ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and the British Council has signed an agreement to provide a global, secure exam centre network for ACCA’s paper based exams (PBE) and computer-based exams (CBE) in the UK and in 100 other countries where the British Council operates.
The agreement was signed by Helen Brand OBE, ACCA’s Chief Executive and Mark Robson, Director, English and Examinations at the British Council, at ACCA’s London office.
British Council is currently ACCA’s main exam centre provider for its paper-based exams, providing over half of the venues in ACCA’s international network.
“This new agreement sees the British Council provide ACCA’s future exam centre network in the UK and overseas, exclusively for ACCA students.
"The deal supports the roll-out of ACCA’s new computer based exams for ACCA’s Fundamentals Skills Level (F5-F9) exams from September 2016 onwards," said Helen Brand OBE, ACCA’s Chief Executive.
“CBEs are an exciting development for ACCA, as we incorporate spread sheets and word processing to better reflect the tasks that students have to do well in the workplace. This ensures that our students not only have the required technical knowledge, but they know how to apply that knowledge.”
"A very important part of this work involves building trust and creating opportunities by enabling access to UK education around the world," said Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council in a statement.
The introduction of ACCA’s CBEs has been on a phased basis. ACCA’s F5 - F9 exams will start their transition to CBT towards the end of 2016, with students initially having the choice of CBT or paper exams.
ACCA has agreed with learning providers and employers that any changes being introduced across the ACCA Qualification will be phased, ensuring they, and students, have time to adapt to the changes.
F1 - F4, and Foundation level equivalents, will still be offered through ACCA’s on demand network. ACCA will have separate test centres for paper and CBE. It will also have CBE centres in the same locations as the paper centres to ensure that as ACCA moves to the new set-up, all students will have the same access to a professional exam centre offered by the British Council.
In January 2015, ACCA signed an agreement with Pearson VUE for the provision of computer based testing (CBT) across ACCA’s Fundamentals Skills Level (F5 - F9) exams.