ACCA Expected to have four Examination Sittings in a year

Following the examination sitting of June 2015, 7886 students passed their final ACCA examinations successfully; a momentous milestone on their ACCA membership journey. The ACCA qualification’s director, Catherine Edwards said that completing the examinations of ACCA is a major achievement and upon completion of practical exams, students will be admitted to become members. In order to reflect accountancy developments and professional accountant’s evolving responsibilities, ACCA constantly refreshes its examination content.

Beginning September 2015, ACCA expects to introduce four examination sessions in some of the largest markets of ACCA before the global roll out in the year 2016. As such, students will from 2016 take examinations in March, June, September or/and December. In order to maximize their chances, students can now properly plan their studies to suit their personal and work commitments.

Catherine Edwards said that students can now take advantage of the new flexible times. She noted that even though they saw a slight decline in the June exam entries, most students have now taken advantage of the new September exam sitting which reported many exam entries. In the June session, 179,563 students sat for 296,012 examination papers.

Additionally, the number of students taking the computer based examination (CBE) increased mainly due to the introduction of F4 (Global and English) as CBE on demand. Since December, some 67,103 examinations have been taken; this is an increase of close to 12,000. In September 2016, ACCA is planning to introduce F5-F9 computer based examinations. This will further increase flexibility while high standards continue to be maintained through questions that reflect expected skills and competencies at the place of work.

Catherine Edwards noted that students are now recording high pass rates in the June exam particularly in the P7 Advanced Audit and Assurance. They have been closely working with learning partners to offer students sitting for this subject greater support. She however noted that some of the pass rates were very low and students will be given support products and detailed guides to help them while doing self- study.

In conclusion, Catherine Edwards said that ACCA qualification is undoubtedly demanding and therefore, they will ensure that the exam maintains the high standards expected by employers globally.