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ACCA in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of ACCA’s fastest-growing markets – and not surprisingly, given a population of around 150 million, all keen for their country to grow and succeed. Such is the level of demand that ACCA has decided to open a new office to support students and members, as Mohua Rashid, the new ACCA Bangladesh country manager, explains: ‘Many people see ACCA as a way to develop themselves so that they can improve their quality of life and contribute to the Bangladesh economy, either by working here or abroad. Parents are also keen to see their children develop, and the possibility of gaining an internationally-respected qualification locally is an affordable and attractive proposition. This has lead to a rapid increase in Bangladesh in the numbers of ACCA students, and so providing more local support is now essential.’
A young market
Although the ACCA office is yet to formally open, Mohua has already started work and established some clear priorities. ‘The Bangladesh market is young,’ she explains, ‘and so almost all ACCA students are either studying CAT or early ACCA Qualification papers. At some point in their journey, however, they will need to obtain their three-years’ practical experience and so one of my priorities is to build relationships with employers in order to stimulate job opportunities for ACCA students and members.’
Tuition providers are also an important target: ‘I want to develop relationships with tuition providers, through the Approved Learning Partner programme, to ensure student tuition is of the right quality to sustain student growth and conversion to membership. Currently, there are no ACCA Approved Learning Partners in Bangladesh and so I am keen to promote ACCA to the best tuition providers, so that students can be reassured that the tuition they receive is of the right quality.’
And there are other issues which Mohua wants to address, especially regarding local availability of textbooks: ‘Students find it very hard to obtain original textbooks at competitive prices; there are no local ACCA publishers and so books have to be imported into Bangladesh, resulting in a high price per volume. Not surprisingly, photocopying is a big problem but not only because is it illegal, but because it can also mean the dissemination of out of date information which can cause students to fail their exams. To address this, we have started discussions with official publishers BPP and Kaplan, to look at the issue of pricing and try to develop some promotional offers for tuition providers. As a result, BPP is now working with a local partner, Print Craft, to produce official textbooks which are priced more competitively than those imported from the UK. By encouraging students and tuition providers to use these more reasonably priced textbooks, I am sure it will improve the chance of exam success.’
Madiha Murshed, BPP representative in Bangladesh, head of academics at SPL, and deputy managing director of the Ascent Group, reiterates this point: ‘ACCA has become very popular in Bangladesh because students see it as a route to gaining professional skills that can be applied in a wide variety of positions and jobs. In Bangladesh in particular, professionals with finance and accounting skills have a bright future in all sectors. But unless students have access to reliable textbooks, they cannot be sure the texts they are using are the most up to date and relevant to the exam they are preparing for, putting their chances for success at risk. Having access to high-quality, updated, relevant texts is imperative, especially for students who are self-studying, as they rely on textbooks exclusively for guidance.’
On the ground support
When opening a new office, ACCA tailors the services on offer to the needs of the market, as Mohua explains: ‘As this is a student-led market, supporting trainees will be my priority. Access to, and reliability of, technology is variable in Bangladesh, and so students can have problems registering with ACCA, entering for exams, and paying fees. As access to credit cards is also limited, many students have to use bank drafts to pay fees and this can be a complicated process. These are all areas in which I can help, and I also aim to run student surgeries to provide further advice and information.’
Although there are currently only a handful of ACCA members in Bangladesh, Mohua still plans to support member activities, especially as numbers rise: ‘It will be exciting to watch the member community grow. I want to get to know members and understand their issues – one way may be to meet their employers and encourage them to join the ACCA Approved Employer Programme, especially with regard to professional development. Currently, we have one ACCA Approved Employer in Bangladesh but I am keen to change this by raising awareness of the Approved Employer Programme, and of the benefits it offers students, members, and employers.’
Future plans
ACCA plans to announce the new office address as soon as possible, and then will publicise activities planned for the next year, including a student graduation ceremony, hopefully scheduled for September 2009.
In Bangladesh
Commenting on the recent developments, ACCA member Syed Zubayer Ahmed, resident vice president, financial control unit at Citibank (Bangladesh branches): ‘An ACCA Bangladesh office is a very positive move, as there are very few quality education providers in Bangladesh. I myself gained my ACCA Qualification after following a full-time classroom course at the AT Emile Woolf College of Accountancy. ACCA students in Bangladesh need the direct support of ACCA to help them understand the alternative courses available, and also to help with revision. In addition, I hope to see ACCA providing more information on recent events in the financial markets, on risk, and on the experience of implementing International Accounting Standards.
‘There are a number of reasons why ACCA is growing in popularity so rapidly in Bangladesh. Our education system was quite ‘laid back’ until around 2000 and so graduates from private universities, having worked for one or two years, are now finding that an additional professional qualification, especially one which is globally accepted, can be of real value. It has certainly added value to my career to date.
‘In addition, the growth in student numbers may be a direct reflection of Bangladesh’s economic development and the growth in inward investment. This has led to increasingly complex business operations, and therefore growing pressure from regulatory authorities regarding compliance and monitoring. This has greatly increased opportunities for accountants in Bangladesh, who are also relatively better paid than their MBA-qualified peers.’
Kazi Sharif Ahsan is a CAT passed finalist now studying for the ACCA Qualification: ‘I decided to follow a career in finance because good financial management is an unconditional requirement for a developing country, and fuels all other management processes. In addition, there is great demand for financial managers in Bangladesh, so there are plenty of career opportunities for finance students. Therefore, by choosing a finance career I felt that I could both contribute to a better world and have the opportunity to work in a modern business environment.
‘Having passed my CAT exams I am now studying at the North South University in Dhaka, for both the ACCA Qualification and a BA degree in business administration which I hope to complete soon. While I’m studying, I’m working part-time as a PR executive within an advertising firm.
‘I decided to study ACCA because I hope the qualification will be a good platform on which to build my finance and accounting career. It is helping me understand strategy implementation, and teaching me about the integration of finance and administration. As ACCA is a globally-recognised qualification, I hope I will be able to work in an international audit firm or multinational company, building a career in financial management. I am looking forward to becoming an ACCA member, as this will boost my confidence in my abilities, and will allow me to enter public practice, which I consider the best role for all chartered certified accountants. In fact, my ambition is to set up my own audit firm.
‘Currently, it is very hard for ACCA students in Bangladesh to gain work experience in audit firms, and I hope that the new ACCA Bangladesh office will address this problem, as gaining work experience is vital and the current situation is very frustrating. However, despite this, ACCA continues to grow in Bangladesh as it has a very good brand reputation, and is not as restrictive in its practices as other local bodies – this makes ACCA very attractive to those students just finishing secondary school and wanting to start their accounting studies at an entry level. If ACCA Bangladesh can work hard to promote career opportunities for ACCA students – especially those who have degrees – then I think student numbers will rise even faster.’
BANGLADESH IN BRIEF
Bangladesh, officially the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means ‘Country of Bengal’ in the official Bengali language. The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly-formed Pakistan. However, it was separated from the western wing by 1,600km across India. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan, which led to the war for independence in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh. However, the new state had to endure famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative stability and economic progress. Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world and has a high poverty rate.
Geographically, the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones. The government is a parliamentary democracy; however, political rule has been suspended under emergency law since 11 January 2007.*
Capital (and largest city) Dhaka
Official language Bengali (or Bangla)
Area 147,570 km²
Population 150,448,340 (2007 estimate)
GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate $206.6bn – Per capita $1,300 Currency Taka (BDT)*
* Source: Bangladesh. (2008, August 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bangladesh&oldid=234159363
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