Mercury Institute offers courses to fast track to ACCA professional course and UK Hons. degree after

ACCA’s  Foundations in Accountancy is a flexible suite of entry-level awards designed with both students and employers in mind and was  introduced after detailed consultation with employers, learning providers, members, students and other professional accountancy bodies and regulators.

Retaining a revised Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) Qualification, Foundations in Accountancy provides a grounding in financial and management accounting, with professionalism and ethical behaviour at its core.

The Mercury Institute of Management, the only platinum approved tuition provider for ACCA in Sri Lanka, explained the many benefits of this qualification and its recognition amongst employers today.

“For students, the flexible range of entry points means that they can begin at an appropriate level, avoiding duplication, so saving time and money in the long term,” stated  Jeevith Shakespear, Managing Director of Mercury.

“For the first time, Foundations in Accountancy will see certification awarded at each level, helping students to chart their progress, and employers to recruit and train to meet their particular business needs. The highly practical content means that the knowledge students acquire can be directly applied in the workplace, offering immediate benefits to existing and prospective employers.”

He explained that students also have the benefit of being able to complete qualifications in their own time, selecting those which best suit their own career aspirations as flexibility is a key feature of the qualification in terms of assessment delivery and level of progression.

Outlining the benefits an employer will gain, Shakespear said: “Employers need to know that they are taking on competent employees in account-support roles, and they can be assured that this qualification will train individuals to a high standard of the full ACCA qualification.”

He affirmed: “Employers can also be confident that candidates know how to conduct themselves professionally and ethically in the workplace, because completing the Foundations in Professionalism element is a prerequisite of receiving certification for any of the awards within Foundations in Accountancy.”

The wide-ranging syllabus spans the key elements of financial and management accounting, including an Accountant in Business module which puts students’ new knowledge into an economic, legal and regulatory context.

In addition, students can complete a combination of exams in order to achieve awards at different levels. For example, students can complete two of the core exams plus Foundations in Professionalism in order to complete the first level qualification – Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting or continue to progress to whichever level they choose.

Students who complete all seven core subjects, two of three optional subjects with the Professionalism module and a year’s work experience will have achieved the requirements to gain the CAT Qualification.

The CAT qualification of ACCA provides a route to enter the professional course to students who have just sat for the O/Level. The course equips the student with the technical skills and knowledge for a support role in accountancy. It is a qualification in itself and entitles the student to use the designatory letters CAT.

On completing the CAT course the student proceeds with the professional course and also gains the Hons Degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brooks University UK. All these qualifications are collected whilst the student progresses with the GCE A /Level while at school.

Thus students who have passed the O/Levels have the unique benefit of obtaining three qualifications in a comparatively short period of three years even before they complete their A/Levels. No other accounting body in the world offers this triple qualification.

Therefore the CAT course offering ample choice and options is boon to students hoping to qualify as a globally accepted accountant with no entry qualification and no age limit as it offers students the gateway to a career for life.

Shakespear concluded: “The accountancy profession is constantly evolving to meet the demands of how businesses operate, and nowhere is this more apparent than at an accounting-support level. The accounting technician of today and tomorrow needs a rigorous and flexible qualification to help them contribute to business performance and an ever-changing business landscape. And though Mercury was established as a business venture, I would like to stress that here at Mercury Institute we maintain values, discipline, and passion, which are lost in today’s commercial times. All this coupled with the high quality of education that we offer, attracts the cream of students to our courses. Our students aspire for nothing but the best in quality education.  And at Mercury we assure all our students just that.”