Convergence of standards is great for our profession.  (I just want to disagree a bit with MidwestStudent who posted on this page above me.)  International standardization is vital to the continued evolution of our practice.  Globalization of reporting standards helps to level the playing field for companies as well as workers, so that true specialties can develop as most appropriate.  We all benefit when we have a truly diverse service team.  Don't look at the short-term and fear "losing your job to a foreigner."  That's loser talk!  See this as a fantastic opportunity to work in a truly prestigious global profession.   IFRS is fascinating and good for ALL OF US.

We can hide our heads in the sand, but two major changes will shape the accounting profession in the future decade, and nobody will ask our opinion on these:

-one is the outsourcing side of the profession:be honest and try to answer yourself how much of your daily work can be done by somebody sitting at a computer in India of China? If more than 50% of your work does not need physical presence, you must be sure that your job will be outsourced sooner or later. In my opinion compilation engagements and tax returns can be done from any place in the world. Thank you AICPA for starting to administer the CPA exam internationally. Our employers won't doubt anymore the foreigners' competencies. My advice: train yourself in auditing or be the best in international taxation and IFRS.

-second fact: due to more and more user friendly softwares (especially tax) the average tax work can be done by individuals or bookkeepers of the small businesses. Just think about how many companies don't need anymore payroll services (even COSTCO is offering it), how many educated people (engineers, IT, teachers, etc.) prepare their own tax returns, or how many accountants working for corporations realize that CPAs are returning the previuosly prepared Financial Statements with few "make-up" or sometimes no aje other than depreciation expense. My advice: train yourself in managerial accounting issues (get the CMA license) and instead of returning ridiculos work to the client try to offer them consulting work when they need it.

The best advice: get a government job. It can't be outsourced (yet), the wages are way higher than in private sector, longtime benefits (calculate just the NPV of a lifelong pension and you will feel really betrayed working for private sector), job stability, 8 hours work day, vacation, sick days, bank holidays, free training (Defense Contract Auditors Agency offers 6 weeks training in Government Contracting). With these skills even post retirement you can always run your own consulting practice, never mentioning the fact that big companies like Boeing , Northrop will constantly try to hire you.

I'm open to be proved wrong!

PS: I'm an immigrant, too. But I took the legal way of competing with US accountants, entering the job market here in California, and not waiting for the US job market to come into my country.

I don't know anything about the CIMA UK, but I can tell you that the CMA was not an easy ride at all. Even with 15 years manufacturing experience and passed CPA, I had to study some weeks full time to get it passed.

On the other hand, IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) changed their world view and realized that they lost the image of the CMA compared to CPA, and now they fuel a lot of energy in promoting their credentials. They promote it in Europe, Asia and Africa. and again, we can not change the mega trends, what we can do is just try our best to be the best in our profession, specialized in more than one teritory of the accounting profession, and move where the work is if necessary.