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CPA Examination for the first time in UAE

ABU DHABI - Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority (ADAA), announced today its success in making Abu Dhabi the first location to host the Certified Public Accountant “CPA” examination in the region whereby it will be the first time the examination is taken outside the USA.

The approval was granted during a meeting held between ADAA’s delegation headed by Riyad Al Mubarak, Chairman of ADAA and David Costello, President and CEO of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy “NASBA” and Ken Bishop, Senior Vice President and COO of NASBA.

A confirmation on choosing Abu Dhabi as a location to host the CPA examination starting from the 2^nd or 3^rd quarter of 2011 was a result of ADAA’s discussions with NASBA over a span of 2 years on the suitability of the Emirate to host this examination.

In 2008, ADAA initiated contact with the Illinois Board of Examiners proposing to host the CPA examination in Abu Dhabi which coincided with the review and research being conducted by the Committee of Internationalization of the CPA Examination to identify potential international exam sites and setting the governing regulations and security policy for this process. NASBA had also declared in its 2009 Annual Report that expanding the CPA exam to other international countries is being reviewed with the consideration of two locations only, these were Japan and the United Arab Emirates without any confirmations on the mentioned sites.

Recently the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), NASBA and Prometric – the three organizations collaboratively offering the exam in the US- announced that they have reached an agreement on how to best administer the exam in 5 international locations confirming Japan and the United Arab Emirates as well as three additional locations, being Lebanon, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Chairman ADAA noted: “We are very pleased with NASBA’s approval of our proposal to host the CPA examination in Abu Dhabi as it denotes our dedication towards fulfilling one of our four strategic goals; specifically the one relating to developing human capital and training Emirati graduates.”

“Conducting the CPA exam in the UAE will surely be a strong motivator to develop and qualify graduates in the UAE and professionals in both the public and private sectors equally, as this certificate is recognized globally as one of the most prestigious professional degrees in the financial and business sectors and making it more accessible will certainly play a vital and crucial role in the enhancement of professionals’ standards in the UAE and the region”, Al Mubarak added.

The Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Examination is the examination that an individual must pass to be licensed as a CPA in any of the 55 U.S. jurisdictions and is accepted internationally as well.