Kaplan Financial Ltd is a British company providing training in accountancy and financial services. It was founded in 1958. Kaplan Financial is part of Kaplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. Kaplan Financial has more than 48,000 students a year, both in the UK and overseas. It offers courses in 28 training centres throughout the UK as well as home study and online learning.
Kaplan Financial prepares students for professional accountancy and tax exams including the AAT, ACA, ACCA, and CIMA, and investment qualifications such as CFA, CAIA, FRM, IAQ, IMC and SII. Kaplan Financial also offers a range of postgraduate courses including MBA, MA and MSc, as well as management and personnel qualifications.
History Kaplan Financial was formerly known as the Financial Training Company, then as FTC Kaplan after its acquisition in February 2003 by Kaplan, Inc., a global provider of education and training services. FTC also produced exam-focussed study materials, test prep and courses for the American Academy of Financial Management, AAT, ACCA and CIMA that were also used widely in other training institutions in the public and private sectors. These materials are now produced by Kaplan Publishing, another company in the Kaplan group.
Acquisitions Major acquisitions in the last decade include:
2003—UK Accountancy Tuition Centres Ltd (ATC), provider of accountancy and professional training in the UKKaplan, Inc.'s FTC Acquires U.K. Accountancy Training Company , press release, July 1, 2003 2003—Emile Woolf Colleges Ltd., provider of CIMA and ACCA trainingKaplan's FTC Acquires ... Emile Woolf Colleges Ltd and AT Foulks Lynch Ltd , press release, November 5, 2003 2003—AT Foulks Lynch Ltd., publisher of accountancy training materials for ACCA, CIMA, AAT and CAT syllabi 2003—Portman College of Management, a Newcastle-based professional school offering management training programmesKaplan, Inc's FTC Acquires Portman College of Management , press release, November 19, 2003 2008—Hawksmere Limited, a London-based training and conference providerKaplan Financial acquires Hawksmere , press release, 13 January 2008 2009—West of England Language Services Limited (WELS), an international group of English language schools located in the United States, Australia, and the UKKaplan to Acquire West of England Language Services, press release, 6 January 2009
Awards In July 2009 Kaplan Financial was the first ACCA distance learning provider to be awarded Platinum status by the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). This is the highest status awarded to a tuition provider.Kaplan ACCA Distance Learning, now the only Platinum provider, Kaplan Financial, 2009
Knowledge Bank In November 2012, Kaplan Financial launched the Kaplan Financial Knowledge Bank, a reference site providing free access to accountancy information.Get the knowledge , PQ Magazine, 2012
Training Locations As of 2018, Kaplan Financial has 23 training centres located up and down the UK as well as Distance Learning, Live Online, OnDemand products. These are: Birmingham Bristol Cambridge, Cardiff - ICAEW Courses only Crawley - ICAEW Courses only Glasgow Grimsby Hull Ipswich Isle of Man Leeds Leicester Liverpool London Borough High Street London Islington Manchester Milton Keynes Newcastle Norwich Nottingham Reading Sheffield Southampton
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