An innovative online event has helped the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ (ACCA’s) initiative to reach out to the next generation of accountants achieve a record audience this year.

A major part of ACCA’s Student Engage programme involved accountancy students from around the world using their ACCA student ID to submit questions, both in advance and live, to Clare Minchington, the association’s managing director, education, learning and development.

Meanwhile, Steve Carter, managing director of Nigel Lynn recruitment consultants, and Catherine Edwards, head of qualifications at ACCA, answered questions on topics including exam preparation and revision techniques. They also discussed how to write the perfect CV and what questions to expect in a job interview.

The webcast, aimed at ACCA students and broadcast by web TV agency BroadView, achieved almost three times the number of viewers compared with this time last year.

In total, Student Engage has been viewed 32,000 times since it was broadcast on 23 April this year. “This is a significant increase on 2007’s viewing figures and clearly demonstrates a demand for web 2.0 as a means of really engaging with the next generation of accountancy students,” said ACCA marketing director Neil Stevenson.  “Adopting new media methods is an increasingly popular way of reaching out to our audiences in an innovative and truly modern way. Our students are of the web 2.0 generation and so are accustomed to new technologies, such as web TV, and the viewing figures for this year’s broadcast certainly demonstrate this.”

The interactive element of Student Engage, and the importance the ACCA places on the transparency of its proceedings demonstrate the hard work and innovative thinking that the accountancy body putting into involving its members and members-to-be.

“Access to the web and all of the rich educational content it offers should be a key component of every student's education,” said Stuart Maister, managing director of BroadView. “By working with ACCA we’re developing the toolset of the next generation of accountants, but new media ought to be used across a broader range of academic disciplines.”

For the last four years, the London-based agency has been helping the global body for professional accountants in its ongoing strategy to engage with its students and broaden opportunities for learning.

ACCA is the largest and fastest-growing global professional accountancy body and has 325,606 students and 122,426 members in 170 countries.