ACCA Sri Lanka enjoys double digit growth in students and members

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Sri Lanka has achieved a double digit increase in both students and members during the past year. At the same time, the global body for professional accountants recorded 436,000 students, of which 384,000, an increase of over 12,000 on the previous year – were studying for the ACCA Qualification for 2013-14.
During an interview with ACCA Sri Lanka Head NilushaRanasinghe, she outlined this success and stated, “We are particularly delighted by the strong growth in our membership figures, which is testament to the value that accountants around the world are seeing in joining ACCA. The strong student growth figures demonstrate the enduring global popularity of ACCA’s qualifications, which, being wholly portable, mean young accountants can make their careers internationally as well as in their own countries of origin.”
She also pointed out that, “Fundamental to achieving this growth is ACCA’s professional standing.  Employers the world over consider the ACCA qualification as one that is both relevant and comprehensive in its subject coverage, making ACCA a great career choice for young people. The current ACCA Qualification has been designed to give the next generation of accountants an even greater grounding in what is needed for success in business. We have ensured that no important areas of knowledge or skills are left out.
“The qualification is uniquely designed to provide the breadth and depth of fundamental finance and management skills required and covers key areas in its syllabus that include, 10 key competencies.These comprise of professionalism and ethics, governance, risk and control, stakeholder relationship management, strategy and innovation, leadership and management, corporate reporting, sustainable management accounting, financial management, audit and assurance, and taxation.”
She further explained, “Hence, employers want to employ ACCA’s qualified professionals because the qualification covers everything a finance professional needs to know in today’s channllenging business landscape. This has led to ACCA being not only a respected brand but has also positioned it as being seen as the global leader among international accounting bodies.”
Nilusha added that another reason behind its success was the flexibility of the qualification. She said, “With time being of essence today, ACCA offers the option for students who have just completed their A/Levels to be able to gain a globally respected professional qualification, whilst awaiting their results. This is opportunity is offered through the FIA which focusses on the core skills of financial and management accounting and the wider role of accounting in business. It also sees certification awarded at each level, helping students to monitor their progress and helping employers to recruit and train to meet their own business needs.
She went on to say, “We have also worked closely with all the leading universities and have given these students the chance to gain exemptions, providing them the pathway to gain both a local and international qualification by the time they graduate. This is also another salient feature in the flexibility that we offer our students. Nilusha further added “All our tuition providers are those that are either gold or platinum accredited.”
She also noted, “It is heartening that not only have we been able to grow the number of members but that these members are those from both the private as well as the public sector. I strongly believe that our ethics module that covers areas such as governance, risks, ethics and corporate reporting has played a key role in attracting those in the public sector.”
Nilusha concluded by saying that, “We are proud that we have been able to achieve all the targets we have set for ourselves. We will continue to work closely with employers to ensure that ACCA continues to meet their needs and also expand our reach throughout the country with quality tuition providers.”