Results from the just- ended Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)-Ghana December 2002 examination indicate that out of the over 1,200 students who sat for the final examination, only eighteen passed.

Lack of study materials and poor preparations were cited as the cause of the mass failure.

But Mrs. Zuwera Ibrahimah-Mohammed, the ACCA-Ghana representative, said the results were even an improvement on results of previous sittings.

According to her, there have been instances of just one student passing in a stream of 400 to 500 final sitters.

Speaking in an interview with Chronicle at the close of an award ceremony held at the National Communication Authority (NCA) on Wednesday, this week, Mrs. Ibrahimah-Mohammed said Ghanaian students continue to perform poorly because they are not getting the needed supports and other things needed to enhance their pass rate.

She said what ACCA-Ghana has come to realize is that 80% of its students are in fulltime employment, and this has also affected their performances.

"Students are not having enough support, they are not getting enough support from their employers," she stressed, and "added to that they lack study materials."

Asked what can be done to curb this poor performance rate, Mrs. Ibrahimah-Mohammed said the institute had introduced an employer accreditation scheme to get first hand relationship with the employers of the students.

ACCA-Ghana, she said, intends to use this relationship to encourage employers to give support to their students with the view to enhancing the pass rate.

Asked what the qualifications are for an organization to become an ACCA accredited employer organization, she said the company must have either ACCA-students or ACCA members.

"When an employer has ACCA students, they must satisfy the ACCA best practices, which include giving students paid leaves, paying for students subscriptions and examination and allowing students time off to study for examinations.

In Ghana, at present, there are about 5,000 students who sit for ACCA examinations at every examination date in various areas ranging from level one to part three, the final paper.

ACCA-Ghana has 11,000 students throughout the country. This comprises of ACCA professional scheme students, ACCA technician students and mature students.