How to become an accountant in Malaysia?

To become a Chartered Accountant in Malaysia, getting an MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants) membership is a must! There are three paths you can choose from to be a Chartered Accountant in Malaysia. No matter which path is chosen, you need to gain three years of relevant working experience in the area of accounting/audit/tax/finance.

Path #1
Get a full membership of one of the recognised professional accounting bodies eg. ACCA, CIMA, MICPA
I believe this is a common path taken by many accountants. Just sign up to any of the professional bodies such as ACCA, MICPA, CPA Australia, CIMA, ICAEW and pass their professional exams. Upon graduation, you need to gain three years of relevant accounting working experience and you can apply for a membership with MIA.

Path #2
Get an MIA recognised accounting degree and gain the three years of relevant accounting experience
If you have an MIA recognised Accounting degree especially from the Malaysian public universities, then you don't need to study for any professional exams like ACCA or CPA Australia. You just need to work for three years with the required relevant accounting experience and you can apply for a membership with MIA. You can check the list of MIA recognised accounting degrees right here. The MIA recognised accounting degrees are only from the public universities with the exception of Multimedia University and Universiti Tenaga Nasional. So, if you are studying accountancy in a private college, you have to go for Path#1 or Path#3.


Path#3
Sign up for the MIA Qualifying Exams (QE)
The MIA QE was only launched in March 2003 offering an alternative route to accountants wannabe. If your accounting degree is not an MIA recognised degree and yet you do not want to study for any of the professional exams like ACCA, then you can choose to study the MIA QE. The MIA QE consists of four papers. Upon passing the four papers together with the required three-year relevant working experience, you can apply for a membership with MIA. This route is also suitable for those who are members of a professional body which is not recognised by MIA. So those people will have to go through this MIA QE to become a Chartered Accountant in Malaysia. You can see the list of professional accounting bodies recognised by MIA right here. Hmmm...Singapore is just next door and MIA did not even recognise the prestigious Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS).