The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has released the pass rates for its December 2018 exam sitting and found improved performances in its new Strategic Professional exams, which focus on future-forward concepts.
Introduced in the September 2018 ACCA exam sitting, Strategic Professional exams are twofold: Strategic Business Leader and Strategic Business Reporting. Focusing on leadership skills and financial reporting principles, respectively, the new exams were built, in part, with employer feedback to give ACCA students a modern edge in an ever-changing business landscape.
The December 2018 exam saw more than 132,000 students sit for approximately 169,000 exams around the world. Of those, 5,470 students ultimately completed their final exams to become ACCA affiliates.
The pass rate for the December 2018 Strategic Business Leader exam stood at 48 percent, with the Strategic Business Reporting pass rate at 47 percent. This represented a 3-percentage point increase over the Sept. 2018 Business Leader exam pass rate (45 percent), while the Business Reporting exam pass rate remained the same as the September sitting.
“The pass rates for the December 2018 session are very pleasing overall," stated Alan Hatfield, ACCA executive director of strategy and development. "It is excellent to see the improvement in the Strategic Business Leader pass rate from the September session. In fact, entry numbers for both new style exams, Strategic Business Leader and Strategic Business Reporting, were more than double those of the September session, which is also great news.”
Additional Strategic Professional qualifications, known as "Option exams," also saw improved pass rates from the September 2018 sitting. Advanced Taxation saw a 40 percent pass rate in December 2018, versus 30 percent in September, and Advanced Financial Management had a 41 percent pass rate in December, against a 35 percent pass rate for the September 2018 sitting.
“We’re continuing to invest in our [program] of support, especially for the Strategic Professional exams," added Hatfield, in a statement. "This includes investment in resources for Strategic Business Leader, our innovative, integrated case study, and Strategic Business Reporting which has a strong focus on stakeholder needs in financial reporting. ACCA is committed to supporting students to better apply knowledge in the working environment and demonstrate the skills employers expect."
For more on the Strategic Professional exams, head to the ACCA's
