Going international
| by a finance matters writer 02 May 2006 Diploma in Financial Management Relevant to All papers |
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With effect from December 2006, changes are planned to the Diploma in Financial Management (DipFM) syllabus. Although the changes affect all examination syllabuses and projects, they will have the most significant impact on the Interpretation of Financial Statements (IFS) syllabus within Module A.
Global reach
Being a global professional accountancy body, ACCA registered students for the DipFM from 64 countries for the December 2005 session. Because of this it is now appropriate to introduce a more international format and style for the syllabus to reflect this increasingly multinational profile. This change is now even more appropriate given the accelerating convergence of
country-specific financial reporting standards with international GAAP in many jurisdictions, including the UK.
As a response to these changes therefore, it has been decided to internationalise the DipFM syllabuses ahead of internationalising the terminology and formats of the global papers for the Certifed Accounting Technician (CAT) Scheme and new ACCA Qualification, taking effect from December 2007.
Internationalisation
From December 2006, all DipFM syllabuses (mainly affecting IFS within Module A) will use international terminology and IFS will assess International Financial Reporting Standards rather than UK-specific standards.
In addition, ACCA will use a generic $ currency unit as the currency of illustration in questions and answers, rather than using the British pound.
Albeit to a much lesser extent, the other papers within Modules A and B will be slightly affected as international GAAP terminology and the international dollar currency unit will be used in numerical and financial questions, including when use is made of summarised financial data and of extracts from external financial reports.
Who is affected?
The revised syllabus will be examinable with effect from the December 2006 examination session, and therefore will not affect those who are entered for the June 2006 examination(s) and project(s), and who successfully complete the DipFM at that sitting.
However, these changes will affect all those who are currently enrolled on the DipFM and who will not complete the qualification before the December 2006 session, and also those who may not be successful in completing the DipFM in June 2006 and who subsequently decide to resit.
New material and further information
The updated Interpretation of Financial Statements BPP Study Text (and texts for the other assessments, including the project texts) examinable from the December 2006 examination session are already in print and are being sent out to all new students enrolling for the DipFM. Those students already working towards their first attempt at Module A in June 2006 and who are unsuccessful in this session can access an electronic copy of the new IFS text by logging into the student resources section of myACCA and entering their student registration number and passcode.
For further information about these changes, please contact our global customer services centre, ACCA Connect, by e-mail, students@accaglobal.com, or by telephone +44 (0)141 582 2000.