07-14-2006, 08:37 AM
My Opinion is
-ACCA has a much wider syllabus scope and it is tested in a more objective manner
-ICAP's syllabus (though got better over the years) is not that far reaching especially in Financial Management and Management Strategy type of subjects
-ACCA has a fixed pass percentage 49 you fail 50 you pass.
-ICAP's been alleged to have a 'competitive' type of exam with a demand/supply kind of thing. (However, most senior CAs ; especially those involved in teaching say that there is a pass mark and it is not more than 50)
Having said that, I know of people who could not pass CA and passed ACCA, then there are those who have not been successful in passing either of ACCA or CA but have passed CIA; then there are those who (believe it or not) gave a try to ACCA, didnt pass in first attempts and then went on to go on to pass CA.
I know one person, who passed CA foundation (first attempt), passed ACCA Certificate (first attempt), then failed twice Module E (ACCA), Passed CA Professional in first attempt, went back and passed ACCA Module E (third attempt) and Module F(first attempt) !
Now these are all facts and statistics but cannot be conculsive enough to say what is easier to pass, personally I found that ACCA exams were more taxing and the exams more difficult to write, but the outcome was more 'predictable'. ICAP was easier to write in an exam but the results were always on the edge,. you couldnt predict if you would pass or not.
Having said that, I was just browsing through ACCA member's directory and was surprised to see that there are only c. 250 members in Pakistan, so in the last 5 or so years that ACCA has been in Pakistan there have been only 50 members passing a year ? (on average) this seems to be low number compared to the amount of students enrolled with ACCA.
Compare that with ICAP and since 2000 there has been an increase of around a 1212 members (200 a year !)
I believe the number of ACCA and ICAP students have been comparable for atleast the last couple of years.
-ACCA has a much wider syllabus scope and it is tested in a more objective manner
-ICAP's syllabus (though got better over the years) is not that far reaching especially in Financial Management and Management Strategy type of subjects
-ACCA has a fixed pass percentage 49 you fail 50 you pass.
-ICAP's been alleged to have a 'competitive' type of exam with a demand/supply kind of thing. (However, most senior CAs ; especially those involved in teaching say that there is a pass mark and it is not more than 50)
Having said that, I know of people who could not pass CA and passed ACCA, then there are those who have not been successful in passing either of ACCA or CA but have passed CIA; then there are those who (believe it or not) gave a try to ACCA, didnt pass in first attempts and then went on to go on to pass CA.
I know one person, who passed CA foundation (first attempt), passed ACCA Certificate (first attempt), then failed twice Module E (ACCA), Passed CA Professional in first attempt, went back and passed ACCA Module E (third attempt) and Module F(first attempt) !
Now these are all facts and statistics but cannot be conculsive enough to say what is easier to pass, personally I found that ACCA exams were more taxing and the exams more difficult to write, but the outcome was more 'predictable'. ICAP was easier to write in an exam but the results were always on the edge,. you couldnt predict if you would pass or not.
Having said that, I was just browsing through ACCA member's directory and was surprised to see that there are only c. 250 members in Pakistan, so in the last 5 or so years that ACCA has been in Pakistan there have been only 50 members passing a year ? (on average) this seems to be low number compared to the amount of students enrolled with ACCA.
Compare that with ICAP and since 2000 there has been an increase of around a 1212 members (200 a year !)
I believe the number of ACCA and ICAP students have been comparable for atleast the last couple of years.
