An increase of almost five per cent in member numbers has resulted in ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) achieving nearly 170,000 members in the past year. At the same time, the global body for professional accountants recorded 436,000 students, of which 384,000 - an increase of over 12,000 on the previous year - were studying for the ACCA Qualification for 2013-14.

ACCA’s rate of growth among members at 4.7% is the highest of any of the international accounting bodies, comprising 10,377 new members and a 98.4% retention rate among existing members.

Fundamental to achieving growth is ACCA’s professional standing.  ACCA asked employers for their overall perceptions – with 95% saying that ACCA was a respected brand and 89% saying that ACCA was a world class organisation. ACCA was seen as being the global leader among international accounting bodies by over 50% of those surveyed. The next highest ranked body was mentioned by only 17% of those surveyed.

Learning providers were also asked about their views – with 90% saying ACCA is a world class organisation and 85% agreeing that ACCA is a great career choice for young people.

ACCA Chief Executive, Helen Brand OBE, said: 'The opinions of employers and learning providers are critical to us, since they provide career and learning opportunities to all our members and students. We are delighted that their feedback continues to show overwhelming endorsement and support and we will continue to work closely with employers to ensure that ACCA continues to meet their needs.

'It is heartening that we have been able to grow the number of members as well as increasing our student base globally, both through increased recruitment and improved retention, which has been achieved by more and better support, along with enhanced member and student services. We have achieved all the targets we set ourselves for speed, efficiency and quality of email and telephone service – all of which are benchmarked against globally accepted service delivery measures' said Helen Brand