TAR UC Students Achieve High Passing Rates in ACCA Examinations

Breaking away from the perception that accountants and auditors are mere number crunchers for a company, chartered accountants are now highly sought after professionals, taking on roles as strategic business advisors equipped with an arsenal of skills to ensure the sustainability of the business. With the demand for qualified accountants in today’s competitive rat race rising, so has the popularity of accountancy programmes among school leavers.

This new breed of accounting graduates is expected to be well-rounded – maintaining proficiency in accounting while possessing new and expanded skills such as communication, leadership, critical thinking as well as IT and digital skills.

While being knowledgeable makes a graduate highly sought after by prospective employers, having a globally recognised professional qualification is a huge plus point in the field of accountancy. Graduates who have undergone a professionally accredited accountancy programme in pursuit of the globally recognised ACCA qualification stand to reap benefits like instant recognition by employers, a curriculum of high quality international standards, excellent international employment potential and many more.

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (‘TAR UC’) is an ACCA Platinum Approved Learning Partner which is the highest level of recognition by ACCA under ACCA’s Approved Learning Partner – Student Tuition programme for having consistently achieved pass rates which are above ACCA’s global pass rates in the ACCA Strategic Professional Level paper examinations. TAR UC is also the only institution in the world approved by ACCA to run an Internally Assessed ACCA Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills programme which enables students to claim all nine paper exemptions at the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills levels upon completion of their second year of study.

Under ACCA’s new examination structure introduced in December 2018, TAR UC students have continued with the excellent streak by achieving passing rates above ACCA’s global pass rates for the Strategic Professional Level papers namely the Strategic Business Leader (‘SBL’) and Strategic Business Reporting (‘SBR’) papers.

SBL is a compulsory Strategic Professional Level paper where students are examined in a 4-hour case study examination which simulates a workplace environment whereby one needs to demonstrate a blend of technical, ethical and professional skills to respond to requests from people in various roles. TAR UC students achieved a passing rate of 68.5% for the December 2019 and June 2020 (Cohort 6) sitting which is much higher than the said paper’s global passing rate of 46% for the said cohort.

The SBR paper on the other hand, requires candidates to demonstrate their abilities to make strategic business reporting decisions by applying theories, concepts and principles in real life situations. The perspective of different stakeholders would need to be taken into account when making decisions. TAR UC students achieved a passing rate of 71.2% for the December 2019 and June 2020 (Cohort 6) sitting, also surpassing the paper’s global passing rate of 48% for that Cohort.

To date, two TAR UC students have achieved extraordinary results in the SBL paper. Lau Jia Yi came in Top in Malaysia and Fourth in the World in the December 2018 ACCA examination and Caroline Ng Yi-Wye did the nation and TAR UC proud by becoming the first Malaysian to be ranked Top in the World for the same paper in the December 2019 ACCA examinations.

“I am very proud of our students for obtaining excellent results in the ACCA examinations over the years,” said Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei, President of TAR UC. “The academic team has been doing a fantastic job fine-tuning their teaching methods to help students to not only tackle the new examination structure but also impart knowledge that would help students hit the ground running after graduation.”

Ever since accountancy programmes were first offered in 1971 at the then TAR College, the TAR UC has consistently produced many top scorers in the ACCA examinations year after year nationally and globally. Prior to ACCA’s change in examination structure, TAR UC students had also been acknowledged globally for achieving world-classresults for other professional level papers. To date, TAR UC students have won 79 world prizes and 101 national prizes in the ACCA examinations.