Promoting the profession

We know that public recognition of your ACCA Qualification is really important – you’ve worked hard for it, and it is a true indicator of your professional abilities and skills.

We want to ensure the ACCA Qualification continues to support your access to professional, regulated roles and continues to demonstrate its value to your current and future employers. So we’ve been working hard to maintain and enhance this level of recognition, both formally and informally.

We’d like to flag a number of activities that we carry out in support of members and of the profession more broadly to reassure you that we’re here for you.

At an informal level, we are continuing to raise awareness of the qualification around the world by:

• highlighting its value to employers, regulators and governments
• building strong relationships across the professional accountancy network to ensure the qualification remains relevant to employers and markets
• running public affairs campaigns that talk to regulators and legislators
• raising awareness among the general public of the value of the qualification.
• As part of this, we collaborate with national accountancy bodies. The qualification is seen as complementary to existing national qualifications, and ACCA adopts a partnership approach with national accountancy and regulatory bodies.

Formal recognition

At a more formal level, we also work to establish and maintain recognition of the qualification in parts of the world where this is needed. This could be through forming partnerships, advocating for proportionate regulation of the profession, or applying to be recognised in the financial and/or education sector.

In particular, formal recognition of the qualification is needed in regulated roles, such as audit. We form partnerships and maximise the opportunities available to members to support their access to regulated roles.

The ACCA Qualification is formally recognised in many jurisdictions worldwide. However, ACCA members may in addition need to demonstrate practical experience specific to the country in which they wish to work, or meet additional examination requirements.

Formal recognition of the qualification by the education sector can provide public assurance of the robustness and high standard of the qualification at master’s degree level. This is increasingly important in markets where employers need assurance from their national education regulator in order to recruit staff or employers, and make remuneration decisions based on an employee’s qualification level.

Another way in which ACCA provides recognition opportunities for members is by developing joint examination scheme partnerships. There are currently 15 partnerships where ACCA works with a national accountancy body to provide globally accepted qualifications with local recognition.

We celebrate the fact that, by having a variety of pathways towards achieving the qualification, we have significant diversity across our membership, which is to the benefit of society, the profession and organisations.

We are also proud of the part our members play in helping to build strong and sustainable economies around the world – a role whose importance has been thrown into sharp focus during the pandemic.