ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)

ACCA: Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Course Explanation

The ACCA Qualification will help your career progress in any organisation. It's an established route to professional status - allowing you to use the 'ACCA' letters after your name on successful completion. Globally, employers will understand and respect your qualification. You will be in demand for your finance and accounting knowledge and skills worldwide, regardless of employment sector.

Within the ACCA Qualification there is a strong focus on professional values, ethics and governance - skills which are essential as the accountancy profession moves towards strengthened codes of conduct, regulation and legislation with an increasing focus on professionalism and ethics in accounting.

As part of your ethical development, students are required to complete the Professional Ethics Module, developed by ACCA. This will give you exposure to a range of ethical perspectives and includes several self-tests which require you to reflect on your own ethical behaviour and values. You then apply what you have learned in a case study where you experience an audit situation from two points of view - that of the auditor and the corporate financial accountant.

You are given access to the Professional Ethics module as soon as you become eligible to take Paper P1, Professional Accountant. It is recommended that you take the Professional Ethics module at the same time as, or before, the Professional Accountant paper. While you have the flexibility to complete the ethics module in your own time, it must be completed before applying for full ACCA membership.

Fundamentals(9 Papers in Total)

The Fundamentals level is divided into two modules - Knowledge and Skills. The Knowledge module (F1-F3) 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 (F4-F9) 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.

Professional(5 Papers in Total)

The Professional level is divided into two modules - Essentials (P1-P3) and Options (P4-P7). 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.