Pursuant to Section 10 of the Accounting Act that came into effect on 1 January 2014, companies that prepare their consolidated annual financial statements in accordance with the international accounting standards must ensure that the person who controls and manages the tasks that fall within the scope of accounting services and who prepares the annual financial statements and the consolidated annual financial statements
- is registered in the registry of accounting services providers for an area of specialisation under IFRS registration, and
- is an auditor who is also a member of the Chamber and has IFRS qualifications.
Undertakings that prepare their consolidated annual financial statements pursuant to the international accounting standards may commission a Chamber member auditor (firm) to perform accounting tasks that are based on statutory obligations only if the Chamber member auditor (firm) possesses IFRS qualifications.
Pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, publicly traded companies governed by the law of a Member State must prepare their consolidated financial statements for each business year starting on or after 1 January 2005 pursuant to the international accounting standards (IFRS).
The Accounting Act permits parent companies that are not registered on the stock exchange to prepare – at their own discretion – their consolidated annual financial statements pursuant to the international accounting standards.
The act came into effect on 1 January 2014; therefore, it will first apply to annual statements for the 2014 business year.
The following sections describe the IFRS registration of certified public accountants (CPAs) in detail and also how auditors can obtain their qualifications.
IFRS registration of CPAs
To obtain an IFRS qualification with respect to an area of specialisation (similarly to corporate, budgetary, financial and other organisational (non-profit) qualifications) the successful completion of an OKJ (National List of Vocational Trainings) training is required.
A precondition of an IFRS qualification is a CPA certification.
The training consists of 240 to 360 hours and is concluded with an exam at the end of the module (on the interpretation of the theoretical framework of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and the application of the evaluation and presentation features of the international financial reporting standards (IFRS)) and training participants must take a complex professional exam in order to be eligible for registration. The tests consists of several written and an oral component.
Those who possess an ACCA Diploma in International Financial Reporting (DipIFR) or an ACCA (Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants) certificate do not have to participate in the training, as follows:
Conditions of exemption from the module exam
Candidates who possess an ACCA Diploma in International Financial Reporting (DipIFR) are exempt from the written module exam in respect of the following requirement modules: the interpretation of the theoretical framework of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and the application of the evaluation and presentation features of the international financial reporting standards (IFRS).
Candidates who possess an ACCA (Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants) certificate entitling them to become an ACCA member are exempt from the written module exam in respect of the following requirement modules: the interpretation of the theoretical framework of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and the application of the evaluation and presentation features of the international financial reporting standards (IFRS).
Conditions of exemption from the complex professional exam
Candidates who possess the ACCA Diploma in International Financial Reporting (DipIFR) are exempt from the exam on the practical aspects of preparing consolidated financial statements pursuant to the IFRS, from the written exam on practical matters other than the theory of the IFRS and the preparation of consolidated financial statements as well as from the oral exam testing familiarity with the language and terminology of the IFRS.
Candidates who possess an ACCA (Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants) qualification entitling them to ACCA membership are exempt from the exam on the practical aspects of preparing consolidated financial statements pursuant to the IFRS, from the written exam on practical matters other than the theory of the IFRS and the preparation of consolidated financial statements, as well as from the oral exam testing familiarity with the language and terminology of the IFRS.
After the candidate has successfully completed the exams and obtained certification as an IFRS certified public accountant, a request for registration may be submitted after receipt of the diploma if the candidate has already been registered under a different specialisation. If the candidate has not yet been registered, he/she may be registered in both areas of specialisation after the completion of 3 years' professional practice of the receipt of the first CPA certification.
IFRS certification of auditors
Auditors must take a professional qualifying exam (similarly to the qualifications of financial institutions, investment firms, funds, insurers and budgetary institutions) in order to obtain an IFRS certificate. The professional qualifying exam invariably consists of a written and an oral component.
The professional qualifying exam must be requested by auditors who are members of the Chamber at the Chamber of Hungarian Auditors. Auditors who are members of the Chamber may receive a qualification if they certify that during the 5-year period prior to the submission of the request for qualification:
- they performed, for at least three years, accounting and controlling activities (including related regulatory and supervisory tasks) in respect of a business whose activities match the requested qualification (in the case of IFRS qualifications, he/she compiled the financial statements of the business pursuant to the international accounting standards) and have at least two years of experience performing auditor's activities based on a statutory obligation, or
- they performed auditor's activities based on a statutory obligation for at least three years and assisted for at least two years a Chamber member auditor possessing the qualifications concerned in the performance of auditor's activities based on a statutory obligation in relation to a business in respect of the qualification concerned is required by law, or
- they performed auditor's activities based on a statutory obligation for at least three years and successfully passed the professional qualifying exam pertaining to the qualification concerned.
An audit firm may be qualified upon request if it meets the following two conditions:
- it certifies that it has at least one Chamber member auditor with the appropriate qualification who performs auditor's activities based on a statutory obligation on behalf of the audit firm, and
- it confirms that the Chamber member auditor who performs auditor's activities based on a statutory obligation on behalf of the audit firm in relation to a business in respect of which the qualification concerned is required by a separate law has the appropriate qualification.
Upon request, the Educational Committee may grant an exemption from the obligation to pass the professional IFRS qualifying exam if the Chamber member auditor has participated in a training of at least 80 hours pertaining to the international regulation of accounting module in the context of the certified public accountant training, and afterwards he/she successfully passed an exam or has been exempted from the module in question.
The Chamber of Hungarian Auditors issues a certificate on granting the qualification and records the qualification in the registries of the Chamber.