ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and Pace University have announced a landmark partnership linking ACCA’s globally recognised qualification programme to both graduate and undergraduate coursework at the New York-based higher education institution, with campuses in the heart of New York City and suburban Westchester.

Starting this autumn, both graduate and undergraduate students in Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’s Department of Accounting will be able to complete coursework that will qualify them for specific exemptions from ACCA’s 14 exams; the exemptions will include four for graduate courses and five for undergraduate courses.  A student who successfully graduates from Pace’s rigorous programme will automatically receive exemptions for those specific exams and be able to use them towards the completion of the ACCA Qualification.

“ACCA offers business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management,” said Mark Cornell, Market Director – Western Europe and North America. “Across the globe, ACCA has forged partnerships with higher education institutions to educate and train some of the best and brightest accounting professionals. This new partnership ushers in a new era in the United States and we are proud to partner with Pace University’s exceptional Lubin School of Business.”

“Pace and ACCA share common and strong interests in education and the sustainable development of the accounting profession, regionally and internationally,” said Neil Braun, Dean, Lubin School of Business at Pace University, “in particular concerning the maintenance and promotion of professional, educational and ethical standards, the opportunity for individuals of ability to pursue globally relevant qualifications to enhance their career prospects and ultimately to maintain and develop the profession and the wider economy.”

The programme is expected to attract a healthy number of international students interested in obtaining both a degree while working towards their ACCA Qualification.  According to a recent ACCA survey, nearly three-quarters of current ACCA students studying away from their home country would have been interested in studying ACCA in the United States had it been available when selecting their programme.

Accreditation enables ACCA to award specific exemptions to graduates of an educational programme following a full assessment of the programme’s regulations, syllabus and assessments.  More details are available at www.accaglobal.com/USApartnerships.

Pace University already is an attractive institution for international students.  For Autumn 2014, 56% of all graduate accounting students were international.  On the undergraduate side, 7% of all accounting students were international.  With over 4,000 students, the Lubin School of Business has a large and diverse international student population with 972 students representing 84 nations.

ACCA welcomes Pace’s partnership and expects to announce additional accreditation initiatives with other higher education institutions in the United States in the near future.  Pace and ACCA USA have already laid a solid foundation for joint initiatives through shared research and two successful cybersecurity conferences in the past two years.

Globally, ACCA works with more than 600 higher education institutions through Exemption Accreditation to accredit their programmes, including Oxford Brookes University in England, University of Sri Jayewardenepura in Sri Lanka, Amity University in India, and Edinburgh Business School in Scotland.

ACCA qualified accountants have leveraged their education to hold impressive careers and work for many leading global employers at the C-suite level in positions including Managing Partners, COOs, CFOs, Executive Directors and CEOs.  More than 35,000 ACCA members are employed by the Big 4 across the globe, with significant numbers in the USA, China, and the U.K.