About the Malaysian Institute of Accountants

MIA is a statutory body established under the Accountants Act, 1967 to regulate and develop the accountancy profession in Malaysia. To date, MIA has more than 26,000 members.

MIA’s responsibilities include education and quality assurance as well as enforcement which are carried out to ensure that the credibility of the profession is maintained and that public interest is continuously upheld.

Established 42 years ago, MIA is an active partner in nation-building and contributes views and ideas for the well-being of the nation and its economy. In addition, MIA monitors international and local accounting trends and developments, and consults regularly with the Government and other like-minded regulatory bodies.

Its regulatory role is carried out through the following approaches:

In Malaysia, the word “accountant” is protected as provided for under the provisions of the Accountants Act, 1967 which states that “no one can hold himself out or practice as an accountant unless he is registered as a member of MIA”. Members of MIA are registered in one of the following categories:

MIA sets high professional and ethical standards that all accountants in Malaysia must adhere to. Accountants are bound by the Institute’s By-Laws (On Professional Conduct and Ethics) and any breach of the By-Laws by members will render them liable to disciplinary proceedings by the Institute.

In the international and regional arena, MIA plays a significant role in developing and advancing the global accounting profession through its involvement in organisations such as:

From 8 to 11 November 2010, Malaysia will host the 18th World Congress of Accountants (WCOA 2010), the world’s largest gathering of accountants, financial and business leaders. This World Congress, which will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, is jointly organised by IFAC and MIA. With the theme `Accountants: Sustaining Value Creation’, WCOA 2010 seeks to demonstrate the accountants' role in not only creating value and upholding business integrity, but also in safeguarding assets for future generations. To find out more about this World Congress, please visit www.wcoa2010kualalumpur.com.For more information, please visit MIA’s website at www.mia.org.my.

MIA & Accounting Education

MIA is always concerned with maintaining high standards,,value creation and sustainability of the profession. Apart from ensuring that its members meet with all the requirements to be recognised as professional practising accountants, MIA is also committed to ensuring that accounting education in Malaysia is continuous and relevant to present and future market needs.

MIA’s reputation is further cemented through its contribution in the ‘Hala Tuju 2’ Report. The focus of the event was on improving the quality of accounting degree programmes offered by local institutions of higher learning.
The initiative undertaken by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) is timely and relevant to the profession as its objective is to ensure accounting programmes offered by universities are in line with global developments within the profession.

In another initiative MIA organised a series of talks nationwide for career guidance counsellors in schools under the “Forum on Accountancy Profession with School Counsellors”. Supported by Ministry of Education (MOE) the forum was aimed at:

These talks also provided an avenue for local universities, that were brought together under this project, to create awareness among school counsellors, who in turn were able to provide information to their students.

MIA had also contributed and supported accountancy education either in monetary or in-kind to the following school and university activities:

Having been inspired by the success of its participation in other education fairs, MIA unveiled ACEF in 2008 as an extension to its objective to "develop and enhance competency through continuous education and training as to meet the challenges of the global economy".