About the ACCA qualification
Founded in 1904 with headquarters in London, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is a global professional accountancy body, with 154 000 members and 432 000 students in 170 countries. The ACCA qualification offers you status, security, financial reward and respect throughout the world. The designation for ACCA members internationally is ACCA, meaning 'Associate of the Chartered Certified Accountants'. After five years of membership, it changes to FCCA, which means 'Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountants'.
As an ACCA you can work in any size or type of organisation, in any employment sector, in any country throughout the world. ACCA accountants in the corporate and public sectors transform the finance capabilities of their organisations through their in-depth skills in finance strategy, business analysis, investment appraisal, cost control, financial management, performance management, risk management, and financial reporting. In public practice, ACCA accountants provide advice from a business perspective through their deep skills and knowledge in corporate and business law, taxation and audit and assurance.
Chartered certified accountants:
- Advise management to enable them to make informed business decisions
- Evaluate financial performance
- Monitor spending and financial control
- Independent reviews
- Provides financial advice
- Prepare financial statements
For more information about The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, visit their website at www.accaglobal.com
How to become an ACCA member
There are three parts to the qualification: 1) the examination syllabus, 2) practical experience and 3) a professional ethics module.
Following the route offered by the University of Stellenbosch, a student has to register for the BCom (Financial Accounting)-degree (3 years). Currently students studying through Stellenbosch University are exempted from the first nine exam papers of the ACCA syllabus, which is also the maximum exemption that could be awarded by ACCA.
Successful completion of the BCom (Financial Accounting)-degree will allow a student to write the final five qualifying examinations through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
To qualify as an ACCA member, learners have to demonstrate that, in addition to passing the examinations, they have met ACCA's practical experience requirements. All learners are required to obtain a minimum of three years' relevant supervised accountancy experience and meet the minimum competence requirements for membership. Details of the learner's practical training and experience must be recorded in the Trainee Development Matrix.
Within these requirements, ACCA offers you the maximum possible flexibility, enabling you to match work experience to ACCA's training requirements in a variety of ways. For example, you can:
- obtain the practical experience required for membership either before, during or after completion of the examinations
- gain the experience in any business sector or combination of sectors (e.g. corporate sector, public sector or public practice)
- gain the experience in any size or type of business
In addition to all the technical skills and capabilities assessed throughout the ACCA Qualification, central to ACCA's mission and core values is the requirement that students learn about and demonstrate ethical values and professionalism. ACCA students are required to complete an online training professional ethics module.
BCOM (FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING) PROGRAMME
Aim
The objective with the BCom (Financial Accounting) degree program entails the following:
- To address the basic content of the first nine subjects of the curriculum of the certified accountant career, as determined by ACCA.
- To present the study material in just a way that independent and constructive/critical thinking is encouraged amongst students.
- To impress the virtues of integrity, a sense of responsibility and a positive attitude, which are necessary for a professional career in future, upon students from the first year of study.
This program is also aimed at students who want to obtain a qualification as a Chartered Accountant (CA), but who did not study BAcc at an undergraduate level. At successful completion of this degree students can do a bridging year in order be able to apply to the HonsBAcc- program.
Alternatively students can enrol in the HonsBCom (Management Accounting) programme as soon as their BCom (Financial Accounting)-degree is successfully completed. This honours programme is relevant to the Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA)- qualification.
See these links for more information on the BAcc (Chartered Accountant) and BCom (Management Accounting) (Charted Management Accountant)-programme.
Please note: Both the BAccHons and HonsBCom (Management Accounting) programmes are selection programmes. Contact the School of Accountancy for more information on this.
Admission requirements
The formal admission requirements are available in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences yearbook (available on the website of the university).
Students who do not qualify to register for the BCom (Financial Accounting) programme in terms of the formal admission requirements are allowed to change over to the programme at the end of their first year on condition that they comply with the following:
- They must be registered for a BCom course in their first year.
- All the subjects for the first year must be passed.
- A written application for conversion must be submitted to the School of Accountancy at the end of the first year.
Students who wish to follow the above route to gain admission to the BCom (Financial Accounting) program are advised to register for subjects Statistics 186 and Information Systems 188 (instead of Information Systems 112) and Information Systems 152 in their first year (if possible).
Contact details
Any further questions in relation to the BCom (Financial Accounting) programme may be directed to the course programme leader, Dr. George Nel.
Tel: +27 (0)21 808 3422
E-mail: gfn@sun.ac.za
Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602
Office 2031, van der Sterr Building, C/o Bosman & Victoria Street, Stellenbosch, 7600.