WHY ACCA IS GOING NOWHERE

ACCA has been milking its students and members for years. It provides poor support and services. For example, despite the pledges in the royal charter, there is no library for members or students.

ACCA's members should be concerned about the future of the Association . Here are TEN reasons:

1. Dictatorial management and an emasculated council means that good policies are rarely debated, developed or discussed. Most council members are like sheep, just led by a few grandees. There is little transparency about the way ACCA is governed though there is plenty of 'spin' and gloss. There is little worthwhile information. For example, ACCA has been quick to talk about how it sued or is suing other accountancy bodies, but is  silent on the legal action against it in India. AABA first broke the news about earlier lawsuit in Malaysia.
2. Little or no  recognition of ACCA qualification in Australia, North America and South Africa. As a result, ACCA qualification is not portable. The word 'chartered' cannot gloss over the major problems of image, content, substance, mickey-mouse syllabus, and could not care less attitude about services to members.
3. The centralised management structure continues to alienate members in the Far east and in the not too distant future they are likely to separate.
4. As developing countries develop their own education and social infrastructure, the number of students and members would dry up, dealing a major blow to ACCA's finances.
5. ACCA's global strategy (if there was such a thing) has run its course. ACCA now has a huge identity problems. What is it - a UK body? Does it have a focus? Can it really be a jack of all trades?
6. In the UK ACCA will have a tough time as its qualifications are not highly valued by major employers. Relatively few senior industrial positions are held by ACCA members. The most senior position at ACCA (chief executive) is not held by an ACCA member.
7. ACCA has failed to develop a niche market for its qualifications. It can't compete with the ICAEW, ICAS and ICAI for the public sector market. It has been left behind by CIMA for the corporate sector market. To hide its weaknesses, a few years ago it made an unsuccessful takeover bid for CIMA's mantle. Today, the realities are that if CIMA was to throw open its doors to ACCA members, a large number of members in the corporate sector would leave because they get nothing for their annual subscriptions. Given a choice large number of members in public practice would also join other accountancy bodies.
8. The raising of small company audit threshold will mean that hardly any ACCA member in the UK would be able to conduct audits of companies. ACCA would effectively be shut from the audit market. There are currently probably no more than 1,000 ACCA practitioners offering training to ACCA students. All that would collapse.
9. Sooner of later the UK government would introduce independent regulation of audit and insolvency. ACCA has made a lot of its current regulator status in the PR hype and would be cut down to size.
10. If ACCA remains a regulator, sooner or later it would need to devote  financial resources to it as the public would want a major audit failure (in which no ACCA member may be involved) to be investigated. It does not have the financial strength to deal with these problems.

ACCA is not  the master of its own destiny as many of the factors are beyond its control.

Members should discuss these matters, but the key parts of council meetings are closed. Council members can't be questioned. AGMs are a sham and there is no dialogue. Members don't elect council members as they are effectively appointed by officeholders who cast a large number of votes - so cronies rule. Members could mobilise their local district societies to debate the issues, but they too are centrally controlled and there is no internet forum to discuss anything. How can members discuss 'what if' scenarios?