What kind of accountant is an ACCA one?

I think (and expect to be corrected) chartered accountants were historically the originally officially recognised ones, as in those that had completed a certain level of qualification and experience. I believe that this is recognised in the UK as the ICAEW, which i think is the ACA qualification

I think since then, ACCA has formed, CIMA etc… which are just different variants of the above, its just where the industry has developed. I have always thought that ACA/ICAEW tends to be more focussed on practice accountants, the old school expectation of what an accountant is, ACCA allows entry into either practice or commercial accounting, but with some additional requirement for the former, and CIMA purely commercial accounting

I dont see there being much difference, but often people outside the industry will ask ‘are you chartered?’ as they probably know what that means, but dont know the different types. A bit like if you were to ask someone what they do, and they said ‘Im a doctor’, that could mean GP , paedatrician, surgeon, psychologist etc… they are all doctors, but for different applications, same with Acccounting. You might get a CIMA qual to advise on corporate strategy, but they probably wouldnt be able to do your sole trader tax return