Welcome to Chartered Accountants Ireland
We welcome you as a student of the Institute and wish you success in your studies.
The following provides comprehensive details of what you’ll need to know for the upcoming academic year.
The information below will help you to get started on the right foot. The team is here to guide and support you throughout the year, and if you need more information please do get in touch.
Contacting us
Please visit the ‘Contact Us’ page, or email cap1@charteredaccountants.ie. Bryan Rankin is your programme lead for CAP1, and he and Laurence Prévost will be supporting you throughout the year. For NI students, our colleague Laura Gore is your contact, but use the CAP1 email address above to contact the team.
For more information on course delivery, please also see our Student FAQ page.
Learning principles
Learning Journal
The learning journal is designed by the education team and the lecturers to help you map your study and we strongly recommend that you use it to guide your preparation and track your progress. It will be available online within the Learning Hub (online education platform) and includes the following:
The core principle of the Chartered Accountant’s education programme is the development of skills and competencies to support the work of trainees. Students who received CAP1 exemptions should ensure that they are up to date and equipped for their studies. The key areas are included in the cumulative principal document, available on your learning hub.
Education delivery & the Learning Hub
The Learning Hub (Moodle platform) will be your one-stop-shop for all Chartered Accountants Ireland student education provision, lectures, notes, webinars, discussion forums as well as important notifications and news updates. You’ll be receiving your link to the Learning Hub with details on how and where to log in. In the Induction section, you’ll learn where to access your recorded lectures and webinars, and how to navigate.
Each subject will be broken up into short learning ‘sessions’. Sessions are usually comprised of:
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Lecture notes available to download
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Recorded online lectures, available to view where and when you choose
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Live webinars – please refer to your timetables
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Other components like ‘ask me anything’ sessions, polls, exam papers.
Webinars are the main time-bound education delivery items and they will be broadcast on early evenings and weekends, with duration of between 90-120 mins.
In order to ensure a high-quality learning experience, please note that much of the content in sessions is ‘gated’. Some material will need to be viewed in sequence e.g. Management Accounting - Session 1 must be completed before starting on MA Session 2.
Please note that the responsibility lies with the student to complete all the pre-work required before webinars. Webinars have a particular purpose, for practical application of prior knowledge. Lecturers will not be going through the slide content and notes, so students must ensure they have completed the pre-work that is outlined in the timetables, in order to avoid falling behind.
What you’ll see in the Learning Hub on day one
To be consistent with the principle of continuous and incremental improvement we’ll be releasing syllabus material in two main batches. On day one you will be able to see about half of the contents required for each subject, providing material up to Christmas. The remainder of the material will be released in tranche 2 in January.
Chartered Accountants Ireland facilitates the recording of attendance at lectures for training organisations. Webinar attendance is captured through registrations in the webinar platform. Students have to fill in their information including student number, training firm and email address linked to their student account. A report is then generated which shows if the student attended and engaged during the webinar.
Engagement with the self-study materials on the Learning Hub will also be reported on.
Students will be expected to engage with online education. This will take the form of viewing pre-recorded lectures at a time and place that suits the student, and also joining in live webinars. Students will be advised of timings of webinars as part of timetables. Students should, wherever possible, attend live webinars at the scheduled time - recordings are intended for students who are genuinely unable to attend on the day.
CAP1 timetables
The full 2022/23 timetables are available to view
here.
On the timetable there is a reference to 'Introduction videos to subject' which will be released at the start of the programme. They will provide you with detailed overview of each subject, its layout, workload expectation and allow you to see the subject lecturing team.
We do our best to avoid any timetable changes, but they can happen due to unforeseen circumstances. If a change is required, we will send an e-mail to let you know so please ensure that both your mobile number and email details are correct on your student portal.
Exams & interim assessments
Main exams 2022/23 – E-Assessment
All exams in 2022/23 will be carried out using the E-Assessment platform. All agreed dates for exams, interim exams and mocks are available to view on the Key Dates page.
There is a full suite of information explaining the platform, how you’ll sit the exams, and a technology checklist to ensure your exam goes smoothly. Please take the time to read and view all the training material available on the E-Assessment information page.
CAP1 online interim exams
The DEBK and Law assessments are taken on the online exam platform. Students can attempt an exam on this platform at home or in work, as long as they have a laptop with a camera and microphone, adequate broadband connection and a quiet room. The exam team has created several videos and documents detailing how to access and use the exam platform. These videos can be found here and we strongly advise all students view them to familiarise themselves with the platform.
Further information on the CAP1 exams can be found here.
Students can attempt the Law and DEBK exams at any time within the outlined dates (available under timetables here or Key Dates page) but some training firms have selected dates for their students to sit the DEBK and Law exam, so best to check with your firm. The timetables for October have been left relatively free to give students enough time to study both DEBK and Law before the window opens and we recommend that students attempt their Law and DEBK exam in December or early January – do not leave the exam until the end of the window.
DEBK (Double Entry Book Keeping exam)
Any student who is exempt from Financial Accounting does not need to sit the DEBK exam.
Students studying Financial Accounting will have to pass the DEBK exam before they are allowed to sit the summer exams (for all subjects).
Law
Students studying Law will have to pass the Law exam before they can sit the summer exams (for all subjects). This does not apply to students who are exempt from Law.
The content for Law will be delivered online using our recorded sessions, webinars and materials.
Key dates, book distribution, data & privacy policies
Key dates
You can find all of your key dates here
Books
The required books for your course are included in the course fee. As your enrolment has now been completed, your book order will be shipped directly from our providers warehouse using DPD couriers.
Data & privacy policies
Please note that in some cases student interaction may be recorded as part of our online delivery service. Our data policy, privacy settings and acceptable usage policy will all be outlined in our Course Information page which will be available on the Institute website shortly.