Accountant Migration Skills Assessment

What is a migration skills assessment and why do I need one?

For certain skilled migration visas you will need to provide evidence that your skills have been assessed as suitable for your nominated occupation by the relevant assessing authority. The Accountant Migration Skills Assessment has the below process:

CPA Australia can assess your overseas or Australian education, English proficiency and, in some cases, your work history, to determine if you meet a set of predetermined criteria required for your chosen occupation.

As well as a full skills assessment that can be used in your application for an Employer sponsored visa or Points tested (SkillSelect) visa, CPA Australia also issues a provisional skills assessment for recent graduates of Australian education institutions who are applying for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485). We also provide skilled employment assessments.

What is a provisional assessment?

The temporary graduate visa (subclass 485) skills assessment, also known as a “provisional assessment”, is for recent graduates of Australian educational institutions that are applying for a subclass 485 visa.

The requirements for the provisional assessment are similar to those of the general migration assessment. However, there are some differences, which include scores that are accepted for meeting the English proficiency requirement.

ANZSCO Codes

CPA Australia can assess your qualifications and skills for the following occupations:

• accountant (general) (ANZSCO code 221111)
• corporate treasurer (ANZSCO code 221212)
• external auditor (ANZSCO code 221213)
• finance manager (ANZSCO code 132211)
• management accountant (ANZSCO code 221112)
• taxation accountant (ANZSCO code 221113)

Please note that you can only have one valid positive skills assessment outcome with CPA Australia. If you decide to change your ANZSCO code by applying for a review, your previous skills assessment outcome will no longer be valid.

Lodging an Expression of Interest?

If you are planning to lodge your expression of interest (EOI) with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), make sure you wait until you have received your migration assessment outcome from CPA Australia first.

Criteria and requirements

Skills assessment criteria

To receive a positive result for your chosen Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) code, you will need:

• a qualification that is assessed by CPA Australia as equivalent to at least an Australian Bachelor degree
• to have successfully studied all mandatory competency areas that are relevant to your chosen ANZSCO code
• to have met the English proficiency requirement

Provisional assessment criteria for temporary visa (subclass 485)

To receive a positive provisional assessment result for your chosen ANZSCO code, you will need:

• an Australian Bachelor or 12 Unit Master degree majoring in accounting
• to have successfully studied all mandatory competency areas that are relevant to your chosen ANZSCO code
• to have met the English proficiency requirement

Degree requirement

To meet the degree requirement for the general skills assessment, you will need a qualification that is assessed by CPA Australia as equivalent to at least an Australian Bachelor degree. CPA Australia uses the guidelines issued by the Australian Government’s Department of Education (formerly AEI-NOOSR) when assessing the comparability of overseas qualifications.

To meet the degree requirement for the provisional assessment, you will need an Australian Bachelor degree or 12 unit Master degree in accounting, business, commerce or economics.

Competency areas

Each ANZSCO code has seven or eight mandatory competency areas. To meet the competency area requirements of the general and provisional skills assessments, your qualifications will need to cover all mandatory areas for your chosen ANZSCO code. Study that is assessed by CPA Australia as equivalent to at least an Australian Bachelor degree will be considered in the assessment of your competency area coverage.

The following is a list of the competency areas needed for each ANZSCO code.

Accountant (general) 221111, Corporate Treasurer ANZSCO code 221212, Finance Manager ANZSCO code 132211, and Management accountant 221112

Mandatory	Optional
Accounting Systems and Processes Financial Accounting and Reporting Management Accounting Finance and Financial Management Business Law Economics Quantitative Methods	Audit and Assurance Taxation Law

Taxation accountant 221113

Mandatory	Optional
Accounting Systems and Processes Financial Accounting and Reporting Management Accounting Finance and Financial Management Business Law Economics Quantitative Methods Australian Taxation Law	Audit and assurance

External auditor 221213

Mandatory	Optional
Accounting Systems and Processes Financial Accounting and Reporting Management Accounting Finance and Financial Management Business Law Economics Quantitative Methods Audit and Assurance	Taxation Law

English language requirements

General skills assessment

CPA Australia recognises the following programs or tests as meeting the English proficiency requirements of the general skills assessment:

• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)*
• IELTS Academic
• PTE Academic
• Skilled Migration Internship Program Accounting (SMIPA)
• TOEFL iBT

Minimum scores for each of the components will need to be achieved in the IELTS Academic, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT tests:

	Listening	Reading	Writing	Speaking
CAE*	185	185	185	185
IELTS Academic	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0
TOEFL iBT	24	24	27	23
PTE Academic**	65	65	65	65

*CPA Australia recognises CAE tests completed on or after 1 January 2015 only.

**If you have completed the PTE Academic, remember to share your results with CPA Australia, Southbank, through your online PTE Academic account to complete your assessment.

Provisional assessment

CPA Australia recognises the following tests as meeting the English proficiency requirements of the temporary visa (subclass 485) skills assessment:

• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)*
• IELTS General or Academic
• PTE Academic
• TOEFL iBT

Minimum scores for each of the components will need to be achieved:

	Listening	Reading	Writing	Speaking
CAE*	169	169	169	169
IELTS	6.0	6.0	6.0	6.0
TOEFL iBT	12	13	21	18
PTE Academic	50	50	50	50

*CPA Australia recognises CAE tests completed on or after 1 January 2015 only.

The English proficiency requirement for the skills assessment is not related to Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s (DIBP) English language threshold. Exemptions on the basis of holding a passport from or citizenship of certain countries are not available for the skills assessment.

Why is CPA Australia’s English proficiency requirements different to DIBP’s?

To ensure all applicants are assessed equally and according to criteria that will ultimately help to generate employment outcomes in accounting related occupations, the migration assessment’s English proficiency requirement may sometimes differ from other English proficiency requirements you encounter throughout your visa application process. In order to achieve a positive migration assessment from CPA Australia, you will need to ensure that you meet the English proficiency requirements set out above.

More information on each of the recognised English tests

• Cambridge English: Advanced
• IELTS
• PTE Academic
• TOEFL