ICAEW awaits Big Four firm's student verdict
E&Y and ICAEW set for talks on the success of the first raft of the firm's students through the institute's new qualification
Ernst & Young will
begin discussions in the next few weeks over how many students it will send
through the ICAEW’s qualification programme next year, after a batch began
training with the institute for the first time since 2000.
The institute will hope that the first batch of 50 students stood up to the
strain of the economic crisis, after Ernst & Young decided that the
ICAEW’s
revamped qualification met its quality criteria.
“We brought in a lot of technical knowledge much earlier [into the
qualification] than before,” said Hazel Garvey, ICAEW head of UK practice, “I
would imagine that’s proved more useful in the workplace”.
“We’re hoping to speak to [E&Y] over the next couple of week about next
Autumn.”
The Big Four firm switched to
ICAS
in 2000 over concerns about the rigour of the ICAEW’s qualification.
The ICAEW updated its qualification in 2007 and since then the firm has kept
a close eye on developments.
“When we felt its delivery had proved effective, we said we’d put some
[students through],” said Kristin Watson, associate director, national exam
training at E&Y.
“It’s still early days so we’ll see how it goes.”
Watson said the firm was still “very happy with ICAS”, and had sent around
250 students through its qualification.
“There are no concerns, we’re delighted to be with them.”
An ICAS spokesman said: “ICAS continues to enjoy a very strong relationship
with Ernst & Young. We are delighted to continue to train high quality
students across the UK for the firm. We train across the UK for all Big Four
firms, and there has been no change to the mix of firms that support CA
training.”
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Ernst & Young reunited with ICAEW