Cagayan de Oro needs CPAs

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2015/07/18/cagayan-de-oro-needs-cpas-419612
• Saturday, July 18, 2015

By Pamela Jay F. Orias

AN ORGANIZATION of certified public accountants (CPA) disclosed on Friday that CPAs in Cagayan de Oro city are running out.

Lindy Patriana, president of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants-Misamis Oriental Chapter (PICPA-MIS OR) said that companies keep calling them, searching for public accountants to work for them.

She SAID that out of 10 accountancy graduates, only five of them decide to take the exam, and only two are likely to pass it.

“And that two, dili pa gyud ni mag-trabaho diri sa syudad, not even to other parts of the Philippines, instead they go overseas to work,” said Lino Buray, vice president for Professional Development of the PICPA.

Buray said that CPAs abroad are paid three times higher than the basic rate for accountants in the country.

Buray said there is already a community of CPAs in Dubai.

“Murag isa na sila ka-barangay, that’s their population gyud, because of their increasing number, naa na pud tay branch sa PICPA didto,” he said.

Meanwhile, Patriana said schools in the city offering accountancy courses have a strict policy in the admission of students to ensure quality.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) had directed schools offering accountancy courses to at least post a 5 percent passing rate, according to former PICPA president Ferdie Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said there are three review centers in the city which help in raising the passing rate of accountancy schools.

Rodriguez said the city is also considered as one of the major training hubs for accountants in the region.