Courses
Certified Accounting Technician (CAT)
- 9 Papers
- 1.5 - 2 Years
Overview
The CAT qualification comprises a combination of exams and practical experience. It is designed to equip students with all the necessary technical skills and knowledge required to fulfil an accounting role to technician level. It also provides a firm foundation of knowledge and the opportunity to fast track towards becoming a professional ACCA accountant. The minimum entry requirement to CAT is 5 GCE O’ Level credit (with English & Mathematics).
In order to obtain the CAT Qualification, students will need to complete the following:
- FA1, MA1, FA2, MA2, FBT, FFA and FMA exams
- two of the three specialist exams; FAU, FFM and FTX
- a practical experience requirement (1 year)
- Foundations in Professionalism (FiP)
On completion of the CAT Qualification, students may then progress onto the ACCA Qualification if they wish to do so, starting at the Applied Skills exams. They can also count the four essentials competences and one year’s work experience gained to achieve the CAT Qualification towards the three years’ work experience and 9 performance objectives required for the ACCA Qualification. There is a certification fee for this award, payable when CAT holder status is granted. The CAT programme can be completed in 1.5 – 2 years on average.
Modules
Introductory Level
FA1 - Recording Financial Transaction
Students are introduced to the fundamentals of preparing and recording financial documentation from originating documents and processing ledger transactions up to the trial balance stage. It also covers relevant banking procedures associated with bookkeeping, maintaining and reconciling cash and petty cash records and preparing the journal and relevant control accounts and identifying and correcting errors.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 390 Exam Fee: BND180
MA1 - Management Information
Students are introduced to basic costing principles and techniques and the tools with which to use these principles and techniques. The syllabus starts by introducing business organisations and the specific role of management accountant within the organisation. The next section deals with cost classification followed by the identification of sources of information and coding, to ensure that cost information is properly classified. The syllabus then introduces basic techniques for recording costs.
It finally introduces students to spreadsheets as an important tool in supporting cost and management accounting.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 390 Exam Fee: BND180
Intermediate Level
FA2 - Managing Financial Records
Students are introduced to the context and purpose of maintaining financial records with reference to accounts preparation. The syllabus then concentrates in depth on the double-entry system and on recording, processing, and reporting business transactions and events, including the specific accounting for non-current assets.
The syllabus covers the use of the extended trial balance and how to identify and correct errors, including the reconciliation of the control accounts, and the posting of period end adjustments. The syllabus also covers the preparation of final accounts for sole traders and for partnerships.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 680 Exam Fee: BND180
MA2 - Managing Cost and Finance
Students are introduced to costing and financing principles and techniques, and elements of management accounting which are used to make and support decisions.
The syllabus starts by introducing students to management information clearly
distinguishing it from financial accounting information. The next section introduces the basics of recording costs in management accounting. This is followed by coverage of a variety of costing techniques used in business. The next area of the syllabus introduces students to the use of management accounting in support of decision making. Finally, the syllabus introduces the concept of cash management as an essential element for planning.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 680 Exam Fee: BND180
Advanced Level
FBT - Business and Technology
Students are introduced to the business, which as an entity is made up of people and systems which interact with the environment and with each other. The syllabus begins with examining the purpose and types of business which exist, the key stakeholders and the rights and responsibilities that businesses have in connection with them, exploring the external influences that affect the business in its environment, including economic, legal, social and technological factors.
The syllabus then examines the structure and functions of business, focusing on corporate governance and the specific accounting related roles in this process, particularly in financial reporting, assurance, control and compliance. The syllabus also covers financial systems including the impact of financial technology.
Key leadership, management and people issues such as
effective individual and team behavior, motivation and personal effectiveness are also covered in this module. In the final section of the module we examine how behavior at all levels within business should be underpinned by accepted professional ethics and professional values.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 750 Exam Fee: BND240
FMA - Management Accounting
FMA introduces students to elements of management accounting which are used to make and support decisions. The syllabus starts by introducing the nature, the source and purpose of management information followed by the statistical techniques used to analyse data. Then it addresses cost accounting and the costing techniques used in business which are essential for any management accountant.
Students will then learn the preparation and use of budgeting and standard costing and variance analysis as essential tools for planning and controlling business activities. Lastly the module concludes with an introduction to measuring and monitoring the performance of an organisation.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 750 Exam Fee: BND240
FFA - Fiancnial Accounting
Students are introduced to the fundamentals of the regulatory framework relating to accounts preparation and to the qualitative characteristics of useful information. The module also covers drafting financial statements and the principles of accounts preparation and then concentrates in depth on recording, processing, and reporting business transactions and events. The use of the trial balance and how to identify and correct errors, and the preparation of financial statements for incorporated and unincorporated entities are also taught in this module.
At the end of this module, students will be able to conduct a basic interpretation of financial statements as well as preparing simple consolidated financial statements from the individual financial statements of group incorporated entities.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 750 Exam Fee: BND240
Advanced Level - Choose 2 out of 3 optional modules
FAU - Foundations in Audit
The syllabus for FAU starts with an introduction to the nature and purpose of an audit,
including the duties and liability of auditors, and the regulation that auditors must adhere to. The areas relating to the process of an audit of financial statements
starting at audit planning and risk assessment, recording and evaluating internal control, as well as tests of controls, audit evidence and the use of substantive procedures are covered as well. The module also deals with audit completion including the auditor’s report.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 750 Exam Fee: BND240
FFM - Foundations in Financial Accounting
The FFM module introduces students to different ways of managing finance within an
organisation with the aim of enhancing business performance. This includes planning and controlling of cash flow in both the short and long term, how to manage capital investment decisions and managing trade credit for an efficient flow of cash.
The syllabus starts by introducing the principles of effective working capital management, and the impact working capital has on an organisation’s cash flow. It then looks at the techniques for forecasting cash to aid an organisation in planning its cash needs. Students will learn how to look at the different ways of managing cash in the short, medium and long term, including investing funds in capital projects as well as learning about the procedures for effective credit management to maximise flow of cash to the business.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 750 Exam Fee: BND240
FTX - Foundations in Taxation
Students are introduced to the fundamentals of the regulatory framework relating to accounts preparation and to the qualitative characteristics of useful information. The module also covers drafting financial statements and the principles of accounts preparation and then concentrates in depth on recording, processing, and reporting business transactions and events. The use of the trial balance and how to identify and correct errors, and the preparation of financial statements for incorporated and unincorporated entities are also taught in this module.
At the end of this module, students will be able to conduct a basic interpretation of financial statements as well as preparing simple consolidated financial statements from the individual financial statements of group incorporated entities.
Detailed syllabus can be read here
Module Fee: BND 750 Exam Fee: BND240
