Study Leave - ACA vs ACCA

Colemania

I always wondered, why is it that students studying ACA generally get more study leave than ACCA students? I'm doing ACCA myself and just wondered about it a few times. It can't be because the exams are tougher as ACCA are agreeably extremely tough.

Can't state an opinion on ACA but I know someone who sat an exam recently that was only an hour and a half and have known people who have had loads of time to spare in an ACA exam. You'd never have time to spare in an ACCA exam anyway that's for sure! :P

ZeroThreat

Colemania wrote: »

I always wondered, why is it that students studying ACA generally get more study leave than ACCA students? I'm doing ACCA myself and just wondered about it a few times. It can't be because the exams are tougher as ACCA are agreeably extremely tough.

Can't state an opinion on ACA but I know someone who sat an exam recently that was only an hour and a half and have known people who have had loads of time to spare in an ACA exam. You'd never have time to spare in an ACCA exam anyway that's for sure! :P

Am I correct in that you get 2 chances to pass an ACA paper and then get booted out if unsuccessful. If that is the case I'm not surprised they get more time.

The other thing is that perhaps a larger proportion of ACA students are working in specific accounting jobs in practices where their employers understand how much study is entailed, whereas many of us ACCAers are working in a myriad of jobs (sometimes in other areas than accounts), often (in my case) for employers who couldn't give a hoot if they're studying for an accounting qualification or not.

Is it true you need to have a university degree to even be allowed to register with ACA?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Colemania wrote: »

I always wondered, why is it that students studying ACA generally get more study leave than ACCA students? I'm doing ACCA myself and just wondered about it a few times. It can't be because the exams are tougher as ACCA are agreeably extremely tough.

Can't state an opinion on ACA but I know someone who sat an exam recently that was only an hour and a half and have known people who have had loads of time to spare in an ACA exam. You'd never have time to spare in an ACCA exam anyway that's for sure! :P

ACA recommend a period of time for exams. ACCA don't. Therefore ACCA students get taken advantage of negotiating time with employers while ACA students have their institute to fall back on.

Any ACA interim assessment is not the full exam and should not be considered as such.

Also do you know people who have had loads of time to spare in ACA who have passed?

Colemania

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

ACA recommend a period of time for exams. ACCA don't. Therefore ACCA students get taken advantage of negotiating time with employers while ACA students have their institute to fall back on.

Any ACA interim assessment is not the full exam and should not be considered as such.

Also do you know people who have had loads of time to spare in ACA who have passed?

Ya a guy in work did 5 exams in one session and passed all but one. He was finished early in a few too

CIARAN_BOYLE

Colemania wrote: »

Ya a guy in work did 5 exams in one session and passed all but one. He was finished early in a few too

Fair enough I couldnt comment as i was exemot from cap 1 (only 5 exam program)

tanit

Colemania wrote: »

Ya a guy in work did 5 exams in one session and passed all but one. He was finished early in a few too

Just wondering how much more leave did he get compared to you and how many exams did you have?

Colemania

tanit wrote: »

Just wondering how much more leave did he get compared to you and how many exams did you have?

He got 5 weeks more for 1 more exam. He had 3 exams and i had 2 and i got 2 weeks

tanit

Colemania wrote: »

He got 5 weeks more for 1 more exam. He had 3 exams and i had 2 and i got 2 weeks

I assume you are saying he got 5 weeks for 3 exams and you got 2 weeks for 2 exams. Were the exams at the same level? by that I mean ACCA and ACA have levels, in ACA they are CAP1, CAP2 and FAE and in ACCA they are the F1 to F3 exams, the next level is F4 to F9 and then it's professional 4 exams I think.

And just one final question did he get study leave or was it study leave and holidays? I ask because that's what I did last year I got some study leave, some annual leave and some unpaid leave. I work in a small place and regardless of what they say about study leave in ACA what the institute does is recommend and provide guidelines. In small places huge amounts of study leave are just a myth (that might only happen in big firms/companies) and I assure you I didn't get more time to study than the other student in the firm, a CPA.

If you were at the same level and he was not taking unpaid/ annual leave, it's plain discrimination it's not an issue of belonging to one institute or another

Colemania

tanit wrote: »

I assume you are saying he got 5 weeks for 3 exams and you got 2 weeks for 2 exams. Were the exams at the same level? by that I mean ACCA and ACA have levels, in ACA they are CAP1, CAP2 and FAE and in ACCA they are the F1 to F3 exams, the next level is F4 to F9 and then it's professional 4 exams I think.

And just one final question did he get study leave or was it study leave and holidays? I ask because that's what I did last year I got some study leave, some annual leave and some unpaid leave. I work in a small place and regardless of what they say about study leave in ACA what the institute does is recommend and provide guidelines. In small places huge amounts of study leave are just a myth (that might only happen in big firms/companies) and I assure you I didn't get more time to study than the other student in the firm, a CPA.

If you were at the same level and he was not taking unpaid/ annual leave, it's plain discrimination it's not an issue of belonging to one institute or another

We're at pretty much the same level in exams and no he got 7 weeks and myself and the other acca students got 2 weeks

tanit

Colemania wrote: »

We're at pretty much the same level in exams and no he got 7 weeks and myself and the other acca students got 2 weeks

Then what you have is a problem of discrimination it has nothing to do with being in one institute or other. I speak as studying ACA and being in a small firm that study leave is the same regardless of the institute you are in and big study leave where I am is seriously a myth for me and for any other student no matter if ACA, ACCA or CPA the same for all and less is more from the firm's point of view. If we want more is taken from annual leave or unpaid and as far as I know in other small places it works the same way. In big ones I can't say anything.

Speak with the other ACCA students and maybe if you go together you can equal study leave for all. Definitely speak with the rest of students in your firm, that's for sure and best of luck with it.

AtticusFinch86

I'm an ACA student (in industry) and I get zero study days. Any days I take come out of my annual leave. So its certainly not an institute issue.

collegeme

AtticusFinch86 wrote: »

I'm an ACA student (in industry) and I get zero study days. Any days I take come out of my annual leave. So its certainly not an institute issue.

This is true. I got 2 weeks total for the finals (Industry ACA)

Hopeful2016

Colemania wrote: »

We're at pretty much the same level in exams and no he got 7 weeks and myself and the other acca students got 2 weeks

Are you talking about him sitting the FAE? Because If you are, what you think is one exam is actually approximately 10 subjects examined over 2 days (excluding the elective exam) of case studies where if you fail any one of those subjects you fail the entire exam and have to sit the entire 10 or so subjects again. And you only get 3 attempts. Ever.

It's not exactly the same as the ACCA set up of standalone exams and 4 sittings a year and having as many goes as you need.

When you divide those 7 weeks between 9 or ten subjects, is it really as generous as it sounds?

Hopeful2016

collegeme wrote: »

This is true. I got 2 weeks total for the finals (Industry ACA)

It's true that a lot of ACA students in industry don't get the full recommend leave though I believe the view is that they are better paid and the overall package is similar.

ZeroThreat

Hopeful2016 wrote: »

Are you talking about him sitting the FAE? Because If you are, what you think is one exam is actually approximately 10 subjects examined over 2 days (excluding the elective exam) of case studies where if you fail any one of those subjects you fail the entire exam and have to sit the entire 10 or so subjects again. And you only get 3 attempts. Ever.

It's not exactly the same as the ACCA set up of standalone exams and 4 sittings a year and having as many goes as you need.

When you divide those 7 weeks between 9 or ten subjects, is it really as generous as it sounds?

How long is this FAE exam?

Hopeful2016

ZeroThreat wrote: »

How long is this FAE exam?

4.5 hours a day for 3 days. Two days for the Core which examines a range of subjects and one day for your elective subject. Exam format is case study with no prescribed questions. You read and advise the client.