It is said that every 8 minutes, a student registers for ACCA. In over 173 countries, there are around 428,000 students and over 162,000 members of ACCA. Though ‘one of the largest student body’ formally started its services in Middle East in 2004, it has quickly grown to a community of 2,500 members and 15,000 students.
With such a quickly growing community, ACCA still faces a lot of confusion from students of UAE who wish to have a career in accountancy. In this blog post, we will be disecting those myths and confusions along with long term benefits that ACCA affiliates have.
1) ACCA Eligibility in UAE
The eligibility criteria is the biggest confusion that the students wishing to persue ACCA exams in UAE. However, to us, this seems the most easiest thing. ACCA offers two paths to start your program: Fundamental level for those who have relavant secondary education and Foundation level for those students who do not have any formal education.
If a student has passed 3 GCSE O-Level exams and 2 A-Level exams including Maths and English than he is qualified for Fundamental level. In UAE, students who have a two-year Associate Degree can also skip the Foundation level.
The complete eligibility criteria for all countries can be found on this link: http://www.accaglobal.com/middle-east/en/qualifications/glance/acca/minimum-entrance-requirements.html
2) Exemption for ACCA papers
ACCA offers exemptions from particular papers based on the degree that have previously earned. In some cases the student can skip the entire Fundamental level and start directly from the Professional-level. Many graduates, due to improper guidance from their institutes are found confused in these exemptions. ACCA MiddleEast offers exemption for papers to degree holders of 35 institutes in UAE.
For example, a student who has gained BSc Accounting degree from University of Sharjah receives an exemption in F1, F2, F3 and F4 of the Fundamental level. The complete list of institutes and their exemption can be found on this link: https://portal.accaglobal.com/accrweb/faces/page/public/accreditations/enquiry/main/EnqInstitutionsTable.jspx
3) Benefits of being an ACCA in UAE
ACCA program covers not just accounts but also management and professional ethics. This gives an edge to the ACCA members who are seen at a variety of roles in the corporate sector including consultancy, business evaluation and management.
Moreover, in UAE, ACCA has partnered with AAA (Accountants and Auditors Association), the prestigious local accountancy body of UAE. Under the strategic partnership, ACCA members in UAE will also be the members of AAA and will qualify for UAECA (United Arab Emirates Chartered Accountant), thus enhancing their recognition as financial professionals in the region.
4) Options after ACCA
ACCA has over the year worked to increase the credibility of their exams all over the world. Thus ACCA students and members not just have multiple options for their career but also for education. ACCA students can get a BSc in Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. Members having 3-year professional experience can apply for Global MBA program of the same university. There are other universities that allow you to directly apply to their Masters programme if you are an ACCA affiliate or member.
Thus ACCA, in particular to the students of UAE, offers a very bright future. This program achieves the vision of UAE-government of becoming leading financial services centre globally.
If you are planning to apply for ACCA program in UAE and are still facing confusion feel free to email us on info@tipsuae.com or call us at +971 455 4581. TIPS, UAE offers complete ACCA training in Dubai under competent and experienced faculty. Details of our ACCA training program can be found here: http://tipsuae.com/courses-offered/acca/