ACCA redesigns its qualification to groom strategic professional accountants

Kuala Lumpur – ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) today took a major step forward in shaping the future of accountancy by unveiling major innovations to its Master’s level qualification, tailored to meet the strategic challenges of the 21st century’s disruptive economy.

ACCA’s new design of its qualification draws on an extensive, two-year review and consultation with members, employers and learning providers.

Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA, says: “Our ground-breaking redesign of the ACCA Qualification will give students the forward-thinking strategic abilities and advanced skill-set required of modern professional accountants who will shape the future of global business.

“We’re delivering a qualification that meets the demands of professional accountants in the 21st century, while maintaining the rigorous standards of technical, ethical and professional skills that has established ACCA as the international benchmark for accountancy qualifications. These measures are important as they will ensure the rigour and relevance of the qualification remains central to ACCA’s offering in emerging, as well as established, markets.”

New developments

ACCA’s latest innovations to the top level of its qualification are new Strategic Professional level exams, which will replace the existing Professional level exams effective September 2018. There will also be a new Ethics and Professional Skills module, which will be introduced in October 2017. 

The redesign enhances the breadth and depth of the qualification, with greater focus on employability and the practical application of core skills in the contemporary workplace and includes:

• Strategic Business Leader – an innovative case study exam, based on a realistic business scenario. This gives students the skills and technical expertise required by modern business where decisions need to be made, measured and effectively communicated to the wider organisation.

• Strategic Business Reporting – a new exam exposing students to the wider context of finance and business reporting, giving them the vital skills needed to explain and communicate to stakeholders the implications of transactions and reporting. 

• Ethics and Professional Skills module – making modifications to the existing ethics module, which ACCA was the first professional body to offer to students in 2008. This new module will equip them with the professional skills that are needed in the modern workplace. 

Helen emphasised the rigour of ACCA in planning the changes, sharing that ACCA’s stakeholders will continue to play a part in how the qualification is delivered in the future, adding:

“Thorough and meticulous consultation and design testing with hundreds of members, employers, C-suite executives and students from around the world over a two year period helped us with these exciting developments to the qualification.

“We’ve listened carefully to not just what current professionals and employers think are essential skills in the here and now, but we’ve also carefully considered what will be vital attributes in the professional accountants of the future, to 2020 and beyond.” 

Grooming Malaysia’s future accountants

At the preview held in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Leong Soo Yee, Asia Pacific director of ACCA, said: “This new development will have exciting implications for Malaysia because the outcome will be the grooming of strategic professionals who will contribute towards the country’s aspiration to become an intelligent and progressive economy, essentially leading the way for ASEAN.”

Financial and Business Services were identified as two of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs), which is one pillar of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme. Establishing a sustainable talent pipeline of finance professionals is critical to achieving this plan, with the government aiming to record 60,000 qualified accountants by 2020. 

ACCA, whose presence in Malaysia dates back to 1936, has been working with the government and various partners to groom professional accountants the country needs. With over 54,000 members and students in Malaysia today, ACCA is the largest international accounting association with an established network of 23 learning partners and 130 approved employers nationwide.

Soo Yee added: “We’ve incorporated the most relevant and forward-thinking skills into our exams. They represent a significant evolution to our qualification which reflects the changing role of accountancy professionals in the 21st century.”

She also gave the assurance that ACCA will provide essential guidance to learning partners so they are fully prepared to teach the new syllabus. At the same time, students will have access to learning support tools to ensure they succeed in their exams and careers. 

“As an organisation with a reputation for innovation, vision and leadership in the profession, we’ve responded accordingly with a qualification that offers the complete and essential blend of technical and ethical accounting competencies mixed with strategic leadership and professional skills required to turn students into the confident, inspiring and trusted business partners that employers need,” Soo Yee concluded. 

Full information about the updates to the ACCA Qualification can be found at www.accaglobal.com/thefuture