Online with ACCA
| by Victoria Ashton 19 Aug 2004 Diploma in Financial Management Relevant to All papers |
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ACCA has a wide range of online services for Diploma in Financial Management students and holders. finance matters' editor Victoria Ashton guides you through the resources available.
ACCA provides a number of services and a wealth of information on its website at www.accaglobal.com. As well as enabling you to update your student details, including your address or business sector in which your work, or to enter for exams, the website also provides links to a range of essential exam resources and articles from finance matters. ACCA also provides a range of professional development resources, including a virtual resource careers centre and a variety of courses.
Student area
The Diploma in Financial Management student area, www.accaglobal.com/students/diploma_fm, allows you to navigate the specific information and resources for the Diploma in Financial Management. In this area you can find information about the qualification and the exam papers, and essential information to help you with your exams and projects.
As well as listing the latest technical and general interest articles from finance matters, the section also contains important dates including project submission deadlines and exam dates. You can also look at information for the individual modules.
For each module you can view or download examiners' comments, past question papers, pass rates, examiners' approach articles, reading lists and a Syllabus and Study Guide. The student area also includes a downloadable Student Handbook which summarises key information about the qualification.
If you are looking for tuition for the DipFM, you can search the tuition providers database found in the drop-down boxes on the left of the main student area of the website at www.accaglobal.com/students. This database is fully searchable and allows you to look for details of approved colleges in your area.
myACCA
Logging on to the myACCA area of www.accaglobal.com with your ACCA registration number and passcode enables you to access the secure area of the ACCA website. Within myACCA are the e-business facilities which allow you to:
- make changes to your student details (including, for example, your address or the business sector in which you work)
- change your passcode
- make secure payments to us for items such as exam fees via selected credit and debit cards
- view all items held in your personal student record
- enter for exams and request a duplicate examination docket
- download a free Question and Answer booklet for each paper
- register to receive notification of results by e-mail and/or view your exam results online, and
- set up a free e-mail account using the accamail service.
In addition to the e-business services, in the myACCA area you can also register for accounting&business direct, a fortnightly electronic newswire which is e-mailed directly to you. The newswire offers the latest in accountancy and business news, details of ACCA news and events, technical news and feature articles. Go to www.accaglobal.com/subscribe/direct to subscribe to the newswire.
You can also set up and participate in virtual discussion groups via ACCA Communities. Found at www.accacommunities.com, ACCA Communities is a free Internet service that is designed to promote the exchange of knowledge between ACCA and its DipFM students and holders. You can join or set up a community, each of which has its own homepage, message area, event calendar and many other features. ACCA has already set up two communities that may be of interest to you - one for Diploma alumni and a Diploma Students' Network.
The myACCA section also contains the Chiumento Virtual Resources Centre (VRC). The VRC is a comprehensive careers toolkit covering a wide range of topics, resources and advice. The centre is aimed at helping you to identify your skills and strengths, research the job market, find vacancies and opportunities, and prepare for interviews or discussion meetings. The VRC includes information on key topics including: a new role, employment, careers in interim management, setting up on your own and consultancy.
All the topics contain modules, which the VRC advises that you work through in turn to create a strategy for each area. For example, in interim management - where a senior independent executive joins a company for a period of time - the VRC contains information on the growth of interim management as a company strategy, becoming a interim manager, generating clients and developing selling skills. The section on consultancy contains information on types of consultancy work, how to become a consultant, and useful resources that will help you to set up your own consultancy business. In addition to these information areas, the VRC also includes:
- links to news items from 15 sectors, including the chemicals, pharmaceutical, engineering, media and telecommunications industries, with links to relevant websites
- a resources section with information about relocation and working overseas
- a jobs and opportunities section that provides access to a job bank as well as information on Internet sites and links to the top 1000 companies' websites.
Professional courses
ACCA also offers online courses, available through www.accademy.com - your online connection to lifelong learning with ACCA. ACCAdemy.com aims to provide high quality solutions to meet your individual learning needs. With a wide range of management and professional skills courses, ACCAdemy.com is available at any time, anywhere in the world. The online resources offers management and personal skills courses to enable you to develop a pro-active approach, refocus your priorities and increase your confidence in dealing with others. At www.accademy.com you can find courses that cover specific topics or you can browse through the list of topics to find one that is of interest to you.
In addition to ACCAdemy.com, ACCA also offers professional courses (look at www.accaglobal.com/events, ACCA's events database). These cover a range of areas, including management development training and computer training courses. Management development courses include assertiveness at work, the impact of effective communication and essential report writing. IT training courses range from introductory level Microsoft Access and Excel to advanced level tuition.