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 âWithdrawal of remotely invigilated examsâ email to all students who have sat remote exams in the last 18 months.
ACCAâs Alan Hatfield, executive director- content, quality and innovation, told PQ magazine: âThe vast majority of our students already use exam centres, but we understand this will be disappointing for some of those who prefer to take their exams remotely. Weâre 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 donât have exam centre provision.â
It means most students from next year will now take both their on-demand ands session exams in centres.
In its FAQ page ACCA said it does not envisage reintroducing remote exams âfor the foreseeable futureâ.
Students went online to have their say! Some thought the announcement seemed total out of the blue, and many hoped the ACCA would be investing in more centres. As one student said: âRidiculous. If they do this then they absolutely need to ensure more centres are available to go to!â Another PQ wondered if they will have enough space with the current set up, and suggested that 100âs of new centres need to be made available. Students said there is just one centre in Northern Ireland and none in Devon and Cornwall. Students in Surrey must travel to London or Brighton. One student said they have to do a 280-mile round trip to sit an exam.
The standard and location of some of the current centres was also questioned.
Others said they would be keenly watching to the March 2026 pass rates to see if they go down.
However, some students seem to feel there was quite a lot of cheating going on remotely . âLooks like a minority cheating have ruined it for the rest of us.â
Check out ACCAâs FAQ page link on the changes at: https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/help/faqs-on-the-limited-availability-of-remote-exams.html
