BA certification - what are the benefits?

As a Business Analyst I have wondered what are the benefits of BA certification and who is benefiting? To try and work that out I thought about the reasons why BAs should be certified.

Is it to measure the ability of the BA to do the job? Is it to try and get some consistency in the quality of analysis that is being done? Is to to increase the status of the profession?

Then I look at the 2 certification schemes available to BAs: the ISEB Diploma in Business Analysis from BCS and CBAP from IIBA and here is the thing: I have yet to see a job that has a mandatory requirement to hold either of these and yet if certification was proving the ability of the holder to do the job and ensuring consistency in quality of deliverables surely the employers would be demanding their employees have the certification?

Now I look at various functional requirements that exist for these certificates and I find (amongst others):
1. both require passing exams
2. both require money to be paid to the accreditation organisations for the exams.

Let's take the subject of exams first. I have a mathematics 'O' level I got 30 years ago that I am pretty sure I could not pass now. What does that mean? It means that 30 years ago I knew enough to be able to pass a mathematics 'O' level and not much more. Worse still: suppose I had an accident and became brain dead on a ventilator: I would still be more eligible academically than the brightest but unqualified candidate for a job that demands a mathematics 'O' level. This illustrates the absurdity of exams.

Now exam fees. I can see why exam fees are needed: someone has to pay for the provision of the administration of these exams.

But no jobs demand these particular exams and anyway exams (agruably) prove very little and may rule out otherwise excellent candidates!

So to summarise: someone has to pay for the provision of something no jobs demand and which prove very little anyway.

As a Business Analyst if this was a project I was analysing requirements for I would raise the issue that there does not appear to be any inherent benefit for the expense - unless I was working on the project for BCS or IIBA!!! :-)

I would be extremely interested to know the justification for exams and the current certification programmes - has anyone any views on that?
.