I chatted to Toby York founder of Accounting Cafe. Take a look also at Colour Accounting – a really unique learning system used by many schools and universities. In this episode, we really got into the weeds about where the accounting profession is actually heading. If you’ve been wondering whether AI is going to wipe…
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I presented this paper at the British Accounting and Finance Association 2026 Annual Conference in Manchester and the BAFA Education SIG 2026 in Sheffield. It has also been accepted for presentation at the AAA Global Connect Conference in August 2026 What’s the problem? Pass rates for exit-level exams for ACCA and CPA for 2024 and…
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Forget the ‘label’ The most useful part of mindset is to consider how we react when we fail or experience tough challenges. That’s what I’m interested in. We’ve heard a lot about ‘mindset’ over the years. We know that it’s good to have a growth mindset, and not-so-great to have a fixed mindset. And if…
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Global pass rates for exit-level professional accounting exams often hover around the 40% mark. Failing students will either repeat these exams or quit their qualification journey. The levels they’ve completed were supposed to prepare them for those final exams (or filter them out if they were really not going to be able to complete the…
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Are you sabotaging your studies? I chatted to Tom Clendon, who has spent years helping students with their ACCA exams, specifically SBR (Strategic Business Reporting). We chatted first about ways we sometimes sabotage our studies, and obviously, how to avoid these traps. We chatted a little about us as lecturers… we want you to know…
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We’ve heard a LOT about ‘growth mindset’s over the last few years. It’s become a buzzword that people use to encompass a whole bunch of stuff, from positivity, to lifelong learning, having an open mind and being prepared to take on challenges. These may all be things that a growth mindset may help you with,…
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What should your study sessions focus on? As you’re planning to study for ITC, let’s talk about what you should be prepping and what you should be focussing on. I run an ITC Board Course and I focus on Skills instead of Knowledge… you can see the course here: ITC Skills Board Course June 2024…
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Prof Elmar Venter – University of Pretoria I finally managed to squeeze some time into Prof Venters’ diary on your behalf! (You’re welcome!) Prof Venter is a Chartered Accountant, and the Head of the Accounting Department at The University of Pretoria. I wanted to chat to him for a few reasons. In this article, I’ll…
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Update (2025) I passed my Masters with distinction at the end of 2024. I wrote the contents of the article below at the beginning of my first year. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and am looking at doing my PhD. I didn’t think I’d study again! Like most of you, I feel like I spent…
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We want to get things right faster I always agreed with the motivational quotes that ‘learning takes effort’ and that it ‘takes time’. But when it took ME time to learn something, when I couldn’t get something right, and didn’t understand it quickly, I panicked. The longer it took me to learn something, the more…
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“Start doing questions!” I say this ALL the time. My students probably hear my voice nagging them in their sleep (sorry about that!) The most common question I get from students is: “Do you mean I shouldn’t study my theory or spend time understanding the topic?” Nope. This isn’t what I’m saying. But I understand…
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My Financial Management saga – Don’t worry, I’ll spare you the tears and trauma. (There was a LOT of that!). There are 3 videos in this post, here’s why I think they’re so important… When I first learnt FinMan, in 2nd year, there was a lot of formulae and theory. I was GREAT at the…
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Introversion / Extroversion – What is it? We’ve been looking at how your personality affects your studying. In this article, I want to talk about some traits, so we can get a little more specific about how our studies are affected. So, what IS introversion / extroversion? (Spoiler alert: It has NOTHING to do with…
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Your personality dictates how you respond to study struggles We’ve been looking at how your personality affects your studying. Here, I’m talking about how your study struggles are affected by your personality, and what to consider to change this. Two students struggle with a topic: One of them has a personality style that prefers to…
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Is your personality perfect for your studying? Short answer? Nope! Don’t panic though! No matter what we’re learning, there will be facets of our personality that make things easier or smoother for us, and parts of our personality that make things tougher for us. What topics / subjects do you enjoy studying, and which don’t…
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Can your personality impact your exam performance? You want to improve the effectiveness of your studying, and improve your exam performance. Naturally, your first thought would be lectures / subject-matter material and textbooks. If those are awesome, then that’s the most important thing, right? Take a step back and ask yourself this… Assume you had…
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If you ‘know’ the textbook, will you pass? Thanks to the way a lot of school and earlier level exams are set, this feels true. If you know more theory, you’ll get higher marks. So, if you were a computer, if you could remember all the theory, would you pass all your exams? Is more…
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“I know I need to change my study habits” Most accounting students I work with are aware that they need to make changes to their study habits, because something just isn’t working anymore. Their old study habits aren’t effective anymore. (The reason this happens relates to our mindset, our beliefs about studying, and changing exams,…
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“I don’t feel ready to do questions” I hear this from my students on a daily basis, and I remember having the same feeling myself when I was studying. Why is it dangerous, and how can you feel more ready? Bad News… you’ll NEVER feel ready Sorry, this isn’t what you want to hear. Most…
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“I didn’t know the answers! And I studied so hard!” This is something I hear all the time from my accounting students. They’re studying, they’re even doing past question papers. But when they get into the exam, they can’t make sense of the questions, and they don’t know the answers. How do you study to…
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Your exam’s a month away… you’re not ready… what to do? I remember the feeling around a month away from exams. Dread was looming, guilt was rising, stress was increasing, and I felt like my study progress was like wading through cold syrup. Slow, painful and uncomfortable. My ACCA students and my PGDA students are…
DetailsI believe that Mindset will affect your studying MORE than anything else I believe that your Mindset will affect the success of your studying, almost more than anything else! This is why I now focus on Study Mindset & Strategy coaching for Accounting students instead of focussing on subject-matter. Why do Acc Students have Fixed…
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Introduction, and why we chatted Fenni Nghekevali CA(NAM) is the Chief Executive Officer at ICAN (Institute of Chartered Accountants for Namibia), and from her own journey she has a wealth of experience to share. We chatted about journeys outside our comfort zones, the importance of mindset, and the opportunities we may not realise we might…
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Introduction, and why we chatted Wiehann Olivier CA(SA) is a Partner and the Digital Asset Lead at Mazars. I chatted to him because of his specialism in cryptocurrency (sorry, ‘digital assets’!). My focus in speaking to him was not so much about the actual accounting for cryptocurrency, as the experience of starting this division for…
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Introduction, and why we chatted Tom Clendon is an online lecturer, who specialises in the SBR (Strategic Business Reporting) exam for the ACCA qualification. I chatted to him about professional qualification shifts, the challenges that our students face, and why they struggle with the things they do. Here’s Toms’ brief background: Have exams changed? If…
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‘Masters of Money’. Behind-the-Scenes I chatted to KC Rottok Chesaina about his recently published book ‘Masters of Money’. You can see our chat about the book and stories in it here. I chatted to KC a few years back about his CA(SA) qualification journey, you can read that here. This discussion was a behind-the-scenes discussion,…
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‘Masters of Money’ – Strategies for Success from top SA CFO’s KC Rottok Chesaina recently published a book, ‘Masters of Money‘. I chatted to KC a few years back about his CA(SA) qualification journey, you can read that here. Naturally, when I saw he’d published a book, I asked him to chat to me about…
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Should you leave questions until AFTER you’re finished studying? (This is one of a series of articles) As part of my work with accounting students on their Study Strategy, this is a topic we discuss at length, as part of our discussion around how to make study sessions more effective, and improve exam performance. I’m…
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Should you leave questions until AFTER you’re finished studying? (This is one of a series of articles) As part of my work with accounting students on their Study Strategy, this is a topic we discuss at length, as part of our discussion around how to make study sessions more effective, and improve exam performance. I’m…
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Should you leave questions until AFTER you’re finished studying? (This article is part of a series) As part of my work with accounting students on their Study Strategy, this is a topic we discuss at length, as part of our discussion around how to make study sessions more effective, and improve exam performance. I’m writing…
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