NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) today took a major step toward shaping the future of accountancy by unveiling major innovations to its Master’s level qualification, tailored to meet the strategic challenges of the 21st century’s disruptive economy. The announcement follows an extensive, two-year review and consultation with members, employers and learning providers across the globe.
“Our ground-breaking redesign of the ACCA Qualification will give students the forward-thinking strategic abilities and advanced skill set required of modern professional accountants who will shape the future of global business,” said Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA.
She added, “We’re delivering a qualification that meets the demands of professional accountants in the 21st Century, while maintaining the rigorous standards of technical, ethical, and professional skills that has established ACCA as the international benchmark for accountancy qualifications. These measures are important as they will ensure that the rigor and relevance of the qualification remains central to ACCA’s offering in emerging, as well as established, markets.”
ACCA’s latest innovations to the top level of its qualification are new Strategic Professional level exams, which will replace the existing Professional level exams in September 2018, and a new Ethics and Professional Skills module, to be introduced in October 2017. The redesign enhances the breadth and depth of the qualification, with greater focus on employability and the practical application of core skills in the contemporary workplace. It includes:
- Strategic Business Leader – an innovative case study exam based on a realistic business scenario. This gives students the skills and technical expertise required by modern business where decisions need to be made, measured, and effectively communicated to the wider organization.
- Strategic Business Reporting – a new exam exposing students to the wider context of finance and business reporting, giving them the vital skills needed to explain and communicate to stakeholders the implications of transactions and reporting.
- An Ethics and Professional Skills module - making modifications to the existing ethics module, which ACCA was the first professional body to offer to students in 2008. This new module will equip them with the professional skills needed in the modern workplace.
Added to these developments, ACCA offers the world’s first Master’s degree integrated with a professional accountancy qualification, delivered in partnership with the University of London. This unique arrangement means students can take the Master’s route while completing their Strategic Professional exams, or take the Master’s degree after the ACCA Qualification.
“As an organization with a reputation for innovation, vision, and leadership in the profession, we’ve responded with a qualification that offers a complete and essential blend of technical and ethical accounting competencies mixed with strategic leadership and professional skills required to turn students into the confident, inspiring, and trusted business partners that employers need,” Helen Brand said.
She noted the thoroughness and rigor of ACCA in planning the changes, emphasizing that ACCA stakeholders will continue to play a role in how the qualification is delivered in the future.
“Thorough and meticulous consultation and design testing with hundreds of members, employers, C-suite executives, and students from around the world helped us with these exciting developments,” she added. “We’ve listened carefully to not just what current professionals and employers think are essential skills now, but also carefully considered what will be vital attributes of professional accountants of the future.”
You can learn more about the ACCA Qualification updates at www.accaglobal.com/thefuture
About ACCA
ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. It offers business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.
ACCA supports its 188,000 members and 480,000 students in 178 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business, with the skills required by employers. ACCA works through a network of 100 offices and centres and more than 7,110 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide high standards of employee learning and development. Through its public interest remit, ACCA promotes appropriate regulation of accounting and conducts relevant research to ensure accountancy continues to grow in reputation and influence.
More information is here: www.accaglobal.com