The world's largest accounting body, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), has announced that it will stop allowing students to take exams online from next March, unless there are special circumstances. This decision is aimed at addressing the growing problem of cheating. ACCA has nearly 260,000 members, and with the development of technology, cheating methods have become increasingly complex, making the supervision of remote exams more difficult.

Remote exams were initially introduced during the pandemic to ensure students could complete their exams and obtain qualifications during lockdowns. However, in 2022, the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) pointed out that cheating in professional exams has become a "real" issue for large companies in the UK. It is common for audit and accounting firms to be fined millions of dollars due to cheating scandals around the world.

According to the FRC's investigation, cheating not only involves some top auditing firms, including the "Big Four" accounting firms (KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, and EY), but also other well-known companies. Last year, EY paid a record $100 million to US regulators after employees cheated on an ethics exam and misled investigators.

Helen Brand, CEO of ACCA, said that with the popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, online testing has become increasingly difficult to monitor. Although ACCA has taken active measures to combat cheating, it still feels the situation is serious. She pointed out that the rapid development of technology has brought the cheating issue to a "tipping point."

In addition, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) also stated that reports of cheating are still increasing, but certain exams are still allowed to be taken online. Brand said that high-risk exams that allow remote proctoring are now very rare.

Key Points:

🌐 ACCA will stop online exams starting next March to prevent the growing cheating problem.

📉 The FRC pointed out that cheating in professional exams has become a "real" issue for large companies in the UK.

🤖 The development of artificial intelligence makes online exams increasingly difficult to monitor.