We live in a world of acronyms and abbreviations and, just thinking about my immediate area of interest, tax training, there are any number of letters* that you can aspire to using after your name.
We have CTA, AIIT, ATT, STEP, ACA… I could go on. No wonder most firms don't put them on business cards these days, you wouldn't fit them all on. So why do we need another set: ADIT?
For those of you who don't know, the designatory letters ADIT can be used by someone who holds the qualification, the advanced diploma in international tax.
This is the specialist diploma introduced by the Chartered Institute of Taxation in 2003 to meet the needs of international tax practitioners in the corporate area.
For many years the CTA qualification has been seen as the premier qualification in UK taxation, but it is based primarily around UK tax and therefore is not necessarily relevant to someone specialising in the international field. The ADIT was introduced to address this.
The standard of the ADIT is similar to the CTA. The ADIT is intended to be a truly international qualification that can be sat by anyone irrespective of their location, it is not restricted to UK based practitioners.
To illustrate this point the CIOT provided me with some statistics which indicate the worldwide appeal of the ADIT (see below). It is an internationally recognised qualification. This is borne out by the range of backgrounds and nationalities of the students attending our courses.
No more exams
I've already said: no more exams!
At this point I know what you're thinking: why on earth would anyone want to do any more exams? If you're reading this, you've probably done enough professional exams to last a lifetime and the thought of more weekends and evenings spent studying is likely to be very depressing.
But look on the bright side, with the credit crunch and impending slight slowdown in growth/recession/full scale economic disaster (please choose the appropriate one to suit your opinion), none of us has got any money to spend on going out, so you might as well entertain yourself by studying.
It'll save buying a TV licence. If there's anything left of the UK economy in two years' time, another qualification might be useful. Even if there isn't anything left, having the ADIT qualification might help you get a job elsewhere.
Tell me more!
OK I'm convinced — so what is the ADIT all about?
As the name suggests, it is aimed at people who are working, or intending to work, in international taxation. The idea is that you study the general principles of international tax, ie the principles which underpin any jurisdiction's consideration about how to tax international transactions.
This is paper I and the same paper is sat by all candidates regardless of their location — it is not jurisdiction specific.
Candidates then choose a 'home' paper, this is paper II. Here candidates will be tested on their knowledge of their primary jurisdiction's rules, focussing particularly on international issues.
Finally, there is the 'away' paper. Paper III tests candidates' knowledge of the tax system of a jurisdiction other than the primary one that was tested in paper II.
Obviously in an exam-based system there is a limited choice of jurisdictions for paper II and paper III, however the list is expanding (see below for the current list and the shaded box for those coming in the future) and if your chosen country is not on the list (or even if it is) you are able to substitute a thesis in lieu of the examination in paper II or paper III (but not both).
This gives those of us of a certain age the first chance to do some coursework rather than sit exams in everything.
The options available at the moment are as follows:
- Paper II — UK, US, Hong Kong, Singapore
- Paper III — US, EC, UK
The examinations are set in June each year and are modular, ie you can sit all three or just one at a time and you get a credit for each one that you pass.
Study options
Tolley Training offers correspondence and tuition courses for paper I, paper II (UK option) and paper III (EC option) and one of the things that we get asked a lot by prospective students is 'how much studying do I need to do?' It's like being asked how long is a piece of string, as everyone takes in information at different rates, and one person's 'I've done two hours' studying' is different from the next. See, however, the Table for a general guide.
Naturally, if you don't attend the courses it will take longer.
With the courses starting in September, it does mean that it is possible to start then and complete all three by the time of the exams the following June.
However, for someone holding down a full-time job and with other responsibilities, doing all three at once is quite a tall order and so it is a good idea that most people split them.
Paper I and paper III are similar in study style so could usefully be tackled together, followed by paper II the year after.
To conclude
With ADIT being promoted around the world, in years to come successful candidates will have a truly global qualification and, given that it is set by the CIOT, it is likely to have a similar reputation to the CTA qualification.
*Apologies to anyone whose qualifications I have missed, I was given a limit of 1,000 words (which by writing this I have now exceeded) and had to stop somewhere (and before you ask, there won't be any prizes for knowing what they all stand for).
Official CIOT information
- 613 registered ADIT students from 60 countries as at July 2008.
- This June there were 23 ADIT exam centres around the world.
- Exam results for the June 2008 examination are published on 1 August 2008.
- The next ADIT exams will be held on 2, 3 and 4 June 2009.
- For the prospectus, syllabus and other information, and to register online as student, visit ADIT.org.
- New option papers for Australia, China and Malta will be available from 2009.
