Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting

Graduates will be qualified to work in a range of accounting disciplines including financial accounting, financial management, corporate accounting, taxation, auditing, and business consulting in many industries.

Applicants must have obtained at least an undergraduate degree in any discipline or be a mature student aged at least 20 years and supply evidence of at least three years relevant work experience.  Each mature applicant must provide their curriculum vitae detailing any relevant work experience and academic achievements.  The Programme Manager will use this information to assess whether the applicant is likely to successfully complete the Graduate Diploma programme.

English Language Requirements

Applicants, whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools is not English, are required to provide evidence of having achieved one of the following

NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance, or

an International Baccalaureate Diploma or Cambridge A- level qualification for which the teaching and assessment was conducted in English; or

Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA),or Trinity College London Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL);or

Successful completion of all primary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand primary school years 1 to 8) and at least three years of secondary education (being the equivalent of three years from New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand,,Australia,Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States one of the countries listed in Rule 18.5 where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of at least five years of secondary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of a Bachelor's Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours degree, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters' Degree or Doctoral Degree, the language of instruction of which must be in English and which must be from a tertiary education provider from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States or

Successful completion of one of the following internationally recognised proficiency tests listed below to the level required of the programme of study and with all scores achieved in a single test during the two years preceding the proposed date of enrolment

IELTS test - Academic score of 6 with no band score lower than 5.5 
TOEFL Paper based test (pBT) - Score of 550 (with an essay score 5 TWE) 
TOEFL Internet based test (iBT) - Score of 60 (with a writing score of 18) 
Cambridge English Examination - B2 First or B2 First for schools or C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency with a score of 169. No less than 162 in each skill. 
OET - Minimum of Grade C or 200 in all sub-tests 
NZCEL - a) Expiring Level b) Current: a) Level 4 (Academic) b) Level 4 (Academic) 
Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE (Academic) score of 50 with no band score lower than 42 
Language Cert - C1 Expert International ESOL Written (LRW) PASS with no less than 25/50 in each skill and Spoken (S) PASS 
Trinity ISE - ISE II with no less than distinction in any band

* New versions of some NZCEL qualifications, and in some cases new qualifications, were published on 13 June 2017. These are intended to replace pre-existing versions and qualifications, which have been given expiring status until discontinued on 31 December 2019. (a) denotes expiring (b) denotes current

Every candidate for the qualification of Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting is required to follow to the satisfaction of the Board of Studies, a programme of study for a minimum period of one year. Each year of study comprises two 17-week semesters.

The overall programme of study for every candidate requires 120 credits for successful completion of the qualification.

Individual papers may have specific pre-requisites or other knowledge/skill requirements, which may be required to be satisfied by students.

In order to be awarded the Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting, the student will have been credited with all required papers and electives as specified in the programme schedule.

A student completing the graduate diplomas will normally be expected to complete the one year programme (full-time equivalent) within four years.

Notwithstanding the requirements set out above, the Head of Faculty with the approval and recommendation of the Board of Studies may allow a student a longer period to complete the programme.

Please contact SMB Admin for the textbook list. 

Please note that textbooks need to be ordered at least 3-4 weeks prior to the commencement of your study