The ACCA offers the following qualifications:
Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) - Professional Scheme
The Professional Scheme is the primary qualification of the ACCA and, following completion of up to 14 professional examinations and three years of supervised, relevant accountancy experience, enables an individual to become a Chartered Certified Accountant.
In accordance with ACCA's traditions, there is open access to its examinations.
As part of the Professional Scheme, a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Applied Accounting (after completing Part 2 of the Professional Scheme and submitting a Research project), is offered in association with Oxford Brookes University.
The current syllabus is made up of 14 examinations, although some exemptions are available. The papers are split into two parts, the fundamental level (9 examinations consisting of F1 Accountant in Business, F2 Management Accounting, F3 Financial Accounting,F4 Corporate and Business Law, F5 Performance Management, F6 Taxation, F7 Financial Reporting, F8 Audit and Assurance, and F9 Financial Management) and the Professional level (5 examinations). Within the professional level there are three compulsory papers (P1 Governance, Risk & Ethics, P2 Corporate Reporting, P3 Business Analysis) and four optional papers (P4 Advanced Financial Management, P5 Advanced Performance Management, P6 Advanced Taxation and P7 Advanced Audit and Assurance, of which two must be selected).
Subjects examined include financial accounting, management accounting, financial reporting, taxation, company law, audit and assurance and financial management.
It is ACCA policy to update the examination syllabus on a regular basis. Changes were most recently made in 1994, 2001 and 2007. The revised syllabus updated the qualification for recent developments in the accountancy profession and reorganized the papers within the examination.
The ACCA professional examinations are offered worldwide twice yearly, in June and December.
Certified Accounting Technician (CAT)
This is an introductory qualification for accounting technicians. Although CAT can be obtained as a standalone qualification, it is often the case that individuals study for CAT as an introduction to accountancy prior to starting the Professional Scheme. It usually takes 1–3 years to complete the Certified Accounting Technician exams. However, there is no restriction on the number of papers that can be attempted in one attempt.
Alternatives to the CAT qualification include the Association of Accounting Technicians qualification. ACCA was a sponsor of the AAT before breaking its links in favor of the CAT qualification in the mid 1990s.
Currently, the Certified Accounting Technician qualification (CAT) has been placed on the National Qualifications Framework of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCA), and publicly-funded educational institutions are now eligible for funding to train towards the qualification in United Kingdom.
Under a recent re-structure of its courses, the ACCA has placed the CAT as part of the Foundations in Accountancy suit of qualifications. [1]
Other qualifications:
The ACCA offers other qualifications:
MBA (for ACCA full members, offered in association with Oxford Brooke s University)
BSc(Hons) in Applied Accounting, offered in association with Oxford Brooke s University
MSc in Financial Management, offered in association with He-riot Watt University
Diploma in Financial Management (DipFM). Introduced in the mid-1980s as the Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance (CDipAF), a financial qualification designed for non-finance managers. This qualification was withdrawn for new registrants at the end of 2010 and will be replaced with Foundations in Accountancy awards at the end of 2011
Diploma in International Financial Reporting (DipIFR)
Certificate in International Auditing (CertIA)
Certificate in International Financial Reporting (CertIFR)
Membership
ACCA Affiliate versus Members
In the first instance, individuals register as student members to undertake the Professional Scheme qualification.
Upon successful completion of the examinations, student members are automatically transferred to Affiliate status.
"For ACCA affiliates to gain admission to full membership, they must demonstrate, on the application form, that they have obtained a minimum of three years of acceptable, supervised, practical experience in an accountancy role (or roles) and have reached the required standard of competence".
Fellowship
From 2008, Fellowship, or senior membership of ACCA, is awarded automatically based on 5 years' continuous membership, subject to compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements.
Fellow members of ACCA use the designatory letters FCCA in place of ACCA.
Continuing Professional Development
Before 2005, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) was mandatory only for holders of practising certificates and insolvency licences. From 2005 to 2007, ACCA phased in mandatory CPD requirements for all members.
Legal & mutual recognition
Europe
United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland
The ACCA or Chartered Certified Accountant qualification is fully recognized in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
Under the Royal Charter granted by Her Majesty the Queen, ACCA works in the public interest.
ACCA is a Designated Professional Body under the Financial Services and Markets Act, business activities.
ACCA is a Recognised Professional Body under the Insolvency Act to issue permits to individual Chartered Certified Accountants to conduct insolvency appointments.
ACCA is also a Recognised Qualifying Body and Recognised Supervisory Body in relation to company auditing under the Companies Act 1989.
ACCA is a member of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB). Members of these bodies are deemed to hold equivalent-level qualifications and advertisements for jobs often state that an organisation is looking for a CCAB-qualified individual.
Full members of CCAB organisations including ACCA can apply for ICAEW membership subject to certain criteria.
Only ACCA, ICAEW, ICAI, ICAS and AIA are able to authorise members to conduct audit, insolvency and investment business work in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
Outside these countries, legal recognition by government authorities, and mutual recognition by equivalent overseas institutes, varies from country to country. Even where full legal or mutual recognition is not available, ACCA members can sometimes obtain advanced standing in terms of sitting local accountancy examinations. Additionally, in many instances, ACCA's strong global reputation may obviate the need to acquire a local designation.
Similarly, many (although not all) universities and educational providers will recognize ACCA as equivalent to at least a Bachelor degree in accountancy, for the purpose of obtaining credit to acquire a local Masters degree or enter an advanced study program.
The Irish educational regulatory authorities - Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) has assigned ACCA Qualification to Level 9 of the Irish National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in 2008. Level 9 holds Irish postgraduate qualifications, such as postgraduate diplomas and masters degrees.
In 2011, the Professional Oversight Board published information for the first time about its concerns over self-regulation by particular institutes. Press reports highlighted comments about ACCA, which had implemented recommendations to improve its examination syllabus, but needed to pay greater attention to continuing monitoring of members who had registered as auditors some years ago.
European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) & Switzerland
The ACCA qualification is legally recognized by all member countries of the European Union under the Mutual Recognition Directive. This recognition extends to the European Economic Area nations and Switzerland. For example a holder of the ACCA or Chartered Certified Accountant qualification could practice as an accountant in all member countries of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland, but could only describe him/herself as ACCA or Chartered Certified Accountant rather than local professional accountant qualification. Access to local professional qualifications is based on an aptitude test. However, it is necessary to be a citizen of one of the EEA states or Switzerland to benefit from this Directive.ref// http://www.en.wikipedia.org
