Program and courses
Besides the mandatory courses Auditing & Assurance, Internal Control & Accounting Information Systems, and Financial Reporting & Financial Reporting Law, the deficiency course Corporate Law, Tax Law, and Bookkeeping are embedded in the curriculum. These deficiency courses are only mandatory for students who do not have the required previously acquired competencies in these fields. Students who do have previously acquired competencies in these fields are not required to attend classes nor participate in the exams.
Mandatory courses
Auditing & Assurance (A&A)
The Auditing & Assurance course focuses on the financial audit, but review engagements, other assurance services, and agreed upon procedures will also be discussed. To fully understand the audit process the auditor needs to have knowledge of the market for audit services, since this is the environment in which services are delivered. The course starts with an introduction into the nature of the audit market, including the various types of auditing, auditors' legal liability, auditing standards, ethics, and independence. Building upon this foundation, the remainder of the course then provides an in-depth discussion of the various stages of the audit process. An important component of the course is IT auditing. As the course progresses you will start working on audit cases that you have to hand in as a preparation for the national auditing exam. You will also work on a comprehensive case that recurs each seminar in the program. The course is concluded with partial exams per seminar, an integration case, and the national auditing exam that consists of two cases.
Internal Control & Accounting Information Systems (ICAIS)
The Internal Control & Accounting Information Systems course focuses on business and information processes with ample attention to IT control, which is merely the technology component in ICAIS. The link between ICAIS and IT control is for a great deal located in the realm of IT systems development. For example, typical ICAIS topics that relate to IT control include data modeling, and the simultaneous development of internal controls and information systems. We follow a managerial approach to ICAIS, indicating that the discipline is placed firmly in the context of existing management practices. From the outset you will work on ICAIS cases that you have to hand in as preparation for the national ICAIS exam that consists of two cases. The second exam component is the ICAIS practical case that you write based on one of your own clients or processes that you are involved in. The third and final ICAIS exam component is the oral exam in which you will be questioned about applied theoretical concepts. This oral exam covers the entire ICAIS literature as discussed in the course.
Financial Accounting & Financial Accounting Law (FR&FRL)
The Financial Accounting course addresses financial reporting in accordance with Dutch GAAP (Richtlijnen voor de Jaarverslaggeving, fully translated in English) and the differences with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The course focuses on Dutch GAAP and highlights areas where IFRS differ significantly. The relevance of financial statement information for investment analysis and the important relationship between reporting entities and users of financial information through investor relation management is also addressed. During the course you are expected to hand in various cases. In addition, the course covers the Dutch legal requirements regarding financial accounting as embedded in the Dutch Civil Code. The course concludes with a written exam.
Company Law and Tax Law (CL/TL)
This course covers some relevant legal areas, including Dutch Company and Commercial Law, Dutch Labor and Social Security Law, Dutch Tax Law, International Tax Law, Dutch Civil Law, and European Law. Company Law and Tax Law are offered as separate courses. Each of the two courses concludes with a written exam.
Bookkeeping
Making journal entries, maintaining ledgers, populating the trial balance, and preparing the financial statements are all activities that pertain to the front-end of any financial or cost accounting process. This is an important, yet often underdeveloped skills domain in the previously acquired competencies of prospective PMA students. Therefore, the program offers a bookkeeping course for those who have deficiencies in this field. The course concludes with a written exam.
Practical training
The Law on Accountancy Education makes a distinction between a theoretical and a practical educational program. To become listed in the charter of the NBA, after which you are allowed to bear the title Registered Accountant (in Dutch: Registeraccountant, abbreviated as RA, to be put behind your name), you must submit your diploma from the Tilburg University PMA as well as official proof that you finished the three-year practice traineeship by means of the integrated (practice and theory) final oral exam.
Integrated final exam
The theoretical and practical part of the Accountancy education in the Netherlands is concluded with an integrated final exam on all theoretical and practical topics that were discussed during the courses at Tilburg University and during the traineeship in practice.
You can register for this exam at the NBA: