ACCA mentoring programme
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
ACCA is the global body for professional accountants. Its aim is to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management. It also helps businesses to grow by developing their finance capability and enhancing their brand reputation.Moreover, ACCA provides renowned finance and accountancy qualifications for any organisation in any sector. And with 92 offices and over 400 examination centers worldwide, it has the greatest capability to deliver qualifications and professional development of any accountancy body. It will work with you to deliver flexible, accessible, cost effective training at any level.
International
Glagow,
GB
www.accaglobal.com
Success achieved
A mentoring programme with 2700+ sign-ups in just over three months, where ACCA members volunteer to provide support and career guidance to other members.
- Website
- www.accaglobal.com/mentoring
- Project dates
- Launched September 2018
Project team
Clare Hodgson, head of professional development productsSharon Waithe, professional development products manager
Mark Kenhard, stakeholder engagement manager
Michelle Martin, delivery coordinator
Scott Murdoch, professional education technologist
John Weston, head of member advocacy and satisfaction
Burcu Demir, marketing campaign manager
Paul Ewing, project manager
Tools & Systems
Online mentoring platform – supplied and hosted by Insala Ltd.
GoogleDrive – to share and store project documents.
Project plan and regular calls with project team to track progress.
Wufoo (online form) – for ACCA members to register interest in joining the programme.
Existing communications channels – ACCA website, email, social media, publications and notifications to promote the new programme to ACCA members.
On24 webinar platform – to provide training and support to ACCA members interested in the programme.
Introduction
With 208,000 members globally and 48,000 affiliates (students who have passed their exams but have not yet met all the requirements of membership), ACCA is a vast network of experienced financial and accountancy professionals – an invaluable asset in its own right.
In 2017, our members told us that they wanted a mentoring platform that would connect all ACCA members and help them give back to the profession.
Until then, local ACCA offices had run their own small, ad-hoc mentoring programmes, as demand and resources allowed. Members volunteered to support other volunteers who were local to them. Whilst quite popular with members, this approach did not prove scalable or allow consistency in how the programme was delivered.
So, in September 2018 we launched the ACCA Mentoring Programme, a twelve-month pilot, in six key locations, to 92,000 members and affiliates, resulting in an overwhelming response.
The online programme connects individuals who wish to act as mentors, mentees or both, in order to support their career ambitions and professional development.
Discovery
In May 2017, we conducted a three-day online focus group with 21 members from four locations. We asked participants about their experiences with mentoring and what they felt ACCA’s role should be. Their feedback told us that they wanted a mentoring platform that would link all ACCA members.
We also ran member value and advocacy workshops with our International Assembly members in November 2017. ACCA’s International Assembly is a diverse representative group whose role is to provide input into ACCA’s strategy and development through its advisory role to ACCA’s Council. There are 54 representatives on the International Assembly, representing all regions where there are ACCA members. Feedback from the workshop was that members wanted to benefit from the vast experience of fellow members and also have an opportunity to give back to the profession.
We then undertook best practice research and identified a trusted provider of mentoring services to work with. Using our member research we were able to tailor the platform requirements in order to meet the specific needs of our audience. Namely, members told us that ACCA should:
- Connect members with mentors
- Create a network of willing mentors
- Help find / match mentors
- Facilitate mentors/mentees matching themselves
- Give advice on how to be a good mentor
- Develop a platform/online hub
- Monitor and help participants with any problems
Internal expertise was also sought to ensure the best match between individual member and affiliate needs and ACCA’s organisational objectives of supporting and promoting the highest ethical, governance and professional standards.
Objectives
As a pilot programme the primary objectives are to establish demand for the programme and understand users’ behaviour which will inform decision making on whether to continue / extend or close the programme after the pilot period.
Programme objectives:
- Support the career ambitions of affiliates and members
- Create more member advocates
- Increase conversion to membership
- Reduce the burden on internal resources
- Provide a consistent provision of service
- Connect our global network
- Deliver member value and increase satisfaction
- Help members to give back to the profession and ACCA
Objectives have been set for engagement levels, satisfaction and professional development outcomes.
Timeline
May – Nov 2017: Research and workshops into members’ needs
Jan – Mar 2018: Gather and refine requirements
Mar – Apr 2018: Identify potential suppliers – meetings and demos with potential suppliers
May 2018: conduct Request for Proposal (RFQ)
Jun 2018: Contract negotiations and due diligence checks
Jul – Sep 2018: Project implementation
Aug 2018: Invite members to register interest in joining the programme
Sep 2018: Launch
Activities
We decided to run a pilot programme in six countries to test the value of the programme for our members and affiliates acting as mentors and mentees. The pilot also allows us to assess the viability of potentially extending the programme to all members and affiliates globally.
ACCA has offered country-specific mentoring programmes for a number of years. These were highly effective but, being face-to-face, were resource intensive and meant that mentoring relationships were restricted to the country in which each programme operated.
By delivering an online programme we were simultaneously able to lift geographical restrictions on mentoring relationships and hugely increase the available pool of mentors, and therefore the range of experience and skill sets that mentees could benefit from.
We conducted research and workshops with members to identify needs and requirement to develop the programme.
We undertook a procurement process to identify the most suitable platform provider for this project. Insala Ltd were selected as a result of their capabilities in tailoring the platform to the needs of our members and also for their ability to potentially scale up the platform in future to serve all 256,000 ACCA members and affiliates.
We developed a project and implementation plan.
We created a comms plan for launch.
Marketing
The project was delivered to a very tight deadline and budget so we didn’t have much time for the development and implementation phase. We are delivering continuous improvements to the platform through feedback from users.
Challenges
The project was delivered to a very tight deadline and budget so we didn’t have much time for the development and implementation phase. We are delivering continuous improvements to the platform through feedback from users.
Achievements
So far indications are good, with the programme meeting initial targets on engagement, satisfaction and professional development outcomes.
Targets & Statistics
- 3,600+ expressions of interest
- 2713 sign-ups from participants wanting to act as a mentor, mentee or both
- 250 relationship matches so far
Financials
The programme required a five-figure investment in the platform technology. No external consultancy resource was needed to implement this programme; it was delivered as a BAU project by the core Members Team.
The programme does not generate a direct, financial return on investment. However, the programme meets a frequently articulated demand from members and affiliates and is anticipated to have a positive impact on satisfaction levels of both groups as well as providing evidence of our brand promise related to delivering opportunity to our stakeholders.
There is a resource impact related to the development and administration of the programme. We hired an additional coordinator to manage the programme.
What would we do differently?
Ideally we would have had more time for the development and implementation phase.
