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Updates now on an annual basis

Previously, ACCA updated examinable documents every six months, which meant changes to documents for June exams had to be made and communicated by 30 November of the previous year, and for December exams by 31 May of the same year. Going forward, ACCA is to update examinable documents on an annual basis.

For paper-based exams regulation issued or legislation passed on or before 30 September will be assessed from 1 June of the following year to 31 May of the year after. Therefore, paper-based exams in June 2009, December 2009 (and March 2010 for Russian DipIFR only) will be assessed on regulations issued and legislation passed on or before 30 September 2008.

The above rule applies to all papers and paper versions, with the exception of taxation papers, in Hong Kong, Singapore and Zimbabwe.

The annual cut off for taxation papers in Hong Kong will be 31 May, while in Singapore this will be 31 March. The annual cut off for these two regions applies to the December exam session of the same calendar year and June of the following year.

Zimbabwe taxation papers will retain the six month cut off rule. Therefore, legislation passed before 31 May is examinable in the December exam session of the same calendar year and legislation passed before 30 November is examinable in the June exam session of the following calendar year.

Regulation issued or legislation passed in accordance with the above dates may be examinable even if the effective date is in the future.

Please refer directly to the examinable documents and syllabus study guides within the student and affiliate section for further detail on all papers and computer-based exams.

This change is applicable to all ACCA's qualifications: ACCA Qualification, CAT Qualification, DipFM and DipIFR.

When will this change come into effect?

Unless otherwise indicated by the examinable documents, changes will come into effect for the June 2009 exam session. Therefore, the closing deadline for changes to examinable documents was 30 September 2008. These examinable documents will be relevant for the June and December 2009 exam sessions.

Where can you find the most up to date examinable documents and syllabus study guides?

Examinable documents and syllabus study guides applicable to forthcoming exams can be found in exam paper resources.

Although material within this section is aimed at students and affiliates, as a tuition provider, you should at the very least be encouraged to review the technical articles and sample exam papers.

What are the benefits for our stakeholders?

As a tuition provider, moving to an annual change rule will allow you greater time to prepare teaching materials and increased longevity of the study materials you use - not only the official textbooks you use in class but also for the teaching resources you produce.

For students, the major benefits are that they will now have more time to prepare for the exams and increased clarity and assurance as to what will be examinable at each exam session.

How are we communicating this to students?

Students will be notified by e-mail (if they have registered their e-mail address) as well as via student accountant magazine. Further communication of this development by tuition providers is also encouraged.