Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)

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Start Date

September
Location

Newport
Campus Code

C

Fees

Overview
Module Overview
Course Highlights
Entry Requirements
Fees and Funding
How to Apply

The ACA qualification from the ICAEW is a premium, gold standard accountancy qualification that qualifies you as a chartered accountant. USW is recognised as an ICAEW Partner in Learning and our students have won multiple awards, including awards for the highest marks in Wales.

In partnership with

ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)

Career Paths

Chartered Accountant

Skills taught

Audit
Taxation

Module Overview

To qualify as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant students are required to complete:

15 examinations
450 days of technical work experience, which you gain by obtaining a training contract with an appropriate employer
Professional development (delivered through ICAEW or your employer)
Ethics and professional scepticism programme (delivered through ICAEW)

The ACA Qualification comprises three examination levels – Certificate, Professional and Advanced.

CFAB is the entry qualification for ACA. Students are able to obtain exemptions from all six CFAB modules by studying our innovative, internally assessed Cert HE (Professional Accounting). Under this scheme, students study six modules between Sept-June. Details can be found in our Professional Accounting course information brochure.

Professional level papers will generally be taught for one day per week, with a block revision period at the end of each paper.

Audit and Assurance

Tax Compliance

Financial Accounting and Reporting

Financial Management

Business Planning: Taxation

Business Strategy and Technology

Students are required to study a number of technical areas, which are then examined together in the Corporate Reporting and Strategic Business Management papers. These papers aim to simulate real-life business and accounting practice environments. Advanced level papers will generally be taught for one day per week, with a block revision period at the end of each paper. --

Corporate Reporting

Strategic Business Managemen

Case Study

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

Our blended delivery model includes a mix of classroom-based tuition plus interactive online elements, with students only required to attend face to face classes in periodic weeks. Our online tuition includes bespoke, pre-recorded lectures, weekly virtual classrooms, discussion boards and pastoral and subject tutor support. All face-to-face classes will also be broadcast live and recorded to suit students studying at distance.

Assessment

Professional Level:

Modules are assessed by computer-based exams. Each exam is two-and-a-half hours long, except for the Financial Accounting and Reporting paper which is assessed by a three-hour exam.

Advanced Level:

Consists of two technical integration papers and a case study

Teaching staff

Our professional accounting teaching team includes nine qualified accountants and a qualified solicitor, who have significant industry and accounting practice experience, as well as significant experience of teaching professional accountancy qualifications.

Question practice reinforces technical knowledge and exam technique each week on all our programmes. The learning environment here is friendly and supportive, and we can offer an exceptional level of pastoral support.

Facilities

Our tuition fees include the provision of a wide range of ICAEW published materials per paper, including study manuals, question banks, course exams, unseen questions and mock exams.

Careers and Employability

Possible career paths

ACA students enjoy early responsibility and excellent career progression. Many ACA students double their salary during training.

ICAEW Chartered Accountants work at the highest levels of some of the world’s largest organisations; 80% of UK FTSE 100 companies have an ICAEW Chartered Accountant on their board.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

The most popular entry route to the qualification is a good undergraduate honours degree (1st or 2:1), but entry is also available to people with no qualifications, A-level school leavers, AAT graduates, apprentices, and members of other Chartered bodies. Trainees are ultimately required to enter a training contract with an approved employer.

Completion of the AAT qualification gives exemption from up to 5 of the ACA exams.

You must apply for student membership and exemptions (where applicable) with ICAEW before joining the course. Visit www.icaew.com for more information.

Additional requirements include:

Please note that whilst this course does not require a DBS Check for entry, some professions will not consider candidates who have certain types of criminal convictions. Therefore, if you have a criminal conviction and you are considering a particular career path we would recommend that you check with the relevant professional body or refer to their recruitment policy to make sure that your conviction will not disadvantage you.

How to apply

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

Contextual Admissions Policy

Fees and Funding

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy. We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

*Obligatory

Students will be required to pay separately for ICAEW student membership, exemption and external examination fees. For the latest information, visit: https://careers.icaew.com/en/how-to-become-a-chartered-accountant/cost-of-the-aca

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.