I chose ACCA because it is recognized worldwide and also gives me the option to practice in my country. It is also the fastest way to pursue a professional qualification through affordable part-time study.
Liew Yuk En, ACCA student from Malaysia
Ask any undergraduate student in Nigerian universities how long they intend to stay in school and most of them will answer, “forever!” with “fool” thrown in, as you turn your back.
But if you prod beyond the cynical cover, almost all of them will tell you they’d love to have graduated yesterday.
Our universities all over the country have consistently maintained the same pattern: keeping students on campus for many years learning little.
It is this situation amongst other things that makes ACCA attractive to at least the accounting students in Nigeria.
Adam Muhammad who is a graduate of ABU Zaria and a part 3 ACCA student said if he had known the existence of ACCA before gaining admission into the university, he would have chose to study ACCA right from the beginning and stayed away from the university.
“ If I knew this programme will be this flexible , I wouldn’t have gone to ABU. The four (plus a year of teachers’ strike) I spent at ABU would have been more than enough for me to go through the three parts of the qualification and also earn myself a BSc. in Applied Accounting from the Oxford Brookes university.
As at December 2005, ACCA’s global student body stands at 260,000 and ACCA membership is 110,000 worldwide. They have 359 examinations centres in 139 countries.
How it works
ACCA has two schemes: The CAT (Certified Accounting Technician) and the professional scheme.
CAT is for beginners who have never studied accounting before. Nigerian students who have just graduated from secondary school can start fall into this category. Even some university graduate chose to start from CAT before moving onto Professional scheme
CAT scheme papers are ten:
Paper 1: Recording Financial Statement
Paper 2: Information for Management Control
Parper3: Maintaining Financial Records
Paper 4: Accounting for Costs
Paper5: Managing People and Systems
Paper 6: Drafting Financial Systems
Paper 7: Planning Control and Performance Management
Paper 8: Implementing Audit Procedures
Paper 9: Preparing Taxation Computations
Paper10: Managing Finances
These ten papers could be finished in a year and a half, especially if you take the maximum of 4 papers per sitting. Unlike LIFA, ACCA organizes examinations only twice a year; in June and December.
If a graduate chooses to start from CAT before doing the professional scheme, they need not do all the ten papers since they will be given exemptions in some papers. This will enable them to obtain the CAT qualification in a year.
Also, any student who successfully completed the CAT scheme is automatically give exemptions in three papers of the professional scheme. These are papers 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.
A graduate in any field is also given exemptions in the above 3 papers.
The professional scheme has 16 papers but you’re required to do only five papers in part 3 instead of the seven listed. This brings the total down to 14 papers in all. These 14 papers are distributed into 3 parts that consist the professional scheme.
Part 1 papers are: 1.1 Preparing Financial Statements, 1.2 Financial Information for Management and 1.3 Managing People.
Part 2 consists of 2.1 Information Systems, 2.2 Corporate and Business Law, 2.3 BusinessTaxation, 2.4 Financial Management and Control, 2.5 Financial Reporting, and 2.6 Audit and Internal Review.
Candidates who successfully complete this part are eligible to apply for a BSc (Honours) in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. You can check your eligibility status on ACCA’s website at www.accaglobal.com/students
What will interest Nigerian students about this degree is the fact that as you finish papers 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6, you’re only required to submit a research paper called Research and Analysis Project (RAP) to get the degree.
The part 3 papers are: 3.1 Audit and Asssurance Services, 3.2 Advanced Taxation, 3.3 Performance Management and 3.4 Business Information Management. You’re required to take only two from the above four.
The three core papers from part 3 which are not optional are 3.5 Strategic Business Planning and Development, 3.6 Advanced Corporate Reporting and 3.7 Strategic Information Management.
FEES
How much does it cost to get through the entire professional scheme? According to Adam Muhammad, it costs far less than what it takes to get a decent degree from Nigerian universities. “ only about N200,000 will cover the entire ACCA professional scheme and the BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes university if you chose to study on your own.”
But don’t take Adam’s word for it, do your own calculation with the figures below using 150 naira for 1 pound sterling.
Initial subscription: 59 pounds sterling
Re-registration: 59 pounds sterling
Annual Subsription: 59 pounds sterling
Part 1 examination or exemption: 41 pounds sterling
Part 2 examination or exemption: 49 pounds sterling
Part 3 examination or exemption: 57 pounds sterling
From ACCA students
Abdul Hakeem Usman Galadanci (08037512264) is a Part 3 ACCA student from Katsina State. This is what he said of his experience. “What I like about ACCA is its flexibility. Also being an ACCA member means international recognition and tremendous career growth opportunities as an accounting professional. Though the qualification is tough A lot of people flunk their papers, it’s worth it. If one works hard enough, there wouldn’t be problem. The student accountant magazine even points out where to focus on where to ignore.”
A female Part3 ACCA student from Abuja who doesn’t want her name published said, “ ACCA is especially very challenging to Nigeria students because the currencies used in the text and examination questions are not naira. There’s also the problem of qualified teachers. It is very hard to get someone who can teach ACCA subjects even if you’ve the money to pay for the tuition. That’s why some Nigerians go to the UK for their ACCA studies. But all in all the experience is very fulfilling and the opportunities are abundant.”
Adam Muhammad (08036901534) from Minna, Niger State agrees with the lady. “Most ACCA training centres in Nigeria use ICAN teachers. ICAN and ACCA are not the same thing. So how can someone who has not gone through ACCA teach ACCA? In UK, the tuition providers require approval ratings from ACCA like premium tuition provider or tuition provider plus. The best bet in Nigeria is for ACCA students to teach themselves. For example I go to Abuja on weekends to teach some busy executives who do not have the time to read. I read the books then give them the predigested information.
“We have only a handful of ACCA members in Nigeria. That’s why members have no trouble getting good jobs in Nigeria. I’m still a student but I was recently offered a job by a first generation bank with excellent pay package but I chose not to take it. ACCA is the flagship of accounting certifications.”
For more information, you can call the ACCA students above or contact ACCA directly:
29 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London WC2A 3EE
info@accaglobal.com
www.accaglobal.com
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