Queries on ACCA Distance Learning Options

Planning to start the ACCA exams this December but evening/weekend courses does not suit from a time perspective.

The only option that I have is distance learning so would be grateful for any feedback from those who have already gone down this route.

I am exempt from F1, F2, F3, F4 and F6.

Plan to sit 2 exams in December, not sure which ones but it will be 2 from the following; F5, F7, F8 and F9.

From looking online there seems to be 3 options; Griffith, BPP and DBS.

As stated above, any advice would be much appreciated.

I combined the options of home study and tuition. I used DBS for the majority of the tuition and BPP for the home study. I found the BPP material excellent.
I used home study for the theory based subjects: Law, Audit and Assurance, Performance management. I took tuition for the remainder. The lecturers are a mixed bunch - some great, others terrible. DBS were great for Tax (actually excellent for tax!), Management Accounting, and the corporate finance subject (this is now an optional subject. However, I found DBS to be not so good for the financial accounting subjects. I believe DBS have a better reputation for financial accounting.
I have heard good reports about the quality of tuition in the new Independent college.

I guess all ACCA tuition providers are the same - some good lecturere & some bad.


Best of luck! It's an excellenc career move! Put in the hard work and reap the rewards!

Hi results are just out. F7 had a 70% fail rate. If you are doing it part time or distance I strongly recommend that you do that paper on its own.
Best of luck with the study!

I completed all ACCA papers from start to finish by distance learning with BPP.The only exception was the first tax paper, for which I got the home study material from DBS.

I always found the majority of the material from BPP to be of very good quality. The only subject I wasn't as happy with the text for was P6 (Advanced Taxation). As BPP are UK based, this was in a different format than the other materials, due to the fact that it was an "Irish variant" subject.

I would strongly recommend attending a revision course with your tuition provider before the exams. This is great for question practice, focussing on key areas and making sure you're on the right track.

Good Luck!

Thank you all for the above replies, they are very helpful and confirms my decision that using BPP best suits my current needs.

I am going to sign up for F5 and F8 today as my registration with the ACCA has been confirmed.

I have one query in relation to F8; on the BPP website there are 2 options:
(1) ACCA Skills F8 Audit and Assurance (UK & INT)
(2) ACCA Skills F8 INT Audit and Assurance (International)

Which one did you go for Snowshoe Sam? Just wondering as I thought the only Irish variant exam was for taxation.

Also there is an option for 'Home Study' and 'Home Study Plus' on their website, which one did you select?

Finally, when you book this they offer a number of additional items for a fee, did you avail of any of these?

Thank you again for your advice in relation to this.

Which one did you go for Snowshoe Sam? Just wondering as I thought the only Irish variant exam was for taxation.

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There are variant options for law and tax exams, as obviously the syllabuses (syllabi ) for these will differ significantly depending on the country.

However, as far as I remember, when I registered with the ACCA (Long time ago!) you had to choose which accounting stream you wanted to follow; UK/IRL or International. The accounts format and accounting standards your exam papers were based on would then vary depending on which stream you chose.

It's worth noting that Ireland are moving towards adopting IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in the near future. See this article from PWC:

[broken link removed]

Also there is an option for 'Home Study' and 'Home Study Plus' on their website, which one did you select?

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From the BPP website, it seems as if the only extra you get with Home Study Plus is access to the Learn Online facility. Have a look here to see exactly what's included in this:

http://www.bpp.com/acca/distance-learning/learn-online.html

You can also try out their i-learn facility (see right hand side of page)

I did choose the Plus option for a couple of the later papers but found I tended to stick to my textbooks for learning rather than using the i-learn facility. I did email tutors with queries a couple of times, but I think you can do this with the Basic package anyway.

With regards to additional items, your package does include a certain amount of extras such as passcards and CDs, so check this first before you decide on what else you may need.

i am currently studying a honours degree in tourism and hospitality management but have a strong desire to go into accountancy in the future.

i was wondering if anyone could give me information about the accountancy exams.
do you have to be working in an accountancy firm to sit them? how do i go about sitting them? can i do them while working part time from a distance learning perspective?

i am cluless about where to start and wont be making any advance towards it until next yr at the earliest so any information would be greatly appreciated!

ACCA distance learning can still be high quality and more cost effective.
The only limitation wouldbe the interaction wiht th etutors for Q&A, but most supply an add-on or inclusive package which allows for after teaching Q&A time.

Otherwise you should check out new Online learing materials for the ACCA syllabuses.

One company www.tonysurridge.co.uk also does distance learning products for the ACCA. I am not sure about the online tuition, but someone said they are looking into launching it. Might be worth a look.

I know they have a good accountancy job board which is very good.