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The ACCA Qualification is designed to provide the accounting knowledge,
skills and professional values which will deliver finance professionals
who are capable of building successful careers across all sectors,
whether they are working in the public or private sectors, practising
in accounting firms, or pursuing a career in business.
The ACCA Qualification embeds the global accounting
education standards set by the International Federation of Accountants
(IFAC). There is a strong focus on professional values, ethics, and
governance. These skills are essential as the profession moves towards
strengthened codes of conduct, regulation, and legislation – with
an increasing focus on professionalism and ethics in accounting.
These are examined at the highest level in the ACCA Qualification
and are a core element of your practical experience requirements.
Course Aims |
The overall aim
of the syllabus is to provide the core accounting knowledge,
skills, and appropriate professional values in order for affiliates
to work in any employment sector. After completing the professional
exams, affiliates should be capable of:
- preparing and analysing financial accounts and reports,
and giving appropriate professional advice ;
- preparing and analysing management accounting reports,
measuring, assessing and managing performance – giving
appropriate professional advice ;
- understanding the implications for – and constraints
on – accountants and managers imposed by corporate
and business law;
- preparing tax computations and giving professional
advice on a range of taxation issues with regards to
personal and corporate taxation;
- recognising the role of internal and external auditing
with respect to financial review, control, accountability,
and assurance ;
- applying financial management theory and techniques
in the interests of sustainable and responsible value
creation, and giving appropriate professional advice
on financing, investment, and distribution ;
- managing the
strategic direction of an organisation and supporting
business strategy through implementing business process
change by applying appropriate project, systems, and
people management techniques and theories;
and
- appreciating that an accountant must embrace and adhere
to a set of professional values and behave within an
ethical framework, showing responsibility to stakeholders
through operating within an effective system of governance,
internal control, and risk management.
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Course
Market |
The course is aimed principally
at providing a professional qualification for the following
markets:
- employees with significant accounting responsibilities
wishing to develop their practical and theoretical
knowledge in the accounting area;
- jobholders who seek to gain a specialization within
the accounting area, underpinned by rigorous conceptual
knowledge capable of deployment in a vocationally useful
way;
- international students aiming to achieve a world class
professional qualification in accounting.
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Course Structure |
The exams are
divided into two levels – Fundamentals
and Professional.
The Fundamentals level is divided into two
modules – Knowledge and Skills. The Knowledge module
introduces students to the core areas of financial and management
accounting. This provides the platform from which the other
technical accountancy areas will be studied in greater detail
in the Skills module. The Skills module contains six subjects
which comprehensively cover the main technical areas that any
accountant – regardless of their future career aspirations – are
expected to have mastered. These comprise law, performance
management, taxation, financial reporting, auditing, and financial
management.
The Professional level is divided into two
modules – Essentials and Options. Both modules have been
set at an intellectual level equivalent to that expected of
a student taking a Masters degree. The focus of the syllabus
at this level is to build upon the technical skills already
acquired, and explore more advanced professional skills, techniques,
and values that are required and used by the expert accountant
acting in an advisory or consultancy role at a senior level.
All students must complete the three papers in the Essentials
module. The Options module contains four papers. These are
directly underpinned and supported by their equivalent within
the Skills module in the Fundamentals level. These exams assess
the more advanced and sophisticated techniques that a professional
needs in order to specialise in specific areas at work, or
to follow as a career pathway in an advisory or consultancy
role. Students select two out of four Option papers and are
advised to choose the options that relate to their chosen or
anticipated field of work.
There
are 16 papers in total but you only need to pass 14 papers
(unless you have been awarded exemptions), because you only
choose two out of four option papers in Professional-Options
stage.
FUNDAMENTALS (9
Modules)
Knowledge |
F1 |
Accountant
in Business (AB) |
F2 |
Management
Accounting (MA) |
F3 |
Financial
Accounting (FA) |
Skills |
F4 |
Corporate
and Business Law (CL) |
F5 |
Performance
Management (PM) |
F6 |
Taxation
(TX) |
F7 |
Financial
Reporting (FR) |
F8 |
Audit
and Assurance (AA) |
F9 |
Financial
Management (FM) |
PROFESSIONAL (5 Modules)
Essentials |
P1 |
Professional
Accountant (PA) |
P2 |
Corporate Reporting
(CR) |
P3 |
Business Analysis
(BA) |
Options
(Any 2) |
P4 |
Advanced Financial Management
(AFM) |
P5 |
Advanced Performance Management
(APM) |
P6 |
Advanced Taxation (ATX) |
P7 |
Advanced Audit
and Assurance (AAA) |
Check more information on the New
ACCA Qualification and Conversion arrangements.
Students will be encouraged to complete their three years'
relevant practical experience alongside completing their
ACCA exams and will need to complete an annual return each
year indicating which performance objectives they have achieved
and how long they have been working in a relevant accounting
role. However, students will still be allowed the flexibility
of gaining their relevant practical experience before, during
or after passing their exams.
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| Practical Experience
Requirement (PER) |
A key component of the ACCA
Qualification is gaining relevant practical experience. As
an ACCA member, you will need to be equipped with the relevant
skills and knowledge to meet different challenges in your career.
ACCA’s practical experience requirement (PER) enables
you to apply the knowledge gained through your exams; and develop
the skills, attitudes and behaviours that you will need to
demonstrate as a qualified accountant. PER provides a framework
for achievement, confirming effective and sustainable workplace
performance, making you a more valuable employee.
Key features of the
PER
Under the ACCA Qualification, the PER:
- sets clear expectations of what you should be able
to do in the workplace. These expectations are set out
as performance objectives and give you the chance to show achievement
in the workplace
- is goal-driven, so you are encouraged to set targets,
plan development, and mark progress along with your
employer
- provides simple and clear progress-reporting tools,
which will help both you and your employer
get the most out of the process
- is underpinned by a new, online trainee development
matrix (TDM) which will allow your employer to undertake a
more proactive and purposeful approach to developing you
through tracking your progress and achievement towards
goals
- comprises a mix of performance objectives that are
classified as either Essentials or Options. These describe
the types
of work activities you will be involved with in addition
to the values and attitudes you should demonstrate
as you fulfil your requirement
- requires you to complete an annual return.
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| Ethics Module |
As part of their ethical development,
students will be required to complete a Professional Ethics
module, developed by ACCA. This will give students exposure
to a range of ethical perspectives, and includes several self-tests
which will require them to reflect on their own ethical behaviour
and values. They will be able to apply what they have learned
in a case study where they can experience an audit situation
from two points of view – that of the auditor and the
corporate financial accountant.
Students will be given access to the Professional Ethics module
as soon as they become eligible to take Paper P1, Professional
Accountant. It is recommended that students take the Professional
Ethics module at the same time as, or before, the Professional
Accountant paper is taken. While students have the flexibility
to complete the ethics module at their own convenience, it
must be completed before applying for full ACCA membership.
The module uses current best practices in online learning.
Upon request, alternative arrangements will be provided for
students who do not have access to the Internet.
Completing the Professional Ethics module will not be a requirement
for existing students transferring over to the new qualification,
although they will be encouraged to complete the module. All
students registering on the new ACCA Qualification, ie any
students registering or re-registering after January 2007,
including CAT students transferring over to the ACCA Qualification,
will be required to complete the Professional Ethics module. |
Duration |
Each tutor led session per module
would be of 3 hours duration, and there would be one class
per module per week.
International students need to apply for Full-Time program
with duration of more than 6 months and have to take a minimum
of 4 modules per term. Full-time students have to attend 12
hours of tutor led classroom study each week and 8 hours of
tutorials totalling to 20 hours of study per week. You are
expected to spend at least the same amount of additional time
every week in personal study and completing assignments.
You have up to ten years to complete your ACCA examinations,
although most students take three to four years, sitting two
or three papers at each session. However, it is possible to
complete your examinations in as little as twelve months with
maximum exemptions and passing any outstanding papers at consecutive
examination sessions.
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Assessment |
Knowledge module exams will be
two-hours long. They will be available both as computer-based
exams (CBEs) – providing
automatic marking and immediate results – and also as
traditional paper-based exams. CBEs at higher levels of the
qualification will not be introduced as part of the new qualification.
Skills module exams and all Professional level exams will
be three-hours long plus an additional 15 minutes reading time
and will make use of a range of assessment methods such as
short-answer questions, extended computational exercises, essays,
scenarios and case studies
- Students have ten years to complete all examination papers
from the date of registration. Students registered before
31 December 2006 will be transferred over to the new syllabus
in August 2007 and given a further ten years to complete
the new syllabus ie they will have until June 2017 to complete
the new syllabus exams.
- The pass mark for all papers is 50%.
- There are two examination sessions per year - one in June
and one in December.
- Students can take a maximum of four papers in a term
- this includes both paper-based and computer-based exams.
- Students must sit the exams in module order - Knowledge,
Skills, Essentials then Options - but can attempt papers
within a module in any order. However, as the syllabus
has been developed to progress educationally in the order
presented, ACCA recommends that papers within a module
are taken in order.
- Papers may be attempted from different modules at the
same sitting as long as the modules are attempted in
order eg a student can attempt Papers F1-F3 (all of
the Knowledge module) and any one paper from F4-F9 (Skills
module).
- Students must pass or be exempted from all nine exams
in Fundamentals level and pass all three Essentials exams
and two Options from four in the Professional level. There
is no requirement for students to sit and/or pass any of
the exams together, including the three Essentials exams
in the Professional level.
Students
who could not clear any of the papers can resit for that particular
class on payment of the resit fee. |
Entry Requirements |
The minimum entry requirements are two A levels and three
GCSEs in five separate subjects, including English and Maths,
or equivalent.
Individuals over 21 years who do not meet the minimum entry
requirements may register through the Mature Student Entry
Route (MSER). This is designed for students who have the maturity
and skills to deal with the ACCA Qualification instead of first
undertaking the Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) qualification.
MSER students must pass the equivalent of Paper F2, Management
Accounting and Paper F3, Financial Accounting within
two years of registering.
Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) Qualification
This is ACCA's vocational, open- entry introduction
to accounting. Applicants who are 16 years or older can complete
ACCA's CAT qualification. Students who complete CAT will be
given exemption from the Knowledge module (Paper F1, Accountant
in Business,
Paper F2, Management Accounting, and Paper F3, Financial
Accounting). CAT passed finalists will be automatically
transferred over to the ACCA syllabus if they opted for automatic
transfer when they initially registered for the CAT qualification.
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Exemptions |
Your previous qualifications
may entitle you to exemptions from certain ACCA examinations.
This will ensure that your point of entry is the most suitable
for your level of knowledge and skills and will prevent you
repeating areas with which you are already familiar. The ACCA
database shows many of the qualifications which can be accepted
for exemption. Students are advised to monitor the database
regularly as ACCA's exemption policy is subject to change and
assessments may be added or revised without prior notice.
ACCA's exemption policy is subject to change, and assessments
may be revised without prior notice. Students are strongly
advised to obtain written confirmation of their exemption status
from ACCA before embarking on any course of study.
No exemptions are available from Professional level exams.
Relevant degree holders from ACCA-accredited institutions may
be awarded exemptions for up to all nine exams within the Fundamentals
level and register directly at the Professional level. CAT
passed finalists will be awarded exemptions from the Knowledge
module - Paper F1, Accountant in Business, Paper F2, Management
Accounting, and Paper F3, Financial Accounting.
Check Online for Exempetions
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* international students will have to register with ACCA before
joining the college for ACCA training.
Note: Commencement of any program is subject to
enrolment of a minimum of 5 students per program. NLC reserves the
right to withdraw any or all of the programs prior to its commencement,
without further notice.
Fees
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ACCA
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