A flexible new approach to training of accountants, which sees the ICAEW and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) join forces, will allow the cream of the crop to rise to the top of the profession at a faster rate.

The two chartered bodies are launching the Joint Programme, enabling students to complete both the ICAEW's ACA and CIOT's CTA qualification within three or four years.

Until now, the traditional path of becoming members of both groups was to carry out studies separately but according to ICAEW president Mark Spofforth will 'under this new programme, complete all the requirements for the ACA and CTA in a way which considerably reduces the study overlap, time out of the office, and tuition costs'.

He said: 'The Joint Programme is designed for the most dynamic and talented corporate tax professionals who are ambitious to rise quickly to the senior levels of the profession.

'It still enables the employer to be confident that the student has gained the relevant skill set required for an accountant ready to advise on tax at the highest level. The combination of two well respected and high quality programmes will help employers offer their employees a more efficient route to become tax specialists.'

The new training programme will also allow accountants of the future to specialise in either indirect or direct taxation, and Patrick Stevens, CIOT president said: 'The CIOT and ICAEW have worked closely with professional services firms to create this flexible new programme for those specialising in tax. It has been designed for students dealing with the tax affairs of FTSE 350 companies or other large corporates from the start of their training.

'As well as drawing on the existing strengths of the two qualifications it incorporates a new, specially developed paper, Taxation of Major Corporates, which has been developed jointly by ICAEW and CIOT. This paper has a strong practical focus and deals with the kind of corporate transactions that students will find relevant to their employment.'