Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) institute, formed in 1904 is the global professional accounting body offering the “Chartered Certified Accountant” qualification. ACCA provides opportunities and open access to everyone with ability, who wishes to pursue the course from any part of the world. ACCA course supports and promotes highest ethical, governance and professional standards.
There are a lot of qualifications that a candidate achieves on his way to ACCA membership. It is a great way for the candidate to showcase his/her knowledge and skill sets to employers.
ACCA students can get:
- A Diploma in Accounting and Business (after successfully completing F1, F2 and F3 papers)
- An Advanced Diploma in Accounting and Business (after successfully completing F1-F9 papers and the professional ethics module)
- A BSc. (Hons) degree in Applied Accounting awarded by Oxford Brookes University after successfully completing F1-F9 papers, professional ethics module and submitting a Research and Analysis project)
- An MSc in Professional Accountancy awarded by University of London
What ACCA member does?
Apart from accounting, ACCA members are highly proficient with IT and numerical skills. They are well-versed with business knowledge and have strong analytical as well as problem solving skills. They can work in various departments like accounts, auditing, compliance, finance, tax, fund management and merger & acquisition. ACCA teaches business and strategic skills to candidates so that they can:
• apply international accounting standards;
• create wealth and increase shareholders value;
• analyse information for business decisions; and
• manage and mitigate risk
Some of the roles performed by ACCA members are:
| External Auditor | Internal Auditor | Forensic accountant |
| Compliance Officer/Governance officer | Financial Accountant | Management Accountant |
| Chief Financial Officer | Group Accountant | Business Analyst |
| Financial Analyst | Business Adviser | Tax Accountant |
| Risk Manager | Treasurer | Funds Manager |
| Credit Control Manager | Insolvency Practitioner | General Ledger |
| Payroll | Cashier |
To qualify as an ACCA member, a candidate will be required to complete:
- Exams - Attempt and clear 14 exams (ACCA also provides exemptions in some exams depending upon the candidate’s previous qualification, for details check below)
- Experience - Record 36 months' experience in a relevant role (candidate can acquire the experience before /during/ after completion of the qualification)
- Ethics – Complete the Professional Ethics module.
Exam Details
Course structure of ACCA has been divided into three levels: Knowledge, Skills & Professional.
- Knowledge: F1 Accountant in Business, F2 Management Accounting, F3 Financial Accounting
- Skills: F4 Corporate & Business Law (CL), F5 Performance Management (PM), F6 Taxation (TX), F7 Financial Reporting (FR), F8 Audit & Assurance (AA), F9 Financial Management (FM)
- Professional- (Essential; all papers compulsory): P1 Professional Accountant (PA) (Essential), P2 Corporate Reporting (CR) (Essential), P3 Business Analysis (BA) (Essential)- (Optional; only 2 exams out of 4): P4 Advanced Financial Management (AFM), P5 Advanced Performance Management (APM), P6 Advanced Taxation (ATX), P7 Advanced Audit & Assurance (AAA)
Examinations are held 4 times in a year i.e. March, June, September & December. However, the papers from F1 to F4 can be taken online around the year at ACCA's Authorized Computer Based Exam centres.
Entry route and exemption details for ACCA
To become an ACCA member one must clear a total of 14 papers. Undergraduates must take 14 exams while CA must take 5 exams to become an ACCA member. Below is list of exams to be attempted by candidates at different levels:
| Qualification | Exams and Duration (Aprox) |
|---|---|
| 12th passed* | 14 Exams , 3 Years |
| Commerce Graduation | 10 Exams, 2 years to 2.5 years (Exemption in F1, F2, F3, F4) |
| IPCC | 9 Exams , 2 Yearsd (Exemptions in F1, F2, F3, F6, F8) |
| B.com + IPCC | 8 Exams, 1 Year (Exemptions in F1, F2, F3, F4, F6, F8) |
| Indian CA (After 2003) | 5 Exams, 1 Year (Exemptions in all the papers from F1 to F9) |
Fees
The fee break up to pursue ACCA Qualification is: A candidate must pay an Initial Registration fee of 79 pounds & Annual Subscription of 95 pounds and examination fees per paper.
| Entry Type | June 2017 Early Entry / Standard Entry |
|---|---|
| Knowledge level focus | £72 / £76 |
| Skills Level Fees | £97 / £102 |
| Professional level fees | £121 / £128 |
It is an international qualification that enables applicants to make a career which is recognised worldwide. ACCA members work in public sector, corporate sector and finance advisory services globally. ACCA has approximately 7400 approved employers around the world. Few companies are listed below:
| Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) | Microsoft | Emirates |
| Rolls Royce | Etihad Airways | HSBC |
| Earnest & Young (ENY) | Maersk | Godrej |
| Goldman Sachs | Deloitte | Uniliver |
| KPMG | Hawlett Packard | Barclays |
| Proctor & Gamble | General Electric Corporation | DHL |
| Deutsche Bank | BNP Paribas |
And many more…
http://careers.accaglobal.com/
Why ACCA in India
The scope for ACCA in India is growing at a fast pace. Most of the ACCA qualified professionals in India are employed with the Big 4s or MNCs. Employers in India have now become aware of ACCA qualification and are hiring them eagerly. Main employers in India for ACCA are Price Waterhouse Coopers, Earnest and young, Deloitte, KPMG, TATA Communications, Embassy Group, Grant Thornton, etc. CA and ACCA members are offered similar job profiles, designation and salary packages.
India is taking another step closer towards globalization by introducing Ind-AS drafted on principles similar to IFRS. ACCA covers IFRS broadly in its syllabus which would definitely give an edge to ACCA members in India.
With the presence of many financial KPOs in India, India has become a major outsourcing hub for accounting and financial functions and ACCA qualified professionals are preferred by the employers for handling these functions.
Salary of ACCA
In India, average salary offered to ACCA fresher is between INR3,50,000 to INR 4,00,000.
Given below in tabular format are approximates of salaries drawn by ACCA professionals globally.
| Country | Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Australia | £32,400 – £40,500 |
| France | £23,100 – £31,400 |
| Germany | £23,100 – £28,900 |
Hong Kong | Standard: £18,600 – £21,400 Big Four professional services: £25,100 – £27,000 |
| Singapore | £24,000 – £30,000 |
| Switzerland | £47,400 – £61,000 |
| UK | £28,000 – £40,000 |
About IMS Proschool
- IMS Proschool along with Parent organization has trained more than 3 lakhs candidates for different competitive exams and professional course such as CFA, CFP, CIMA, CPA etc.
- Proschool has trained more than 20,000 employees of different finance organizations on Financial Analysis, Wealth Management, Financial Planning, Equity Research, Management Accounting etc.
- Proschool is the official learning provider of ACCA.
Reviews
| Sarah Pumfrett Senior Internal Auditor at Shell. | She has 12 years of experience working across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America, including assignments in Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Tehran, Iran; Damascus, Syria; and Anchorage, the US ‘It’s a career where both your earning and travel potential are limited only by the opportunities you choose,’ says Sarah Pumfrett FCCA. |
| Chris Brome Senior Manager –Advisory at Barbados | Has 12 years of experience working mainly in financial advisory services in Barbados, the Bahamas and Canada in offshore banking, insurance, telecommunications, retail, hospitality, tourism and leisure, oil and gas, government and not-for-profit organisations ‘I really enjoy travelling and exploring new places,’ says Chris. ‘I love to experience new cultures and people, and fortunately my current job has afforded me travel to several places across Europe, North America and the Caribbean.’ |
| Affan Ali PWC in Lahore | He completed the CAT exams, ACCA exams and gained a degree from the UK’s leading modern university, all within five years. ‘What’s best is that I didn’t have to repeat any studies,’ says Affan. ‘I used the CAT Qualification as a fast-track on to the ACCA Qualification, and the ACCA exams I passed contributed towards achieving the BSc degree. It meant I only needed to complete a Research and Analysis Project and the Professional Ethics module to gain a BSc (Hons) degree in Applied Accounting awarded by Oxford Brookes University.’ ‘Attaining the degree shows employers that you have the key graduate skills of self-reflection and communication,’ explains Affan. |