Career building and acceleration has never been easy for any student and or professional. Coaching and mentoring students and professionals on a daily basis, students and professionals ask very relevant questions.
Questions that are likely
- To impact the course(s), they would opt for
- To impact the way, they would build and accelerate their career
- Key decisions that students, professionals, and their parents would not only need to take but also time them well.
One such pertinent question that students / professionals have is
- Why should we do ACCA after completing CA?
- How would we benefit, if we go for ACCA after completing CA?
- How is ACCA likely to add value to us, if we are already a qualified CA?
Being a Indian Accountant myself, with more than 2 decades of corporate experience, one decade of teaching elite programmes such as ACCA and 4 years of active coaching and mentoring experience, I will try and share my perspective about this very pertinent question – Why do ACCA after CA?
Leverage the CA brand – Students spend a minimum of 5 years, a lot of hard work, a lot of effort in managing stress, stress management, several rounds of revision, practicing infinite questions to get through one of the most reputed Accounting and Finance qualification which is Indian Accountancy. Even ACCA acknowledges the same and as a result offers 9 paper exemptions (maximum available to any professional) out of the 13 papers that a professional is required to complete in order to earn another coveted global qualification – ACCA
Global and Meatier Opportunities – Indian Accountants generally find great opportunities across India and Middle east and these opportunities are continuously increasing. ACCA is a global qualification that is accepted in more than 180+ countries. Indian Accountancy coupled with ACCA is not just a lethal combination but also opens doors to many more geographies and companies globally. Not only do the opportunities increase but professionals who possess both the CA and ACCA degrees also witness an uplift in their overall compensation as well.
Dual Membership – After a professional completes the strategic professional level of ACCA (3rd and last level of the qualification), they become an ACCA affiliate. The next step would be to apply for and obtain ACCA membership. One of the key requirements to obtain the ACCA membership is to have working experience of 36 months (3 years). Given the fact that CA students are mandatorily required to go through a 3-year articleship (2-year practical training as per the revised guidelines), they already have a 24 month (2 year) working experience even before they apply for the ACCA qualification. Over the next 9-12 months that they would take to complete the ACCA qualification, they would be able to complete the remaining 12 months of working experience as well, thereby fulfilling the 36-month requirement as set by ACCA. As a result, Indian Accountants have a big advantage over their peers.
Focus on Skill Building – During the process of obtaining the ACCA qualification professionals would get an opportunity to build on critical skills such as
- Business Acumen – Developing an understanding of business models, how businesses are run, strategy building, SWOT analysis, external environment analysis, building high performing teams, leadership etc.
- Critical Thinking – Ability to build scenarios and integrate the “If’s and But’s” to decode the situation holistically
- Problem Solving – Understanding the problem / challenge / opportunity in detail, involving relevant stakeholders, leveraging resources and competencies and the process of decision making
- Storytelling – Understanding data (quantitative and qualitative), interpreting the same and supporting the process of effective decision making.
Each of the above skills are highly valued by corporates while hiring prospective employees for their respective organizations. Given that ACCA professionals are better at demonstrating (acts as a big differentiator) the above skills, there is an exponential increase the number of job openings for which ACCA professionals are being recruited.
Application oriented program – ACCA coaching is definitely one of those programmes, which does not encourage “Rote Learning”. The course gradually (with well timed interventions) takes a student through the curriculum, study approach, learning outcomes and application of concepts to real-life situations which equips students with confidence for their job.
One Year, One Degree – For a qualified Accountant, completing the ACCA qualification would take only 9-12 months. Professionals after completing the ACCA qualification would be the proud holders of degrees from two of the world’s reputed and large accounting bodies.
Continuous Learning – Many students and professionals that I coach / mentor, are also looking out for courses/degree programs/ integrated degree plus skill-based programme that would keep them relevant and actively in the hunt for growth as they aspire to move up the corporate ladder in their quest to build a successful career. While addressing such cases also, ACCA is an active go-to-choice for professionals keeping in mind the pertinent aspects of the degree, flexibility in the choice of exams, no. of exemptions available (in lieu of the previous academic and professional background), depth of coverage, skill building, pass result, consideration of prior training / internships as working experience, global opportunities, niche profiles etc.
Leading organizations such as The Wall Street School (ACCA approved gold learning partner), also add to this bouquet of offerings for career building for professionals and include their flagship, practical and job-oriented program financial modelling program which equip professionals with relevant practical, on the job skills to enhance their employability with an in-demand technical skill that corporates scout for in their prospective employees. I would always recommend you to talk to your coach and mentor to explore some of these aspects in more detail.
