see also...
Innovation
Innovation is a strong feature of ACCA’s history. Its founders were pioneers who wished to open up the accounting profession by removing artificial barriers such as the requirement to serve expensive articles before admission to membership. Their outlook was international from the start, with an office in South Africa by 1913.
Innovation may be seen in many of ACCA’s activities. It was the first body to test cost accounting, tax and economics – all now core components of modern financial management. This was in the 1910s. ACCA was also the first to put international accounting standards at the heart of its qualification.
In the 1960s, students could study for the first time with approved educational institutions to obtain the ACCA qualification. In recent years, the BSc and MBA programmes, run with Oxford Brookes University, have transformed accounting education. The partnership now operates the largest undergraduate accounting programme in the world.
ACCA has innovated in delivering its qualifications, the first to introduce computer-based exams and to open a global contact centre. ACCA celebrates two achievements in equality as the first accountancy body to admit women to membership (in 1909) and the first global body to elect a female president.
At the core of ACCA’s mission is the development of the profession. The ACCA environmental awards, introduced in 1991, were the first of their kind anywhere in the world. With sustainability awards programmes now in 25 countries, ACCA has taken the lead on transparency and responsibility.
Today, ACCA is a champion of women in business, and last year staged a fringe meeting on women’s enterprise at the UK Labour Party Conference and commissioned research for a major paper on women’s access to finance and their role in accountancy.