ACCA in Pakistan: 18 Questions Answered

By Rubab Ali

If you want to make your move in the Accounting and Finance Career and want to join a reputable institute for ACCA, you might have some confusion. We are here to answer your questions so that you get clarification about the path you are about to choose in 2022.

Today, the ACCA qualification is one of the most sought-after designations in the finance sector. It is the ideal course for undergraduates and graduates who want to pursue a career in accounting and finance but don’t qualify to sit for the CPA exams. The course offers a wide choice of electives, which gives you the flexibility to tailor your degree to suit your interests and career needs.

The ACCA course covers almost all areas of business and finance, including financial reporting, auditing, taxation, management accounting and law. This ensures you get a well-rounded education and develop skills that will be useful across different industries. Probably because of this, ACCA graduates are highly valued by employers who value highly-trained professionals with strong business knowledge and technical expertise.

The ACCA degree aims to train students with both practical knowledge and competencies that will help them grow their career in finance or any other industry they choose to work in. In fact, many employers prefer graduates with an ACCA qualification over those without it.

The ACCA Qualification is a combination of knowledge and skills that are gained through work experience, self-study and formal learning.

ACCA develops accountants for business and has nearly 500,000 students and members in 170 countries worldwide.

ACCA:

ACCA stands for the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants awarded by the Association of Chartered Accountants. Once you complete this course, you are eligible for Taxation, Management Accounting, Auditing, and Handling accounts in public and private companies or organizations.

ACCA is an international body of Accountancy qualification based in London. It is considered to be one of the hardest qualifications in the world but the rewards are worth it.

Related: Best ACCA Universities in Pakistan

The ACCA exams, syllabus, and certification are awarded by the ACCA organization in the UK. ACCA is offered by many reputable institutes of Pakistan that are available in major cities of Pakistan.

The following questions are asked by many of the students who want to start ACCA In 2020. We hope to answer every ambiguity with sufficient detail. Read till the end!

Question 1: Can ACCA Professional Become CFO?

Answer: Yes. In order to get to a high position such as Chief Financial Officer CFO, you must be an accountant and part of an ACCA qualified organization.

A CFO has his duties in the domain of finance. You can get to the position of CFO after you have proved yourself to be a worthy financial controller or head of department HOD of finance or accounting.

You must perform the duties of preparing financial reports, support decisions, sourcing and managing funds, management accounting and performance.

Following ACCA Strategic Professional exams will be taken by CFOs:-

1) Advanced Financial Management (AFM)

2) Advanced Performance Management (APM)

Question 2: Where Are ACCA Exams Held in Pakistan?

Answer: There are exam Centres in major cities of Pakistan. The paper mostly starts at 02: 00 p.m. The following table shows the cities where ACCA exam Centres are allotted along with the code.

You must keep in mind that your date sheet will confirm the exact venue in the following cities of Pakistan.

Name of the City	City Code
Lahore	905
Karachi	901
Faisalabad	852
Gujranwala	712
Islamabad	909
Multan	829
Mirpur	711
Hyderabad	713
Sialkot	813

Examination Paper Designations are shown against the relevant papers on your examination entry options. You have to make sure that you have been allocated with the correct one for your circumstances.

PKN – PAKISTAN

Question 3: Can ACCA Sign Audit Reports?

Answer: Unfortunately, it is a No. In Pakistan, an ACCA professional cannot sign Audit Reports or even attest any accounts of a company or the organization. Though the CAs in Pakistan do enjoy the privilege. Only CAs can sign the Audit Reports of Ltd Companies in Pakistan.

However, if we talk about other countries such as the UK or Ireland, the scenario is different. If you are a part of a company or a firm that holds audit reports from ACCA Recognised Supervisory Body (RSB), you can enjoy the privilege of signing off the Audit Reports. But for this, you must be an ACCA practitioner certificate holder and have Audit Qualification.

Question 4: Which ACCA Papers Are Computer-based?

Answer: ACCA holds Computer Based Exams CBEs that was launched in 1998. Compared to the launching year, the number of CBEs has increased gradually that are available for assessment.

The following papers are currently available:

1) Foundations in Accountancy

• Paper FA1, ‘Recording Financial Transactions’
• Paper FA2, ‘Maintaining Financial Records’
• Paper MA1, ‘Management Information’
• Paper MA2, ‘Managing Costs and Finance’
• Paper FAB, ‘Accountant in Business’
• Paper FFA, ‘Financial Accounting’
• Paper FMA, ‘Management Accounting’

2) ACCA Qualification

• Paper F1, ‘Accountant in Business’
• Paper F2, ‘Management Accounting’
• Paper F3, ‘Financial Accounting’
• Paper F4 (ENG) and (GLO), ‘Corporate and Business Law’

You must know that students who have taken CBEs report satisfaction in their performance as they cherish the advantages of Computer-Based Exams CBEs.

For your consideration, several benefits of CBEs have been mentioned:

1) Flexibility:- CBE’s availability depends on demand. You can take them any time of the year depending upon your comfort, preparation and suitability. This way, you do not have to follow a strict exam schedule.

2) Quick Results:- You can get your result instantly when you take CBE. You do not have to pray and have anxiety for a few weeks in order to get your result. Instant results tell your status, either you have cleared the exam and passed or not cleared and failed.

3) Convenience:- CBE centers are being updated constantly. The Computer Based Exams Network is to be widened for which more centers are being recruited. This will help you and other students to reach the nearest center and take tests.

Last but not least, you must be familiarised with CBE before taking a live test for better, confident and quick performance.

Question 5: Which ACCA Paper Is the Hardest?

Answer: The answer to this question is subtle. It depends upon your perception, your grip upon the subject and your understanding of a subject.

A concrete name of a subject cannot be devised but many interviews have revealed that the following papers were hardest lately. The names have been written accordingly:-

• P6, Advanced Taxation (ATX)
• P2, Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
• F5, Performance Management (PM)
• P4, Advanced Financial Management (AFM)

Since the answer is subtle, other responses state that F8 Audit & Assurance (AA) Paper appeared to be the hardest.

We will still suggest to not consider the above-mentioned subjects ‘difficult’ or ‘hard’. In fact, your skills measure the level of ease and hardships for the subjects.

Question 6: Which ACCA Paper Is the Easiest?

Answer: As mentioned above, the easiest paper will be decided by you. But the recent exam poll concluded that F1, Accountant in Business (AB) is the easiest paper. It has an 85% passing rate.

Other easy papers are:

• F7, Financial Reporting (FR)
• F9, Financial Management (FM)
• P2, Strategic Business Reporting SBR
• P4, Advanced Financial Management AFM

Question 7: Are ACCA Professionals, Chartered Accountants?

Answer: No, ACCA is not Chartered, Accountants. In fact, ACCA stands for the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. Further, it is certified by the Association of Chartered Accountants. Once you complete this course, you are eligible for Taxation, Management Accounting, Auditing and Handling accounts in public and private companies or organizations.

Whereas, CA stands for Chartered Accountant and they specialize in Financial Accounting and Finance. Once you complete CA, you cater to the department of finance with your services.

Question 8: Can ACCA Be Completed in a Span of 2 Years?

Answer: The primary duration for the completion of this course is three years. It adds 2-3 years of training but the question arises that whether you can or cannot complete this course in the duration of 24 months i.e. 2 years.

Yes, you can complete ACCA in 2 years as you can take 8 exams per year in 4 sittings.

2 years is the shortest and fastest tenure for completion of this course.

Question 9: Can ACCA Be Practiced in Pakistan?

Answer: Yes, ACCA can be practiced in Pakistan as it takes 3 years (on average) to complete the course along with 3 years of practice/ training. But it has less scope in the market in comparison to CA.

If you plan to move abroad after completing your ACCA then we suggest you carry on with this course but if you have your plans to continue in Pakistan, then CA will be a smart choice.

However, in other countries, ACCA is the most dominant qualification as three fourth of the Pakistani Chartered Accountant population are ACCA and the rest are CA.

Question 10: Which Degree Is Equivalent to ACCA? or ACCA Is Equal to Which Degree?

Answer: As ACCA covers a span of 6 years as a whole (3 years of ACCA and 3 years of training), you get to cover 2 degrees in it.

According to HEC, it takes 4 years to complete a Bachelor’s degree/ BS Hons. and 2 years to complete the Master’s degree/ MS/ MPhil, making a total of 6 years.

Hence, when you take the first 9 papers (Fundamental level), your education becomes equivalent to a bachelor’s. And when you take Professional level exams, your degree becomes equivalent to a Masters’s degree.

In the UK, an ACCA professional degree is equivalent to a Master’s degree.

Question 11: Is ACCA a Degree or a Certificate?

Answer: As mentioned earlier, ACCA is equivalent to a degree but it itself is a Certificate. Normally, certificates do not take 6 years to complete. So our common sense suggests ACCA be a degree. Right? And that’s what confuses us. To cut the story short, ACCA is a Certificate.

But ACCA does award exam certificates to the students.

Question 12: What is the difference in salaries in Pakistan of an ACCA personal and a CA personal? Or ACCA Vs CA salaries in Pakistan.

Answer: Yes, it is of grave importance that why CA outnumbers ACCA in the world? And the answer is ‘Difference in Salaries and Market ‘.

Other countries have a higher scope of ACCA Chartered Accountants whereas, in Pakistan, CA Chartered Accountants are more common in Pakistani companies or organizations.

The basic salary scale for an ACCA in Pakistan is PKR 80,000 (Eighty Thousand Rupees) to PKR 100,000 (One Lac). Despite the poor economical condition of the Pakistan Market, an ACCA is basically paid on these scales.

Around 45% of ACCA students get a promotion in a year in Pakistan whereas, in other countries, the pay ratio is 63%.

If we talk about CA salary in Pakistan, then the normal CA salary is PKR 71,000 (Seventy One Thousand Rupees) including housing, transport and other benefits. The lowest salary rate is PKR 35,000 (Thirty-Five Thousand Rupees) to the highest rate of PKR 110,000 (One Lac and Ten Thousand Rupees).

Question 13: What Is the Total Cost of ACCA in Pakistan?

Answer: The tuition fee and other expenses differ in Pakistan upon the difference in the institute but the following table gives a general idea of expenses of ACCA per year.

Description	Fee for Pakistan
Registration fee	£ 32 or PKR 6,882 (Six Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Two Rupees)
Annual Subscription Fee	£ 53 or PKR 11,398 ( Eleven Thousand and Three Hundred and Ninety-Eight Rupees)
Paper fee (Fundamental Knowledge) (3 papers)	£ 43 (per paper) or PKR 9,248 (Nine Thousand Two Hundred and Forty-Eight Rupees)
Paper fee (Fundamental Skills) (6 papers)	£ 61 (per paper) or PKR 13,119 (Thirteen Thousand One Hundred and Nineteen Rupees)
Paper Fee (Professional Level) (5 papers)	£ 121 (per paper) or PKR 26,022 ( Twenty Six Thousand and Twenty Two Rupees)

The above-mentioned fees are to be paid to ACCA, UK. Whereas, a student has to pay tuition fee and registration fee to the respective institute where he/ she is enrolled. The tuition fee may vary for some subjects.

Question 14: What Is the Time Duration of ACCA?

Answer: The basic time duration to complete ACCA is 3 years and further training of 2-3 years makes it 6 years. Whereas you can also complete your ACCA course in 2 years but not less than that.

The maximum duration of ACCA varies depending upon the performance of the students.

Question 15: What Are the Requirements to Do ACCA? or What Are the Eligibility Criteria for Doing ACCA?

Answer: To apply for the ACCA certificate, you need to fulfill at least one eligibility condition from mentioned below:

• A-Level (with passing in at least 2 papers and a minimum mark of 45%) and O-level (with passing in at least 3 papers and a minimum mark of 50%) or equivalent examinations I.e. Matric and Intermediate (These should comprise five different subjects including English and Mathematics).
• A Foundation Diploma
• Bachelor degree (BA, BSc, B.Com)
• American High School Certification (with a minimum of 50% marks)

Question 16: What is the ACCA Registration fee?

Answer: As mentioned in Qs. No. 13, the current Registration Fee for ACCA is approximately PKR 7,000 (Seven Thousand Rupees)

Question 17: What is ACCA Exam Fees 2020?

Answer: There are a total of 14 exams in ACCA. The following table shows the division:-

Exam	Fee
Fundamental Knowledge (3 papers)	9,248 (Nine Thousand Two Hundred and Forty-Eight Rupees) Per paper
Fundamental Skills (6 papers)	PKR 13,119 (Thirteen Thousand One Hundred and Nineteen Rupees) Per paper
Professional level (5 papers)	PKR 26,022 ( Twenty Six Thousand and Twenty Two Rupees) Per paper

Question 18: What is the ACCA Fee Structure in Pakistan?

Answer: The fee structure varies for every institute but the basic fee structure is written in Qs. No. 13.

Question 19: Where Are the Exam Centers of Acca in Pakistan?

Answer: Exam centers for ACCA are in major cities of Pakistan. Such as

• Lahore
• Karachi
• Islamabad
• Faisalabad
• Sialkot
• Multan
• Mirpur
• Hyderabad
• Gujranwala

We hope this article provided you with the exact answers to your questions.