ACA students achieve record results in Professional Stage exams

More candidates than ever are setting themselves up for a bright future in the Accountancy profession, as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) today announced the results of the September ACA Professional Stage exams.

The September sitting marks the first time all candidates have taken the more flexible ACA qualification structure. The new format was introduced last year following widespread consultation with relevant stakeholders to ensure the ACA maintains its reputation for quality and relevance.

Seventeen talented candidates from all over the UK and two international students, from Russia and Cyprus, are also celebrating their success following this sitting. Each has been recognised by the Assessment Committee for outstanding achievement and is being presented an Order of Merit for September 2008.

Elizabeth Blount, Assessment Manager at the ICAEW, said: “I would like to congratulate all the candidates who have worked so hard for their exams, and I welcome the record results in the Financial Management exam.

“The Professional Stage exams are an important step for students in joining the ranks of today’s leading business and finance professionals as ACAs. The ACA is a mark of exceptional quality, and training as a chartered accountant opens the door to a huge range of exciting opportunities in business and finance, in the UK and internationally.”

David Blondel, Chair of the Institute’s Assessment Committee, added: “Whilst this was a challenging set of papers, candidates showed they were able to apply what they had learnt and kept a cool head, all qualities that we expect of future accountants.

“A very good pass rate was also achieved as candidates showed an excellent level of understanding across a wide range of topics particularly in the Financial Management paper. Our evidence showed that even if they found some elements of the examination difficult, they were able to recover their position elsewhere.”

Overall, 2,765 students sat their Professional Stage exams in the September sitting and a total of 5,472 papers were taken.

The paper pass rates for the September written papers were:

    • Written papers
    • Sat
    • Passed
    • %
    • Business Strategy
    • 1143
    • 949
    • 83%
    • Financial Reporting
    • 1561
    • 1222
    • 83%
    • Financial Accounting
    • 515
    • 427
    • 83%
    • Audit and Assurance
    • 514
    • 394
    • 77%
    • Taxation
    • 966
    • 780
    • 81%
    • Financial Management
    • 773
    • 653
    • 84%

For further information on the examiners’ results visit www.icaew.com/examresults. For information about the ACA visit www.icaew.co.uk/students