Background

The ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Accountancy Services was signed on 13 November 2014 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, with the intention to facilitate the mobility of accountancy services professionals within the ASEAN region. The MRA serves as a tool for professionals to be registered as an ASEAN Chartered Professional Accountants (ASEAN CPA), a credential that allows their qualification to be recognised equally in all ASEAN Member States (AMS).

While the ASEAN designation entitled its holder to gain privileges that can enchance the person's reputation and provides more opportunities through greater access to the fast-growing ASEAN market, the MRA faced several impediments throughout the nine (9) years of its implementation. One of them is the low number of interests from professional accountants to become registered as an ASEAN CPA, and for ASEAN CPA to become a Registered Foreign Professional Accountant (RFPA), an ASEAN CPA that is currently workign abroad under the MRA scheme.

To address the issue, the ASEAN Chartered Professional Accountants Coordinating Committee (ACPACC), an ASEAN body with the task to implement the ASEAN MRA on Accountancy Services, intends to conduct a survey to gather opinions from professional accountants to identify interests and barriers with regards to ASEAN CPA and RFPA registration, and to collect suggestions to improve the implementation of ASEAN MRA on Accountancy Services.

Objectives

1. Gauge the knowledge of professional accountants with regards to the ASEAN MRA on Accountancy Services.
2. Measure the interests of professional accountants to work abroad in other AMS.
3. Have a general assessment on the market opportunities across AMS.
4. Identify obstacles in the implementation of ASEAN MRA on Accountancy Services.
5. Collect suggestions to improve the implementation of ASEAN MRA on Accountancy Services.