What is ACCA?
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Institute, formed in 1904, is the global professional accounting body offering the “Chartered Certified Accountant” qualification. ACCA is a fast-growing international accountancy organisation with more than 2,00,000 members and more than 500,000 students in 180 countries.
What do you get by doing ACCA?
Who should pursue the ACCA program?
HSC Students interested in Accounting career
With its flexible learning and student-friendly examination systems, it gets you off the block. It also equips you for roles beyond accounting to build a long-term career.
Graduating students interested in Accounting Careers
Since you get several exemptions, the ACCA program is a faster and cheaper way for you to prepare for multiple roles and to open doors of multinational companies.
Experienced Professionals
ACCA will refresh the concepts and prepare you for strategic roles increasing your career enhancement prospects.
Want to know if ACCA is suitable for you? Take this short quiz now
Is ACCA different from CA?
ACCA and CA both get you to become an accountant. ACCA teaches accounting from a global perspective, while CA is accounting for India.
In terms of the course content, CA focuses on Finance and Financial Accounting where as ACCA focuses on Taxation, auditing, Management Accounting, Financial Accounting and more.
Becoming a CA would require you to pass 9 papers whereas ACCA has 13 papers. It is noteworthy to know that ACCA has many exemptions.
To know if you are eligible for ACCA exemptions
CAs are preferred only in India, whereas ACCAs are preferred across the globe. CAs in India with an average experience of 2-3 years can earn up to 8 lakhs per annum, whereas ACCAs in the UK, on an average with 2-3 years of experience, earn around £64,000
Roles you get after ACCA
ACCA Qualifications open multiple options at a wide range of organisations because:
- Holistic approach in curriculum trains you for diverse roles; you can go on to perform strategic tasks in Strategic Roles like CFO, CEO
- Multinational organisations including the Big 4s and a large number of captives/KPOs are aware of the ACCA qualification since its members/students are spread across 180 countries.
Is ACCA a degree?
ACCA itself isn’t the conventional undergraduate degree that you really get. But ACCA fundamental level gives you the knowledge and applied skills that could be considered equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. The professional level is considered equivalent to a master’s degree. But overall, ACCA isn’t a conventional degree. It is a professional certification.
ACCA in India
Most of the ACCA-qualified professionals in India are employed with the Big 4s or MNCs. Employers in India have now become aware of ACCA qualifications and are hiring them eagerly. The leading employers in India for ACCA are Price Waterhouse Coopers, Ernst and Young, Deloitte, KPMG, TATA Communications, Embassy Group, Grant Thornton, etc. CA and ACCA members are increasingly offered similar job profiles, designations and salary packages.
India has taken another step closer towards globalisation by introducing Ind-AS drafted and implementing principles identical to IFRS. ACCA covers IFRS broadly in its syllabus, giving ACCA members in India an edge.
With many financial KPOs in India, India has become a central outsourcing hub for accounting and financial functions. Employers prefer ACCA-qualified professionals for handling these functions.
In India, the salary offered to ACCA fresher students or members is between INR 3,00,000 to INR 8,00,000.
Interested in pursuing ACCA course in India? Click Here
What are the 13 subjects in ACCA?
To qualify as an ACCA member, a candidate must do the following:
- Attempt and clear 13 exams (ACCA does provide up to 9 paper exemptions depending upon the candidate’s previous qualification)
- Record 36 months’ experience in a relevant role. The candidate can acquire the experience before/ during/ after completion of the qualification. Complete the Ethics and Professional Skills module.
- The 13 subjects and exams of ACCA are divided into three levels: Applied Knowledge, Applied Skills & Strategic Professional.
Now let’s deep dive into each of the ACCA levels
Applied Knowledge Level:
- Business and Technology (BT)
- Management Accounting (MA)
- Financial Accounting (FA)
Students are awarded the ACCA Diploma in Accounting and Business (RQF Level 4) when they have successfully completed the Business and Technology (BT), Management Accounting (MA) and Financial Accounting (FA) exams (at least one of which must have been sat and passed), plus completion of Foundations in Professionalism.
Applied Skills Level:
Subjects in the Applied skills level include
- Corporate and Business Law(LW)
- Performance Management
- Taxation (TX)
- Financial Reporting (FR)
- Audit and Assurance (AA)
- Financial Management (FM)
Students are awarded the Advanced Diploma in Accounting and Business when they have successfully completed (either passed or exempt) the Applied Skills exams. At least two of these papers must have been sat and passed.
Strategic professional Level:
Students need to prepare for 4 subjects out of 6. They are divided into essential and optional modules
Essentials:
- Strategic Business Leader(SBL)
- Strategic Business Reporting(SBR)
Options: (Any 2)
- Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
- Advanced Performance Management (APM)
- Advanced Taxation (ATX)
- Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)
Students are awarded a Strategic Professional Certificate when they have successfully completed all the Strategic Professional exams of the ACCA Qualification. These are the two Strategic Professional Essentials exams and any two of the Strategic Professional Options exams.
Ethics and Professional Skills Module
Students are required to complete 20 hrs of the Ethics and Professional Skills Module, which develops the complete range of skills that employers demand.
By introducing students to the full spectrum of advanced ethical and professional skills and exposing them to realistic business situations, students are ready to shine with recruiters and be really credible in the workplace.
Practical Experience Requirement
To qualify as an ACCA member, the candidate must complete a minimum of 36 months of relevant work experience and achieve 9 performance objectives.
A practical experience supervisor must sign off the candidate’s time in a relevant role and performance objectives.
Eligibility, Duration and Exemptions
Kindly note that these are tentative details, to know more regarding Eligibility and Exemptions based on your current qualification, please visit https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/help/exemptions-calculator.html
* Minimum Entry Requirements: The minimum entry requirements for ACCA Qualification, beginning at the Knowledge level, is as below:
passes should be held in 5 subjects including English and Mathematics / Accounts, 65% marks in at least 2 subjects and over 50% on the others. You may qualify for exemptions from some modules if you possess higher qualifications.
# Please note that even a CA Final Pursuing candidate can be eligible for more exemptions if they score 40 or more marks in the relevant subject in the CA Final Examination.
Similarly, a candidate who has not qualified for the CA IPCC Exams but scored 40 marks or more in the relevant subject of the CA IPCC Exam is eligible for more exemptions.
Exam Details
| Foundations Level | Applied Knowledge Level | Applied Skills Level | Strategic Professional Level | |
| Exam Duration | 2 hours | 2 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours |
| Passing Marks | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Total Marks | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
When are the ACCA exams held?
ACCA has a flexible study approach & has two types of computer-based exams.
- On-demand CBEs: BT, MA, FA and LW: These exams can be taken any time of the year.
- Session CBEs: PM-FM: These exams are held in four exam sessions: March, June, September and December.
- Strategic professional CBE exams: Essentials and 2 options: These exams are held in four exam sessions: March, June, September and December.
How difficult is ACCA?
ACCA isn’t a difficult exam; it is easier to clear the ACCA compared to other professional finance and accountancy courses like the CA and CFA. It is more challenging than the school and undergraduate tests with which most students are familiar.
ACCA from IMS Proschool
The Global Professional Accountancy Course from IMS Proschool prepares you for ACCA and practical skills such as financial modelling required when entering the corporate world. The institute also provides 100% placement support, including access to a dedicated placement portal, resume building, mock interviews, etc.
IMS Proschool is also the Learning Partner of ACCA Global, which gives you a particular advantage when registering for your ACCA exams.
Advantages of enrolling with IMS Proschool
- Learning partner
- 70% passing rate
- Classroom teaching
- Highest Placement – 12 LPA
- Active learning teaching pedagogy
- ACCA qualified faculty
- 100% placement assistance
- Strong ACCA IMS alumni network