How does the ACCA Qualification work?

Students progress through three elements of the ACCA Qualification on their journey to ACCA membership, these are:

1. ACCA exams
2. an Ethics and Professional Skills module, and
3. a Practical Experience Requirement

ACCA EXAMS

Applied Knowledge

The Applied Knowledge exams provide students with a broad introduction to the world of finance and develop your essential understanding and techniques in accounting.  These exams are:

1. Business and Technology (BT)
2. Management Accounting (MA)
3. Financial Accounting (FA)

Applied Skills

The Applied Skills exams build on existing knowledge and understanding and develop strong, broad, and practical finance skills required of the future strategic professional accountants in any sector or industry. These exams are:

1. Corporate and Business Law (LW)
2. Performance Management (PM)
3. Taxation (TX)
4. Financial Reporting (FR)
5. Audit and Assurance (AA)
6. Financial Management (FM)
7. Strategic Professional

Strategic Professional

Strategic Professional exams prepare students for future leadership positions. They develop the strategic vision using your unique blend of technical, ethical, and professional skills. And you can specialize in areas that best suit your career ambitions. Students must complete both Essentials exams and choose two of the Options.  These exams are:

Essentials

1. Strategic Business Leader (SBL)
2. Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)

Options

1. Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
2. Advanced Performance Management (APM)
3. Advanced Taxation (ATX)
4. Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)

Ethics and Professional Skills Module

Students are required to complete our Ethics and Professional Skills module which develops in students the complete range of skills that employers told us they need. By introducing students to the full spectrum of advanced ethical and professional skills and exposing them to realistic business situations, our students are ready to shine with recruiters and be really credible in the workplace.

Find out more about the Ethics and Professional Skills module

Practical Experience Requirement

Being a confident, inspiring, and trusted professional comes with experience so to qualify as an ACCA member you must complete a minimum of 36 months’ relevant work experience and achieve 9 performance objectives.

Your time in a relevant role and performance objectives need to be signed off by a practical experience supervisor. The practical experience requirement allows you to put the knowledge learned through your studies into practice in a real work environment.

Learn more about the practical experience requirement