ACCA-X, edX and Epigeum collaborate to open-up access to the accountancy profession

Details of a series of digital, high quality and open access courses were announced by global accountancy body ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) with the creation of a new venture called ACCA-X.

ACCA-X’s courses will be delivered on the world-renowned edX platform, an online learning destination founded by MIT and Harvard. ACCA-X’s open access courses will feature content developed by Epigeum, a spin-out from Imperial College London whose courses are used by 95% of Russell Group universities.

At the heart of ACCA-X’s creation is the desire to provide accessible, affordable and high quality learning that provides ambitious individuals anywhere with the opportunity to obtain the skills and qualifications they can use for a rewarding career.

Explaining ACCA-X, Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA, says: “Along with EdX and Epigeum, we believe that ACCA-X will attract a diverse range of talent to the profession. ACCA-X will broaden access to learning and allow more learners than ever before to gain valuable financial literacy skills and prepare for the ACCA Qualification. We will also collaborate closely with our existing learning partners, employers and universities through a variety of partnership arrangements to support their overall delivery and success, making ACCA-X a valuable addition to their offerings.”

Terry Sweeney, chief executive of Epigeum says: “Epigeum has extensive experience in producing courses to the highest quality standards used by learners across the world. For ACCA-X, we have developed courses that utilise a mix of media that will appeal to a range of learning styles. We have worked with ACCA-X to design courses that will deliver a more effective learning experience than self-study alone, and will complement face-to-face course delivery.”

Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX concludes: “ACCA’s commitment to innovation and to delivering business-relevant content to meet the diverse needs of professionals and learners aligns with edX’s mission to increase access to high-quality education. We are pleased to welcome ACCA to edX.org as they share their expertise in accountancy, finance and management with our global learning audience.”

Details of the course

Anyone interested in the first courses to be offered can register from today – 7 April 2015. These will then start in July and, in common with other upcoming ACCA-X courses, will be ten weeks long and will typically require around three hours of study per week.

ACCA-X’s first two free courses, which are available to anyone anywhere in the world, are:

• Introductory Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Introductory Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting
• Intermediate Financial and Management Accounting Course, leading to ACCA’s Intermediate Certificate in Financial and Management Accounting.

Much of the course functionality will be mobile-friendly and supported by tutors who will guide learners through exciting and interactive content that is designed to support individuals gain financial literacy skills.

ACCA-X will then offer three highly affordable courses in Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Zambia, which will be open for registration in July and available from October 2015. These are:

• Accountant in Business course, preparing learners for ACCA’s Accountant in Business paper
• Management Accounting Course, preparing learners for ACCA’s Management Accounting paper
• Financial Management Course, preparing learners for ACCA’s Financial Accounting paper.

Success in these three papers and the completion of ACCA’s Professionalism and Ethics module will lead to the Diploma in Accounting and Business. The cost of each course will be $89.