Are you a finance aspirant, planning to get your career started in Accounting with an ACCA Certification? ACCA, which stands for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, is one of the most sought-after accounting qualifications in the world. If you want to get your career started as an ACCA Certified professional, you need to prepare well for the ACCA Exam. Before you start the ACCA Exam preparation, the first thing to be familiar with is the ACCA Exam Structure and its Pattern. This blog will help you with all you need to know about the following.
- What is ACCA?
- Benefits of ACCA Certification
- ACCA Exam Structure
- ACCA Exam Syllabus and the Number Of Papers
- ACCA Exam Levels and Pattern
- ACCA Exam Duration
Now, let’s get started with each detail one by one.
What is ACCA?
ACCA is a global organization of certified accountants. ACCA or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is an in-demand certification by accounts and finance professionals to be eligible to work as an accountant globally. ACCA has over 2.00 million members and 486,000 students in over 180 countries. ACCA qualification is equivalent to the CA, and the salary is comparable to that of a chartered accountant.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is headquartered in London and has a network of more than 100 offices and centers. More than 7,300 approved employers worldwide provide employee development services. In addition, ACCA's flexible exam schedule makes the qualification more attractive, allowing students to study the course alongside a degree. Want to know more about ACCA? Here’s a brief introduction about ACCA Exam.
Benefits of ACCA Certification
ACCA certification can immensely boost your finance or accounting career. You can become a Finance Consultant, a Finance Manager, Head of Finance & Account or a Financial Controller. Major benefits of ACCA certification include:
- ACCA is widely recognised and is the gold standard in accountancy.
- ACCA imparts specialized knowledge, valuable insights through an ACCA Course and develops important personal skills you need to launch a successful career as an accounting professional.
- If you are ACCA Qualified, you become part of an elite group of professionals who are sought after by many major companies around the world.
- If you have the ACCA certification added on your resume, it can open up a world of opportunities.
- You can work in MNCs and major banks as a licensed accountant.
- With your qualification, you are employable in over 180 countries.
- ACCA offers you the scope to move to countries like Australia, the UK, Canada, Dubai, Germany and Singapore, where certified professionals are high in demand. Here, learn more about the Scope and opportunities for ACCA.
Every accountant has a vital role to play in creating a better world, and those with the right skills to deal with today's challenges are in growing demand. Explore how your career in accountancy can make a better world.
ACCA Exam Structure and Pattern
ACCA doesn’t have a definite pattern for all of its exams. Broadly, the entire ACCA Exam Structure and Pattern are divided into different levels and modules. The ACCA exam pattern varies with each level and modules. Let’s try to understand it from the beginning.
ACCA Syllabus and The Total Number of Papers
ACCA Syllabus can be broken down into the following three levels such as
- Applied Knowledge level
- The Applied Skills level
- The Strategic Professional level
ACCA Exam Levels and Pattern
Each level consists of several ACCA exam papers. However, to become an ACCA member, you must pass 13 ACCA essay exams, complete the online ethics module, and gain three years of relevant work experience. (Before, during or after attending the ACCA course).
ACCA Exam Levels | ACCA Exam Pattern |
Applied Knowledge level |
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The Applied Skills level |
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The Strategic Professional level
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ACCA Exam Syllabus, Duration and Exam Pattern
As said earlier, the exam pattern varies for each level and module and within modules. The exams can be either Paper Based Exam (PBE) or Computer-Based Exam (CBE). The ACCA Exam duration can vary between 2 hours and 3 hours. Here’s a table giving out the details for each of the exams:
ACCA Exam | ACCA Syllabus covered | ACCA Exam Duration/Exam type | ACCA Exam pattern |
F1 | Governance, Risk and Ethics | 2hrs PBE/CBE |
The exam contains 2 sections:
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F2 | Management Accounting | 2hrs PBE/CBE |
The examination will consist of two sections.
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F3 | Financial Accounting | 2hrs PBE/CBE |
The examination will consist of two sections.
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F4 | Corporate and Business Law |
2 Hrs Computer Based Exam |
The exam will assess your knowledge and skills in the understanding of the general legal framework, and of specific legal areas relating to business, recognising the need to seek further specialist legal advice where necessary. You need to attend all the questions compulsorily.
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F5 | Performance Management | 3hrs Paper Based Exam |
The two 15 mark questions will come from decision-making techniques, budgeting and control and or performance measurement and control areas of the syllabus. The section A questions and the other questions in section B can cover any areas of the syllabus. Candidates are provided with a formulae sheet. |
F6 | Taxation | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
The paper will be predominantly computational and will have five questions, all of which will be compulsory.
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F7 | Financial Reporting | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
The section A question and the other questions in section B can cover any areas of the syllabus. An individual question may often involve elements that relate to different subject areas of the syllabus. |
F8 | Audit and Assurance | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
The exam will be structured in two sections.
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F9 | Financial Management | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
Exam has two sections:
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P1 | Governance, Risk and Ethics | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
The examination paper will be structured in two sections.
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P2 | Corporate Reporting | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
The examination paper will be structured in two sections.
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P3 | Business Analysis | 3hrs Paper-Based Exam |
The examination paper will be structured in two sections.
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P4 | Advanced Financial Management | 3hrs/PBE | The examination paper will be structured in two sections.
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P5 | Advanced Performance Management | 3hrs/PBE | The examination paper will be structured in two sections.
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P6 | Advanced Taxation | 3hrs/PBE + 15 mins of planning and reading. |
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P7 | Advanced Audit and Assurance | 3hrs/PBE |
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Mohamed Shafi
Mohamed Shafi
He is a Financial Accounting trainer with over 7 years of teaching experience in Financial accounting fundamentals and software. Apart from training experience, he has industry experience of two years as a senior accountant at GCC countries. He is well versed in Tally, Sage 50, Zoho Books and SAP FICO.
He follows easy to learn methodologies which work wonders on his training. He loves to travel a lot and has a craze in driving too. His passion for teaching and training engages him to attend conferences and in exploring new areas of learning.