Last night StudyOnline.ie had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new ACCA professional accountancy qualification. This exclusive event was attended by ACCA partners as well as special guests including the President of ACCA Brian McEnery from BDO and Ryan Shanks Managing Director – Accenture Strategy, Talent & Organisation.
The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change – Heraclitus
Why the Need for Change? Forward Thinking
ACCA has spent the last 2 years surveying their members, employers and leading companies from 19 countries and the outcome of this was revealed in their recent report “Professional Accountants – The Future”. (Link at bottom of article)
The report showed the key drivers of change for accountancy are –
- Regulation and governance
- Digital technologies
- Expectations
- Globalisation
It went further and described key “professional quotients” needed by accountants to respond to this change and to succeed and add value to their employers and clients.
- Technical and ethical (TEQ)
- Intelligence (IQ)
- Creative intelligence (CQ)
- Digital (DQ)
- Emotional intelligence (EQ)
- Vision (VQ)
- Experience (XQ)
Taking the above into account, the ACCA qualification, to remain ahead, and forward thinking is going to change.
New “Strategic Professional Level” – 2 Exams
ACCA will replace the existing Core Professional level exams with the new Strategic Professional exams. The change will see the existing P1, P2 and P3 replaced by 2 examinations, Strategic Business Leader and Strategic Business Reporting. These subjects will be examinable from September 2018. Students will need to have completed both P1 and P3 before then to be exempt from sitting the Strategic Business Leader Exam.
The Strategic Business Leader subject will be a 4 Hour Exam with a real life case study. The exam will continue to be paper-based.
There will be no changes to the options papers.
Ethics and Professional Skills module
The current Professional Ethics module will be replaced by a new 20 hour long Ethics and Professional Skills module. This will be rolled out in September 2017. This will cover ethical behaviour and judgment, communications, commercial innovation, analysis and evaluation skills. Skills currently in demand from employers.
Conclusion
The evolution of the ACCA qualification will certainly have a positive impact on most students not only due to the advancement of the qualification but also it will mean one subject less for students to complete. From an employer perspective, ACCA continues to hold its place as a premier business qualification and its members continue to be highly regarded and sought after.
Students – If you want to know how these changes impact you then visit this link.
StudyOnline.ie – ACCA Unlimited
StudyOnline.ie is the an ACCA approved elearning provider. Operating since 2001 the company has recently focussed purely on online learning. ACCA tuition is offered online consisting of HD studio recordings of lectures as well as online lecturer support. StudyOnline.ie offers several payment options including annual and monthly packages. With StudyOnline.ie you can study any place, any time. For more info visithttps://studyonline.ie/acca
