Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

About ACCA

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is the international body for professional accountants. This association was founded in 1904 and proffers the Chartered Certified Accountant qualification. The term ‘Chartered’ in ACCA qualification implies to the Royal Charter granted in 1974 by Her Majesty the Queen in the UK.

The Chartered Certified Accountant, being a legally protected term, requires the individuals claiming themselves to be Chartered Certified Accountants to essentially be the members of ACCA. Moreover, ACCA works in the public interest, promising the members to be appropriately regulated for the work performed by them and also promoting the principles-based approaches to regulation.

Qualifications

The main qualifications offered by the ACCA include:

Chartered Certified Accountant – Professional Scheme

The primary qualification of the ACCA is featured in the Professional Scheme followed by completion of up to 14 professional examinations in addition to three years of supervised, germane accountancy experience thus enabling the individual to become a Chartered Certified Accountant.

As a policy of the ACCA, the examination syllabus is updated on regular basis thus updating the qualification for recent developments in the accountancy profession.

Certified Accounting Technician (CAT)

The CAT (Certified Accounting Technician) is an introductory qualification for accounting technicians. Although CAT can also be obtained as an individual qualification, very often the students study for CAT as an introduction to accountancy before commencing with the Professional Scheme. The general duration required for the completion of Certified Accounting Technician exams is 1-3 years. There is, however, no restriction to the number of papers which can be attempted in a single attempt.

The CAT has been placed by the ACCA as a part of the Foundations in Accountancy suit of qualifications as per a recent re-structure of its courses.

Other qualifications

The other qualifications offered by the ACCA include:

• MBA: for ACCA full members, offered in alliance with the Oxford Brookes University
• B. Sc. (Hons.) in Applied Accounting, proffered in alliance with Oxford Brookes University
• M. Sc. In Financial Management, proffered in alliance with Heriot Watt University.
• Diploma in Financial Management
• Diploma in International Financial Reporting
• Certificate in International Auditing
• Certificate in International Financial Reporting