(From Left to Right): Ms. Anouska Sammy (Senior Business Relationship Manager of ACCA), Mr. Joseph Owolabi (Global President of ACCA), Dr. Richard Ishmael (Chairman of the Barbados Accreditation Council) and Mrs. Lisa Gale (Executive Director of the Barbados Accreditation Council)
The staff and Management of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) celebrated last week Wednesday as they received their second round of recognition as an awarding body by the Barbados Accreditation Council (BAC). The accounting association was presented with the Certificate of Recognition as an Awarding Body at the Council’s new offices in George Street, St. Michael. After receiving their first certificate in 2013, this achievement indicates that they have maintained the standards necessary to be internationally recognized.
In her feature address, Executive Director of the BAC, Lisa Gale stated that “Learners and other stakeholders in tertiary education and training can be assured that they have access to a qualification from an organisation that is recognised nationally and internationally. They can also be assured that they are acquiring the same skills, expertise and competencies as learners pursuing the same programme in the awarding body’s home country of the United Kingdom.”
Additionally, Gale noted that this renewal signifies that the BAC, the sole body responsible for assuring the quality and integrity of post-secondary/tertiary education and training in Barbados, will recognise the ACCA’s accredited qualifications which are delivered by registered education and training providers in Barbados. Therefore, as an awarding body recognised by the BAC, the ACCA is eligible to submit its qualifications to the BAC for accreditation.
Global President of the ACCA, Joseph Owolabi, visited Barbados to accept the Certificate of Recognition on the ACCA’S behalf. “The process that we went through for renewal of our recognition was very rigorous and thorough and allowed us to provide details and assurances about our qualifications, our governance, our management and the quality assurance surrounding our end-to-end exam process from creation, through to delivery, marking and certification,” he stated in his address. He also explained the reasons for seeking external recognition by highlighting its benefits such as the confidence employers receive in an ACCA member’s level of ability and expertise, the greater choice of locations in which ACCA members can work with the qualification, possible exemptions from a number of other academic qualifications and more.
He thanked the staff of the BAC and ACCA staff for their contribution to the process and encouraged other tertiary institutions to become recognized by the Council. Senior Business Relationship Manager, Ms. Anouska Sammy, accompanied Mr. Owolabi to accept the certification by Chairman of the BAC, Dr. Richard Ishmael.
