Becoming an accountant or tax consultant

tax consultant in Munich? In other words, is there any certified exam for people to take if they want to be a accoutant or tax consultant like CPA or ACCA?

http://www.stbka.org/steuerberater/ausbildung1.cfm

check out the above link.

Steurberater is more like ACA - ie tougher than CIMA or ACCA.

Apparently there are people at my place of work (big 4 firm) who are doing ACCAs in Munich, but I've only heard that on the grapevine as I've only just arrived over here. I will investigate more and let you know.

You have to do your Steuerberater exams and then your Wirtschaftsprufer exams (not sure if you can do the inverse) and then that is like the UK CA qualification. However I think it takes about 6 yrs. Go to the UK, join one of the big 4, do it in 3 and transfer out here!

Thanks.

One more question for Lassie.

Are you an auditor or accountant at big 4 and what level of German do you have? I really want to know what is the lowest requirement of German for a foreigner to join big 4 in case most of their customers are German companies.

All is explained in the link i posted above.

If you have a degree in business or law with a minimum of 8 semesters, you need to have 2 years post grad experience with a Steuerberater then you can sit the Steuerberater exams. Articles, so to speak.

I'm over here on secondment so i just had to have basic german and a willingness to learn it. Though I'm not in Audit (I do M&A work) so most meetings and all reports etc are in English.

I'd imagine for tax or audit you'd need v good german as you'd be out at clients all the time speaking to Deidre in accounts who is unlikely to speak much english.

Everyone in the office speaks good english though and insists on using it...

You do need very good German. I worked for the big 4 and I know that for local offices you have to speak the local language. There are cases where there may be one large multinational who you work mainly for in which case you can speak English but that is rare. In M&A it is easier. There are also international tax desks but you need a lot of experience to get onto these.

Just my little bit of info here...I also work in public acctg (big 4 as well) on secondment in Munich office. I am an auditor. I speak very little German and have managed to get by; however, all of my clients are subsidiaries of US companies and/or SEC registrants so are subject to SOX regulations and thus all work is done in English. Anyway, just wanted to put it out there (it is possible to get a job in audit without German, but you will likely be frustrated as your client opportunities are very limited).

@ Lassie - would be interested in chatting with you sometime. just curious about your experiences thus far.

ACA may be more difficult, but ACCA members can also audit listed companies now. Steuerberater are only allowed to audit GmbH (limited liability) companies. If you have your ACCA qualification you are entitled to write an "Eignungsprüfung" or suitability test which, if you pass, will allow you to become a Wirtschaftsprüfer or auditor if you like. However, to be a Wirtschaftsprüfer you have to practise as one i.e. if you decide to work in industry you lose the qualification. In other words, in Germany you don't study to become a CPA/ACA/ACCA so that you can work in investment banking, etc. If you want to work in industry, it is better to do the Bilanzbuchhalter qualification whose equivalent would be the CIMA qualification. There is, however, a paper for controlling offered by the Industrie Handelskammer(IHK) or Chamber of Comemrce. To do these courses, you will need a strong knowledge of German as the tax law will kill if you don't. Every qualification is shit difficult here due to the complexity of the tax law or Steuerrecht.