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The ICAEW Chartered Accountant qualification, the ACA, is one of the most advanced learning and professional development programmes available. It is valued around the world in business, practice and the public sector. Graduates, school and college leavers and those with other professional qualifications or experience can study for the ACA or the ICAEW Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business (ICAEW CFAB).

Routes for Scottish employers

As well as these routes we have tried and tested routes available tailored to employers in Scotland. These include:

AAT-ACA Fast Track

The AAT to ACA Fast Track Route is a quick and efficient route into chartered accountancy, only available from ICAEW in Scotland. This route has been developed with AAT to allow your team to progress from Level 4 AAT onto chartered accountancy - quickly and efficiently. Through this route, you can train staff on the ACA so they can qualify as ICAEW Chartered Accountants in as little as two years, adding value to your organisation and helping you develop your business.is a quick and efficient route into chartered accountancy, only available from ICAEW in Scotland. This route has been developed with AAT to allow your team to progress from Level 4 AAT onto chartered accountancy - quickly and efficiently. Through this route, you can train staff on the ACA so they can qualify as ICAEW Chartered Accountants in as little as two years, adding value to your organisation and helping you develop your business.

Instead of starting the ACA qualification from scratch, this route enables eligible staff to skip some training steps towards qualifying as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant, as they will have covered similar ground through their AAT qualification. Their prior knowledge, work experience and skills mean they can accelerate (or fast-track) towards chartered accountancy.

There are two elements of the ACA training that eligible trainees could 'skip' to qualify faster, provided that they have completed these through their AAT qualification.

  • Exams - via Credit for Prior Learning.
  • Work experience - through claiming up to 12 months' prior work experience.

Further Education entry routes

For many years HND students at Scottish Further Education Colleges aspiring to progress to chartered accountancy have gone on to a further two year’s university study before starting training towards chartered accountancy. We are working with students and employers across Scotland to provide a recognised pathway for students to progress directly from college to ACA training. With this pathway, students who have completed the relevant HND units can claim Credit for Prior Learning for two Certificate Level exams, Accounting and Management Information, allowing employers and their trainees to fast track their progress with ACA training.

Hear from employers and students

View the webinar below to hear from:

  • Daniel Wilde – Regional Finance Manager, HALO Trust who began his career as an HND student at Dumfries and Galloway College before completing his ACA training with Saint & Co in Carlisle.
  • Stuart Farrer – Partner, Saint & Co, Carlisle. Stuart recruited Daniel as an HND student and continues to recruit both AAT and FE college students to progress on to the ACA.
  • Kirsty McGuckin – Kirsty is Director of Bracey’s Accountants in Edinburgh. Kirsty qualified via the AAT route and has recently helped student Scott to complete his AAT and progress on to ACA training.
  • Scott Jeffrey – Scott studied HND Accounting at Edinburgh College, joined Bracey’s Accountants where he completed his AAT qualification and has now progressed to ACA training.
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Success stories

Armstrong Watson

With their first ACA trainee dating back nearly 50 years, Armstrong Watson has worked alongside ICAEW to establish the first ACA training centre in Scotland.

Daniel Wilde

Daniel began his career as an HND student at Dumfries and Galloway College before completing his ACA training with Saint & Co in Carlisle.

Find out more

Our dedicated Business Development team is on hand to help answer your questions about ICAEW, training options and the opportunities provided by offering chartered accountancy training in your organisation.

Using your personal information

The protection of personal privacy is an important concern to ICAEW. Any personal data collected will be treated in accordance with current data protection legislation. We will use your personal data to communicate with you about ways that ICAEW can support you with strengthening the skills of your staff and with details of local ICAEW activities and other activities related to training ICAEW Chartered Accountants. In order to support your staffs career choices, we may share your information within ICAEW.

For more information about our data protection policy please go to icaew.com/dataprotection