New syllabus:
introducing our latest elective
Set to launch in July, Innovation for Growth and Transformation – the fourth and final elective of ICAS’ new syllabus – will bring extra creativity to the mix, says Gail Boag, Executive Director of Learning
Adapting our syllabus for a changing world is a constant work in progress. In the process of reshaping the ICAS learning experience, we recently realised – especially with the growing importance of ethics, sustainability, data analytics and technology – that there is now a need for more information around the fast-paced developments in the accountancy sector than we could ever fit into one rigid educational programme.
To address this conundrum, we re-evaluated our proposition. The CA is not only an accounting and finance qualification, but also a valuable benchmark for business: one which upholds high levels of professional excellence and rigour. We know that 86% of our CAs work in FTSE 100 companies, and about half work in business or industry, and not necessarily in accountancy. So the question we’re always asking is: how can we make sure the CA qualification is consistently relevant to people who are working in different disciplines and sectors?
The answer, we decided, was to allow an element of choice and specialisation, helping trainees achieve their own individual career aspirations and goals as well as staying at the cutting edge of new developments. And so we introduced elective options: four specialised subjects that students can choose between, as complementary to the core elements of the course.
Naturally, those electives will evolve over time. The three that became available last year are:
• Advanced Taxation: Students build on Knowledge-level personal and business taxation with added competence in areas such as tax-efficient strategies, alternative tax treatments to defer, and minimisation of tax liabilities.
• Data Analytics and Insights: Focusing on identifying, analysing, solving and communicating business problems using data-analysis techniques and modern business-intelligence tools.
• Sustainability for Accountants: This takes the trainee into a much deeper level of understanding of the environmental, social and governance impacts on organisations, and the role CAs play in building the issue into business agendas.
In July, and starting from term three, we will introduce a fourth: something of a curveball, perhaps, which is maybe why it has inspired so much interest: Innovation for Growth and Transformation. Created by the Centre for Innovation at the University of Bristol, which is also delivering and assessing the elective, it’s centred on developing the practical skills, and fostering the requisite leadership mindset, to help people innovate, transform and grow businesses, and helping CAs play a meaningful role in sustaining organisational value.
The elective includes benefit management, stakeholder strategy, adapting to change, readiness and resistance, and project management. It also addresses a need for accountancy professionals to analyse market need and see a commercial venture from its audience’s perspective. Trainees will hone their skills in developing substantial business and communication plans, as well as the process of bringing them to life – an end-to-end focus that takes participants from idea creation to delivery.
Specifically, the elective will enable trainees to:
• Analyse a market need and propose a viable intrapreneurial venture for an identified audience.
• Develop and justify an appropriate and substantial business plan.
• Effectively construct and communicate the plan to a professional audience.
• Evaluate the process of working within a team to develop an intrapreneurial venture.
• Develop a deep understanding of the ethical dimensions of innovation and intrapreneurship.
As educators, it also allows us to have a more innovative assessment approach: trainees need to create a 20-slide deck, lasting six minutes and 40 seconds, drawing together this fourth module’s various elements – from innovation to ethical considerations, feasibility, justification and communication. They will then deliver this to their fellow students and be recorded for evaluation according to the following criteria: strategic coherence; innovation and ethical integration; feasibility and justification; communication effectiveness; and reflective insight.
“Trainees will hone their skills in developing substantial business and communication plans, and the process of bringing them to life – an end-to-end focus, which takes participants from idea creation to delivery”
Across the whole CA qualification, we try to build critical thinking, problem-solving skills and healthy professional scepticism. But this new elective allows us to take that one step further and immerse our trainees in authentic experience. It will confront them with the kind of scenarios they will face in the real world, and allow them to test, gauge, assess and ultimately sharpen the skills relevant to their chosen career path.
All of our courses – five at Knowledge stage, six at Skills including the elective, plus a further two at Integration stage – will continue to evolve. The electives, meanwhile, are also offered as standalone courses to members who didn’t do them during their own CA training, as well as to non-members (see here for more information).
As new standards and regulations unfold, all electives will, of course, be refreshed: as will the syllabus’s core modules. Because keeping the ICAS educational experience sharp, rewarding and conducive to empowering trainees to shape the economy of tomorrow is a journey, not a destination.
Learn more about ICAS’ new syllabus
New syllabus:
introducing our latest elective
Set to launch in July, Innovation for Growth and Transformation – the fourth and final elective of ICAS’ new syllabus – will bring extra creativity to the mix, says Gail Boag, Executive Director of Learning
Adapting our syllabus for a changing world is a constant work in progress. In the process of reshaping the ICAS learning experience, we recently realised – especially with the growing importance of ethics, sustainability, data analytics and technology – that there is now a need for more information around the fast-paced developments in the accountancy sector than we could ever fit into one rigid educational programme.
To address this conundrum, we re-evaluated our proposition. The CA is not only an accounting and finance qualification, but also a valuable benchmark for business: one which upholds high levels of professional excellence and rigour. We know that 86% of our CAs work in FTSE 100 companies, and about half work in business or industry, and not necessarily in accountancy. So the question we’re always asking is: how can we make sure the CA qualification is consistently relevant to people who are working in different disciplines and sectors?
The answer, we decided, was to allow an element of choice and specialisation, helping trainees achieve their own individual career aspirations and goals as well as staying at the cutting edge of new developments. And so we introduced elective options: four specialised subjects that students can choose between, as complementary to the core elements of the course.
Naturally, those electives will evolve over time. The three that became available last year are:
• Advanced Taxation: Students build on Knowledge-level personal and business taxation with added competence in areas such as tax-efficient strategies, alternative tax treatments to defer, and minimisation of tax liabilities.
• Data Analytics and Insights: Focusing on identifying, analysing, solving and communicating business problems using data-analysis techniques and modern business-intelligence tools.
• Sustainability for Accountants: This takes the trainee into a much deeper level of understanding of the environmental, social and governance impacts on organisations, and the role CAs play in building the issue into business agendas.
In July, and starting from term three, we will introduce a fourth: something of a curveball, perhaps, which is maybe why it has inspired so much interest: Innovation for Growth and Transformation. Created by the Centre for Innovation at the University of Bristol, which is also delivering and assessing the elective, it’s centred on developing the practical skills, and fostering the requisite leadership mindset, to help people innovate, transform and grow businesses, and helping CAs play a meaningful role in sustaining organisational value.
The elective includes benefit management, stakeholder strategy, adapting to change, readiness and resistance, and project management. It also addresses a need for accountancy professionals to analyse market need and see a commercial venture from its audience’s perspective. Trainees will hone their skills in developing substantial business and communication plans, as well as the process of bringing them to life – an end-to-end focus that takes participants from idea creation to delivery.
Specifically, the elective will enable trainees to:
• Analyse a market need and propose a viable intrapreneurial venture for an identified audience.
• Develop and justify an appropriate and substantial business plan.
• Effectively construct and communicate the plan to a professional audience.
• Evaluate the process of working within a team to develop an intrapreneurial venture.
• Develop a deep understanding of the ethical dimensions of innovation and intrapreneurship.
As educators, it also allows us to have a more innovative assessment approach: trainees need to create a 20-slide deck, lasting six minutes and 40 seconds, drawing together this fourth module’s various elements – from innovation to ethical considerations, feasibility, justification and communication. They will then deliver this to their fellow students and be recorded for evaluation according to the following criteria: strategic coherence; innovation and ethical integration; feasibility and justification; communication effectiveness; and reflective insight.
“Trainees will hone their skills in developing substantial business and communication plans, and the process of bringing them to life – an end-to-end focus, which takes participants from idea creation to delivery”
Across the whole CA qualification, we try to build critical thinking, problem-solving skills and healthy professional scepticism. But this new elective allows us to take that one step further and immerse our trainees in authentic experience. It will confront them with the kind of scenarios they will face in the real world, and allow them to test, gauge, assess and ultimately sharpen the skills relevant to their chosen career path.
All of our courses – five at Knowledge stage, six at Skills including the elective, plus a further two at Integration stage – will continue to evolve. The electives, meanwhile, are also offered as standalone courses to members who didn’t do them during their own CA training, as well as to non-members (see here for more information).
As new standards and regulations unfold, all electives will, of course, be refreshed: as will the syllabus’s core modules. Because keeping the ICAS educational experience sharp, rewarding and conducive to empowering trainees to shape the economy of tomorrow is a journey, not a destination.
Learn more about ICAS’ new syllabus
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