ACA REVIEW iPASS What may be fantastic right now might not be in six years time to the profession; changes in regulation; changes to International Financial Reporting Standards; clarity ISAs for auditing; sustainability; and ethics. Everything has been moving on and its appropriate we reflect that in an updated ACA. Audit has also increasingly come under the spotlight as a result of the financial crisis, with public attention shifting more on to the roles behind the scenes. As regulation around the part auditors play looks set to tighten, it seems increasingly likely that the way audit is taught will also adapt to suit any changes that are on the cards. NEED FOR CHANGE? Protherough says that forums held so far with training managers the people who are responsible for running the ACA programme in businesses and perhaps those who are closest to the qualification, have not voiced any need for change. We do have to be careful with them though, he says, as they are the ones who, if we do make changes, it would mean more work for because they have to renegotiate with tutorial colleges, rewrite the study programme and re-package the progress of the examinations, so any changes we make will impact heavily on their work. Thats the cynical view, he goes on. The charitable view is that they think its meeting the needs of their business and, anecdotally, when we have been to see businesses they say it really is helping and the students are adding value to the business. The ICAEW needs to look ahead, however, Protherough says, because what may be meeting business needs now might not in future, if it doesnt adapt to current changes. We have to look to three years time for when we launch a new ACA. If you think about that, qualified ACAs will be produced for the first time in 2016, so what may be fantastic right now might not be in six years time. SPOTLIGHT ON AUDIT The role of audit is in the spotlight, and as part of that, how we can ensure audit quality will also be looked at as part of our review. Well talk to regulators to get their views, as well need to keep a close watch on what they say, Protherough adds. The ICAEW has also increased its global presence significantly in recent years, putting the total number of students worldwide at 16,517 in 2009. Offering training contracts in China, Cyprus, Greece, the Gulf, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania and Russia, newly-appointed president Gerald Russell has said he is keen to focus on making the institute a more international organisation. That means adding more focus internationally to the ACA. Compared with its competitors the ACCA for example, has 404,000 students worldwide the ACA still has a way to go to break into the international student market. Protherough said that the consultations on the review will, for the first time, take place internationally in the south-east Asia region, the Gulf and China, but where does such a huge global project begin? First, the ICAEW team (which in total will include around 60 people led by a project steering group of around 12) will be looking at the competition and asking, Why them and not us? These consultations, launched last month, are themselves not expected to be completed until October, after which the results will need to be drawn up and feedback given. Were starting with employers who dont train for the ACA but who train for our competitors such as the ACCA and CIMA, says Protherough, to find out what they are looking for in a qualification and why they dont train for the ACA if theyve thought about it at all. Once these have been carried out, the consultation will move closer to home, focusing on those employers who do offer ACA training, and asking how it can be improved, before moving on to ICAEW students, the student council, tutors, and district members to get their input stakeholders at every level are set to be consulted on the issue. It seems the institute is clearly striving to keep the qualification as up to date with the contemporary world as it can, but not everyone is convinced it should spawn something new just yet. EVERYTHING IN CONTEXT One aspect of the qualification Protherough says he is keen to keep implementing is the real business side to it, which puts everything in context for students when it comes to sitting their exams, in particular the case study part of it, as students use real-life examples of business situations to apply knowledge to. But not everyone has been happy with recent changes to the ACA, such as its Pathways to Membership scheme, which allows members of other institutes to become ACAs through a conversion course. The move has rather ruffled the feathers of some members who feel cheated by the scheme. Protherough says this is something the institute will be looking into: There are a few of our members who are not very happy, but Ive talked to other people about it who understand the rationale for Pathways and see it as a sensible way of getting talent into the ICAEW. However, we do keep it under review; we will be reviewing it this autumn and it will go to the institute board and council. For an organisation with international presence, the road towards updating the ICAEW qualification is going to be a long one as Protherough himself says, this is just the start but hopefully what comes out the other side will be accountants equipped to tackle the latest business challenges ahead, whatever they may be. PASSMAGAZINE.COM AUGUST 2010 7
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