The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) today announced the commencement of the first phase of the revamping project for its second flagship professional development qualification – ‘Certified Shari’ah Advisor & Auditor’ (CSAA). The first qualification – Certified Islamic Professional Accountant (CIPA) – has already been revamped and relaunched. The project has been awarded to a consortium of Raqaba (Kuwait) & International Shari’ah Research Academy – ISRA (Malaysia), following a complete and transparent process of RFP issuance, tender, selection and awarding in cooperation between AAOIFI and the Waqf Fund, Central Bank of Bahrain, during which a large number of bids and proposals submitted by specialized institutional bidders from across the globe

The first phase of the revamping project involves conducting a gap analysis and benchmarking of existing CSAA qualification against relevant global and regional qualifications as well as carrying out a survey to probe the opinions of experts and the industry about the existing qualification and their expectations as to its prospective version. Thereafter, the consultants will provide their recommended course of action with regards to the new structure of the qualification, and target audience, and other aspects such as curriculum design, structure and design of the CSAA curriculum which can also opt for a detailed drafting of the curricula as the next phase of the project.

The CSAA qualification was first introduced more than a decade ago and was designed to equip candidates with the requisite technical understanding of and professional skills in advisory and Shari’ah compliance and audit for the Islamic banking and finance industry. Given the evolving nature of the industry and the global developments in audit and accounting, AAOIFI felt the need to upgrade the qualification.

The Waqf Fund of the Central Bank of Bahrain has taken a decision to sponsor the revamp of CSAA. Earlier, the revamp of CIPA was also funded by it. Dr. Hamed Merah, the Secretary General of AAOIFI expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to the Chairman of the Waqf Fund Mr. Khalid Hamad for his continued and generous support. He said, “The Waqf Fund’s financial and editorial support

for the CIPA development project was instrumental for AAOIFI and the broader Islamic finance industry, and it continues with the revamp of CSAA. We are thankful to the Waqf Fund board and the Chairman for approving the funding which will go a long way in capacity building of the industry.”

In this regard, the last exam for the current CSAA program will be in February 2018 after which it will be discontinued until further notice. It is expected that the new CSAA will be launched in the last quarter of 2018.