Have your say Thanks, PQ, for fighting ACCA students’ corner; my ICAEW exam nightmare; plus our social media round-up

PQ to the rescue!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to PQ magazine for being there and putting ACCA under the spotlight. The first Monday of every recent exam sitting has been plagued with problems. Yet there seemed to be no desire on their part to acknowledge the problems, let alone make changes. How many sittings did they need before they were going to do something about it?

It seems the problems in the UK in June finally forced them to act. The video of the state of the exam rooms went far and wide.

You asked for a clear action plan in last month’s issue, and like magic that is what I received in an email from ACCA this morning! Now if there are technical problems at the Strategic Level there will be a resit exam available. That option was already available for the Applied Skills papers, which had always seemed the wrong way around to me. The final level is where the resources needed to be put in first. But we got there in the end.

I am sure your pressure helped ACCA to do the right thing, too. Name and address supplied The Editor says: ACCA has definitely become more open and transparent. The exam team seemed genuinely upset about what happened in June and were keen to make changes. The action plan (see cover) is a massive step forward and ACCA has lived up to its promise. Perhaps we don’t have to have so many fingers crossed this September.

Our star letter writer wins a fantastic ‘I love PQ’ mug!

My ICAEW nightmare

I have just sat the ICAEW case study and it was a total nightmare. Everything seemed to be working fine when we were all simply told to stop writing, at a really critical time in the exam. We were then told not to worry as the exam would be restarted at 1.30pm. However, after a nervous wait the invigilators told us this would not going to happen. So off home we trudged.

Now ICAEW has told us they will mark what we have written, but how is that going to be done fairly? Name and email address supplied The Editor says: ICAEW told us immediately what was happening and explained that most sitters had completed 85% of the exam. It asked all students to log their details with the special consideration process and promised it will work hard to ensure no PQ is disadvantaged. It will even look at past results if necessary.

Audit body support

There seems to be a growing backlash to the idea of a separate audit body. In last month’s PQ Iain Wright claims Sir Donald Brydon’s recommendations would be a ‘costly distraction’ and a drain on talent. I think he has missed the point! In a post-Carillon world, we need real change that makes auditors totally independent of colleagues selling consultancy services to the same company. Why has that ever been OK?

The £13 million fine for KPMG over Silentnight is just the latest in a long line of fines for Big 4 firms for a lack of ‘objectivity’. Maybe it’s time for a new body with objectivity to steer the audit profession in the right direction. Name and email address supplied

Server capacity problems for ICAEW case study July sitters meant ‘paused’ exams were not restarted. ICAEW had hoped they could get everyone back online, but it was just not possible. The exams team acted quickly, contacting the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to see what the next step should be and it was decided that the institute could mark what students had completed.

Students went on social media to vent. Here are just some of the comments:

“@ICAEW how can you not have protocols in place when there are system failures for a major exam?? I really hope you have a resolution for all parties involved which won’t be too damaging for their futures.”

“Spent 3 months revising for an exam just for @ICAEW exam software to crash and have to resit in November nice one.”

“Hi – a number of us had severe issues during our SBM exam yesterday whereby we were sent home without finishing the paper. I have not heard anything yet. Do you have any updates in regards to this?”

“Amongst all the issues today with the @ICAEW case study exam, just want to say a huge thank you to all the invigilators at the Hilton Metropole in London today. They never told us to stop the exam at 12:30 when the issues arose and did their absolute best to help us throughout!”

“Seems like more than just exam centres were having issues too, RI students (myself included) were struggling with software issues with the timer, extremely slow/zero response etc. Absolutely gutted for everyone.”

“Do better next time. Nobody especially those who are sitting 3 exams in a row don’t need this kind of stress.

“Do better, @ICAEW.”

PQ Magazine PO Box 75983, London E11 9GS | Phone: 07765 386489 | Email: graham@pqmagazine.com Website: www.pqmagazine.com | Editor/publisher: Graham Hambly graham@pqmagazine.com | Associate editor: Adam Riches | Art editor: Tim Parker Contributors: Robert Bruce, Prem Sikka, Lisa Nelson, Anna Kate Phelan, Mike Day, Tony Kelly, Phil Gammon, Edward Netherton | Subscriptions: subscriptions@pqmagazine.com | Origination services by Classified Central Media If you have any problems with delivery, or if you want to change your delivery address, please email admin@pqmagazine.com Published by PQ Publishing Ltd © PQ Publishing 2021