

Full skills assessments: This assessment will assess your educational qualifications and your English language requirement.

Skilled employment assessment: This assessment is optional and can only be done when you have a suitable full skills assessment. You can do this assessment if you have at least 12 months of work experience and want it to be verified.

There are three components that you will need to fulfill to be eligible for a CPA skills assessment. They are;

• English language proficiency

• Degree comparability

• Educational knowledge

What is the English language requirement for the CPA full skills assessment?

You can demonstrate your English language proficiency with one of the following:

Accounting Professional Year program: If you have undertaken a professional year programmeme, then the completion certificate and the transcript would be sufficient to demonstrate your English language proficiency.

If you didn’t undertake a professional year program, then you can take one of the following English language proficiency tests:

The following tests undertaken at “home” or “online” won’t be accepted by the CPA.

How long is the English language proficiency tests valid for?

The tests are valid for 3 years from the test date. However, there is no validity period for the Accounting Professional Year program.

You must essentially have a degree that is equivalent to the Australian bachelor’s degree.

Based on your nominated occupation, you must have completed certain modules in your degree as shown in the table below

Identification documents: You can submit your passport or national ID, and you will have to provide additional documents if there are any name changes.

English language proficiency documents: You can either provide your Professional Year Programme completion certificate and transcript or any recognised English language test results.

Academic qualifications: You will have to provide your official degree certificates and academic transcripts.

Professional body qualifications: This is not mandatory, but if you are a member of any professional bodies, you can provide the official membership certificate and official examination results and transcripts of your professional body examinations.

Syllabus for non-accredited qualifications: This is not mandatory either. This will be applicable to you if your qualifications are not accredited. In the event your qualifications are not accredited, then you will have to provide the official syllabus with a detailed description for all accounting, finance, and business subjects. The syllabus must reflect your transcript with the exact subject titles and codes.

If you are unable to get the syllabus, you can provide a statutory declaration stating the reason. You will also have to provide a detailed self-written summary of the relevant subjects completed. This declaration must be witnessed by a justice of the peace or notary officer.

Chinese Degree Verification: If your qualifications are from Chinese institutions, you will have to use an official, authorised Chinese qualification verification service to confirm degree awards and transcripts and include an official English translation of the validation. You can use VETASSESS for this.

This skills assessment is separate from the full skills assessment and can only be conducted if you have a positive full skills assessment. This skills assessment will essentially assess your employment history.

When should you get a skilled employment assessment?

Having a skilled employment assessment is not mandatory. Not having a skilled employment assessment will not negatively impact your PR. You can opt to assess your work experience through the skilled employment pathway if you want a professional validation of your work experience.

What is the eligibility for a skilled employment assessment?

• Have a positive full skills assessment.

• Occupation must be closely related to the ANZSCO occupation that you received a positive full skills assessment for.

• The experience must be in the last 10 years.

• The experience must have been gained after the completion of your qualifications.

• You must have been paid and continuous for a minimum of 20 hours a week.

• You must have at least 12 months of experience in the role.

• Please note that volunteering or work experience that was required as part of your education will not be recognised as skilled employment.

What are the skilled employment assessment documents that need to be submitted?

You will have to provide two types of documents:

Pay slips: You should provide pay slips for each role. If you had multiple jobs, you will have to provide 3 pay slips for each role being claimed for.

Employer testimonials: You should provide a signed testimonial from your employer and pay slips to substantiate your claims.

What should you include in the employer testimonials?

• Below are the important aspects that must be included in the testimonials.

  • The testimonial must have the letterhead of the employer with their email, phone number, website, and the address of the business.

  • The name, position, direct work email, and phone number of the person authorised to sign your testimonial

  • Your employment history dates with the types of roles held with specific dates. The dates should be in the format DD/MM/YYYY.

  • Duties and responsibilities for each role must be included. Generic job descriptions taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics will not be accepted.

  • Your employment terms, whether it was permanent or temporary

  • Your working hours

  • Your salary

  If you cannot obtain an employment reference on letterhead, a statutory declaration will be considered by CPA, but the declaration should have information on why you weren’t able to secure a reference.

How can you give testimonials or references if you were self employed?

• In this instance you must provide your own testimonials. Your testimonials must contain:

  • Your letterhead with the address, telephone number, email, and website of the business.

  • Specific start and end dates, your working hours, duties and responsibilities undertaken by you in each position, and your salary

  • You will also have to provide a statutory declaration confirming the truthfulness of the testimonial.

  • You will also have to provide clear scans of your official business name and registration, practicing certificate, tax returns of your business, and references from 2 or more clients on letterhead.

  Important aspects to consider when doing a skilled employment assessment:

  The CPA may request further information for finalising your application.

  The CPA will not accept CVs as evidence of your employment.

  The CPA may contact your employment references for verification.

  With regards to self-employment, the CPA will accept substitutes for the requested documents if your employment was outside of Australia.

  Managing the accounts or accounting duties of your own business may not be considered as meeting the requirements.