25. How will the CAT qualification articulate with the new ACCA syllabus?
Students who complete CAT will be given exemption from the Knowledge module (Paper F1, Accountant in Business, Paper F2, Management Accounting, and Paper F3, Financial Accounting). CAT passed finalists will be automatically transferred over to the ACCA syllabus if they are over 17 years and opted for automatic transfer when they initially registered under the CAT scheme.

26. What is subscriber status?
Students will have ten years from their initial registration date to complete the ACCA examinations. Existing students will have their current time limits renewed due to the change in qualification and will be given a further ten years to complete the new examinations.

After ten years students will be offered the opportunity of moving to 'Subscriber' status. 'Subscriber' status will give students access to student resources such as student accountant, but will remove them from the examination process.

27. When will pilot papers and study guides be ready?
Detailed syllabuses, practical experience requirements and pilot papers will be available by June 2006.

28. Is completing a degree mandatory in order to apply for ACCA membership?
Based upon feedback from key stakeholders during the consultation process, ACCA will not make completing a degree a requirement to gaining ACCA membership. ACCA will continue to work with Oxford Brookes University (OBU) to offer a BSc Honours Degree in Applied Accounting. Students will be able to obtain a degree, awarded by OBU, upon completion of Fundamentals level and by completing a Research and Analysis Project.

ACCA will also develop academic partnerships, both at the undergraduate and Masters level, with a range of other prestigious universities across the world. These will enable ACCA students and members to extract maximum value from both their academic and ACCA qualifications.

29. Will any of the registration or exam deadlines change?
Possibly. ACCA is currently reviewing registration and exam deadlines. Students should be reassured that if changes to deadlines are made, then they will be given advance notification However, in the meantime, students should still adhere to the current deadlines. Students will still need to register by 15 August to sit their first examinations in December of the same year and 31 December to sit their first examinations in June of the following year. These deadlines will be two weeks earlier for students registering under joint examination schemes (JES). The exam entry deadlines are 15 April for June examinations and 15 October for December examinations. Existing students will be automatically transferred over to the new syllabus in mid August when they will be notified of which papers they will need to complete under the new syllabus along with examination results for any papers they attempted at the June 07 session.

30. How will ACCA ensure its students have the appropriate IT skills?
The new qualification is based on the assumption that students are training in a computerised environment. Each paper in the new syllabus integrates the relevant aspects of information systems and information management (IS/IM) within their own context. Paper F1 Accountant in Business and Paper P3 Business Analysis will address the specific aspects of IS/IM. Competences relating to IT/IM will also be specifically addressed in the practical experience requirements.

31. Who are the new examiners?
ACCA is currently recruiting its new panel of examiners, some will have examined on the current syllabus, others will be new appointments. As soon as the recruitment process is complete, ACCA will introduce its new panel of examiners through articles in student accountant and teach accounting and via the Horizon microsite.

32. Why has Paper 3.7 Strategic Financial Management become an option paper under the new syllabus?
An understanding of the fundamental techniques of project appraisal, raising finance and working capital management are regarded as vital by ACCA members. To reflect their importance, Paper F9, Financial Management � has been created in Fundamentals. The more strategic areas of Corporate Governance and Risk Management are addressed in the new Professional level Paper P1, Professional Accountant. Specialist areas of finance such as treasury management are regarded as more suitable to individuals working, or aiming to work within a corporate finance environment. Therefore, Paper 3.7 Strategic Financial Management has been removed as a compulsory paper at the final level and replaced in the new syllabus by optional Paper P4, Advanced Financial Management.

33. Why has Paper 3.4, Business Information Management been dropped as an option paper?
The new syllabus makes the assumption that students are training in a computerised environment. Each paper in the syllabus will cover the relevant aspects of information systems and management within their own context. Compulsory papers F1, Accountant in Business and P3, Business Analysis will cover specific aspects of information systems/management. Competences relating to information systems will also be specifically addressed in the practical work experience requirements.

34. Why has Paper 2.1, Information Systems been dropped from the syllabus?
The new syllabus makes the assumption that students are training in a computerised environment. Each paper in the syllabus will cover the relevant aspects of information systems and management within their own context. Compulsory papers F1 Accountant in Business and P3 Business Analysis will cover specific aspects of information systems/management. Competences relating to information systems will also be specifically addressed in the practical work experience requirements.

35. Which papers are brand new to the syllabus?
The only brand new paper is P1, Professional Accountant. This paper acts as the gateway into Professional level, setting the other Essentials syllabuses and advanced Options into a wider professional, organisational and societal context. The syllabus for Paper P1, Professional Accountant begins by examining the whole area of governance within organisations in the broad context of the agency relationship. This aspect of the syllabus focuses on the respective roles and responsibilities of directors and officers to organisational stakeholders and of accounting and auditing as support and control functions. The syllabus then explores internal review, control, and feedback to implement and support effective governance, including compliance issues related to decision-making and decision-support functions. The syllabus also examines the whole area of identifying, assessing and controlling risk as a key aspect of responsible management. Finally the syllabus covers personal and professional ethics, ethical frameworks and professional values, as applied in the context of the accountant's duties and as a guide to appropriate professional behaviour and conduct in a variety of situations.

36. Why are there no exemptions available from examinations at the final level?
This preserves the integrity and rigor of the ACCA qualification. Requiring all members to sit and pass Professional level ensures that all ACCA members, wherever they qualify in the world, and whatever their prior educational backgrounds, share a common set of competences which have been specified and assessed by ACCA directly.

37. When will the qualification change again?
ACCA continually reviews its qualification to ensure that it is relevant and meet the needs of employers. Based on previous history, ACCA operates on a seven-year cycle. However, the exact timing will be driven by the rate of change in the accounting environment.