Demand for ACCA qualifications high in toueh economic times

The demand for a professional accountancy qualification has remained high during tough economic times as the results from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) examinations in June reveal that 196,000 students sat papers, with more than 6,000 taking a major step towards membership of the global body for professional accountants.

Candidates around the world took more than 373,000 papers, with 6,294 students successfully completing their final ACCA examinations. A further 2,978 students completed the Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) exams.

At the Fundamentals level, pass rates were particularly pleasing for the tax and law papers. Students continue to find papers F5 Performance Management, F7 Financial Reporting and F8 Audit and Assurance challenging. At the Professional level the pass rate remains strong in paper P1, Governance, Risk and Ethics which tests students’ professional judgement. This is the first session to place a greater emphasis on risk assessment and risk management within the exam.

ACCA Executive Director – Learning and Products Clare Minchington said: “We congratulate those who have succeeded in their exams – and we are delighted to see that more than 6,000 have completed their examinations, having been able to demonstrate the financial knowledge and professional skills which are needed by organisations in challenging economic conditions. We look forward to welcoming them to ACCA membership on completion of their practical experience requirements. We also congratulate the students who have completed their CAT exams at this session.

“We look forward to examining our new suite of awards, Foundations in Accountancy which replaces the existing CAT qualification from December 2011. Foundations in Accountancy offers students a choice of awards at different levels and the availability of more computer-based exams than are currently available. This is the first stage of the innovative e-assessment programme being developed by ACCA which will lead to all its examinations, across all levels, being offered online.

“In addition to offering greater flexibility, our new e-assessment model will enable us to test students’ knowledge and skills in a way which more accurately reflects real-life workplace scenarios and activities and which meet employers’ needs, creating the e-professional.” The first papers will transition to the new system in 2012 with all papers being phased over the next few years. ACCA already offers Computer Based Exams (CBE), first introducing them in 1998, and has since implemented e-paper production and e-marking of its scripts.