The recent student accountant reader survey findings highlight that trainees want to see more career-focused content in the magazine, but our exam-based content continues to go down well, reports Victoria Morgan
Nearly 4,900 trainees responded to the most recent student accountant reader survey, published in the February 2008 issue of the magazine.
With such a large number of responses, we can gain a real insight in to our readers - from your study and employment background to the parts of student accountant that you find most useful, as well as what you would like to see more of in the magazine.
Your responses help to shape the future of student accountant magazine. For example, reader survey responses and comments were considered when implementing the most recent magazine redesign on show in this issue. Your feedback also helps us formulate editorial plans and introduce new sections that you noted to be of interest.
Thanks to generous sponsorship from Approved Learning Partner Finance Business Training, we were able to give five lucky survey respondents a laptop. The winners, picked at random from the posted, faxed, and online responses, are: ACCA student Muheeb Abiodun Musiliyu from Lagos, Nigeria; CAT student Fahad Pervez Wahid from Karachi, Pakistan; ACCA student Anton Singh from La-Brea, Trinidad; affiliate Yew Yan Zhen from Singapore; and ACCA student Johannes Claassen from Oxford, UK.
In addition, 100 respondents, also drawn at random, have been awarded an ACCA-branded USB memory stick.
Basic breakdown
We received a good response to the survey from a wide cross section of ACCA students and affiliates. Of the 4,890 responses received, 89% were from students and 9% were from affiliates. Of the student responses, 80% were from ACCA Qualification students, and 13% from CAT students.
The majority (39%) of students indicated that they study part-time. The next two most common forms of study were textbooks with 30% of respondents noting that they studied this way, and full-time study with 29% of respondents.
There was a good spread of responses from all regions of the world. The two highest responses were from Pakistan and the UK, and we received relatively high numbers of responses from Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ireland.
When asked about delivery times, just over 40% of respondents indicated that they receive their copy of student accountant between the 11th and 20th of the month. With 37% receiving it between the 1st and 10th of the month, and 23% receiving it between the 21st and 31st of the month, we can see that there is a wide range of dates between when the first and last students receive their copy of the magazine. With the move to Singapore in January 2008 to printing and distributing copies of the magazine to Asia Pacific and Pakistan, delivery performance in the region has improved. Delivery times and delivery issues will continue to be a top priority for the student accountant team as we work hard to ensure efficient delivery times throughout the world.
Encouragingly, over 90% of respondents said that they receive student accountant direct - the e-mail version of the magazine, and over 77% of respondents said they want to continue to receive both the printed magazine and the e-magazine. Only 128 respondents noted that they are not aware of the e-magazine. The e-magazine version is e-mailed out to trainees at the beginning of each month of publication. This enables you to receive all the important information included in the magazine on the first day of publication, direct to your inbox.
Nearly 30% of respondents have been reading student accountant for between one and two years, and 28% have been reading it for between three and five years. Nearly a third of those who responded to the survey have been reading student accountant for less than a year. Encouragingly, nearly 28% of respondents said that they read all or most of the magazine, and over 52% said they read every or almost every issue. When asked how useful the magazine is to you in your studies, 89% said that it is quite useful, useful, or very useful. Nearly 7% considered the magazine to be indispensable to study success.
The survey showed that the most highly-rated sections of student accountant are the technical section, and examiners' feedback and exam notes. Over 93% of respondents indicated that these sections were very or quite interesting, indicating just how important the exam-specific content of the magazine is to readers. Features, noticeboard and student voice also rated highly, with very interesting or quite interesting ratings of 89%, 84%, and 86% respectively.
We asked you what else you would like to see in the magazine in the future. Job-hunting tips (80%), closely followed by careers profiles (71%), and CV clinics (64%) were the features most in demand. This gives us a good indication that we need to include more career-focused content - look out for extended careers content in future issues.
The detailed survey findings, and the several thousand additional comments that we received as part of the survey, will be scrutinised by the student accountant team.
We hope to introduce new sections and develop existing sections in the magazine based on your feedback. Thank you for letting us know your opinions.
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