ACCA’s move back to exam halls became a Financial Times ‘exclusive’ today under the headline ‘World’s largest accounting body scraps remote exams to combat cheating’.
The FT said the ACCA has concluded that online tests have become too difficult to police, particularly as artificial intelligence has made it easier to cheat!
If you can’t find the story behind the FT pay wall, here is the story we ‘exclusively’ wrote on 6 November 2025 (some seven weeks earlier):
REMOTE EXAMS U-TURN
In a shock move ACCA has announced that from the March 2026 it will only offer remote exam sittings where it does not have exam centres.
ACCA recently sent a ‘Withdrawal of remotely invigilated exams’ email to all students who have sat remote exams in the last 18 months.
ACCA’s Alan Hatfield, executive director- content, quality and innovation, told PQ magazine: “The vast majority of our students already use exam centres, but we understand this will be disappointing news for some of those who prefer to take their exams remotely. We are making this change because as technology evolves, we have concerns around the ongoing security of remote exams and we want to protect the hard work ACCA students put into earning their qualification. Limiting the volume of remote exams will help us ensure exam integrity, and they will still be available in countries where we do not have exam centre provision.”
This change means most ACCA students from next year will take both their on-demand and session exams in centres.
On its FAQ page ACCA said it does not envisage reintroducing remote exams ‘for the foreseeable future’.
Students went online to have their say! Some felt the announcement has come total out of the blue, and many hoped the ACCA would be investing in more centres. As one student put it: “Ridiculous. If they do this then they absolutely need to ensure more centres are available to go to!” Another PQ wondered if they will have enough space with the current set up, and suggested that 100’s of new centres need to be made available.
Students said there is just one centre in Northern Ireland and none in Devon and Cornwall. PQs in Surrey say they travel to London or Brighton to sit exams. One student explained they will have to endure a 280-mile round trip to sit each exam. They had hoped those days had gone and were happy to sit remotely.
A disabled student also wondered if ACCA was making special provisions for them.
The standard and location of some of the current centres was also questioned.
Others students said they would be keenly watching to the March 2026 pass rates to see if they go down.
However, other students seem to feel there was quite a lot of cheating going on remotely. “Looks like a minority cheating have ruined it for the rest of us,” suggested one trainee.
Check out ACCA’s FAQ page link on the changes at: https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/help/faqs-on-the-limited-availability-of-remote-exams.html
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