ACCA Exams

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) awards the Chartered Certified Accountants qualification which is counted amongst the most prominent and internationally renowned credentials in the field of finance and accounting. The ACCA exams are conducted on a global level for those planning to gain this credential. After qualifying for these exams, you can get an ACCA membership and explore a varied range of opportunities in Finance and Accountancy, especially for senior roles. Further, this accreditation also enables you to opt for the profile of a registered auditor. Through this blog, we aim to bring you a detailed guide on ACCA exams including their eligibility, syllabus, as well as other essentials.

ACCA	Association of Certified Chartered Accountants
Duration	2 years – 10 years (Depending on qualifications)
Admission procedure	Merit-based/ entrance exam with an interview round
Age criteria	Minimum 18 years
Educational Criteria	10+2 with 50% in all subjects 65% in accounts/math & English
Exam Level	Global
No. of times conducted	4 times a year

Related Read: Cost and Management Accounting

About ACCA

ACCA is an internationally recognized accountancy accreditation and equips candidates with the knowledge and competencies to explore strategic roles at the senior management level. ACCA exams comprise 14 papers in total and are broadly divided into two levels, Fundamentals and Professionals. These two levels are further classified into two modules each. Also, these exams can be taken only four times in a year, i.e. in March, June, September and December which are the starting months of this course’s session as well. The minimum duration to complete the ACCA course is two years while the maximum spans 10 years. To help you understand the structure of the exam, we have listed its two levels and corresponding papers in the following table:

ACCA Level	Modules & Papers
Fundamental	Two Modules: 1. Applied Knowledge (3 papers) 2. Applied Skills (6 papers)
Professional	Two Modules:  1. Essentials (3 papers)  2. Options (2 papers)

How many ACCA Exams are there?

There are 14 subjects in total, divided into 4 categories out of which 12 are compulsory and 2 are optional subjects. Here’s a full list of the ACCA exam list and the subjects in each paper.

Applied Knowledge Exams

• Business and Technology (BT)
• Financial Accounting (FA)
• Management Accounting (MA)

Applied Skills Exams

• Corporate and Business Law (LW)
• Taxation (TX)
• Financial Reporting (FR)
• Performance Management (PM)
• Financial Management (FM)
• Audit and Assurance (AA)

Strategic Professional Exams

• Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
• Strategic Business Leader (SBL)
• Advanced Audit and Assurance (UK & INT) (AAA) (Optional)
• Advanced Financial Management (AFM) (Optional)
• Advanced Performance Management (APM) (Optional)
• Advanced Taxation (ATX) (Optional)

ACCA Exam Dates 2023

The ACCA Exam dates for every session for the year 2023 are given below.

Applied Skill Level

Subject	December 2022	March 2023	June 2023	Sep 2023
PM F5	Dec 7	Mar 8	Jun 7	Sep 6
TX F6	Dec 6	Mar 7	Jun 6	Sep 5
FR F7	Dec 8	Mar 8	Jun 8	Sep 7
AA F8	Dec 5	Mar 6	Jun 5	Sep 4
FM F9	Dec 9	Mar 10	Jun 9	Sep 8

Strategic Professional Level

Subject	December 2022	March 2023	June 2023	Sep 2023
SBR	Dec 8	Mar 9	Jun 9	Sep 7
SBL	Dec 6	Mar 7	Jun 6	Sep 5
ATX	Dec 6	Mar 7	Jun 6	Sep 5
AAA	Dec 5	Mar 6	Jun 5	Sep 4
AFM	Dec 9	Mar 10	Jun 9	Sep 8
APM	Dec 7	Mar 8	Jun 7	Sep 6

ACCA Fees

All the ACCA exam fees, from student registration to maintaining ACCA membership are given below

Registration and Subscription Fees

To register for ACCA exams, you must be an active ACCA student. That means you must pay an £89 (INR 8,361) one-time registration fee and a £116 (INR 10,898) annual subscription fee.

You must pay both the £89 and £116 fees in your first year. Every year after that, you only need to pay the £116 annual subscription fee, which is due on January 1st.

Even if you are not taking any exams that year, you must pay this fee. If you do not, you may be removed from the student register and required to re-register as a student for £89 in order to continue your studies.

Also Read: CFA Course

Exemption Fees

Any exemptions require you to pay separate ACCA exam fees.

The fees are determined by the level of the exam. The Applied Knowledge exams cost £98 (INR 9,206) and the Applied Skills exams cost £123 (INR 11,555).

Exam Fees

Fee Submission Time	Applied Skills	Strategic Professionals
Early	£136 (INR 12,777)	£181 (INR 17,004)
Late	£348 (INR 32,694)	£375 (INR 35,230)

ACCA vs CA

Confused about how ACCA is different from CA and CS? Here are the key differences between ACCA vs CA vs CS:

Criteria	ACCA	CA	CS
Full Name	Association of Chartered Certified Accountants	Chartered Accountant	Company Secretary
Admission Process	Merit/ Entrance Exam	Entrance	Entrance
Reach / Level	Global	National	National
Duration	2 to 3 years	3 – 4 years	1 – 3 years
Exam structure	Two levels	Three Levels	Three Levels
Average Annual Salary (in INR)	3,00,000 – 5,00,000	4,75,000 – 9,00,000	3,50,000 – 7,50,000

Top Colleges in India For ACCA

Here are the top colleges offering ACCA courses in India:

• Christ University
• Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce
• Gitam Institute of Management
• Dayanand Sagar University
• Srinivas University
• Indian school of commerce
• Graphic Era Hill University 
• Apeejay Stya University
• Global Centre for Entrepreneurship & Commerce
• Manipal University

Eligibility Criteria & Exemptions

Here are the eligibility requirements you must know before applying for the ACCA exam:

• The candidate must have completed their senior secondary education (10+2) with five subjects including Mathematics and English. Further, they should have 65% marks in a minimum of two subjects and more than 50% marks in the rest of the three subjects.
• Those who have graduated with any commerce degree such as BBA, B.Com, BMS, etc. However, BA or BSc graduates are also eligible given that they have a foundational knowledge of Accountancy.
• Those who are preparing for CPT or CA IPCC exams can also apply for ACCA exams
• If you have completed the CA course and want to gain global accreditation, you are also eligible.

The exemptions for the aforementioned categories are as follows:

Qualification	ACCA Exams	Exemptions from the Level	Duration
12th Pass Candidates	13	None	3 years
BBA, BCom, BMS and Commerce Graduates	9	Fundamental Level (Only F1, F2, F3, F4)	2-2.5 years
IPCC Aspirants	8	Fundamental Level (F1, F2, F3, F6, F8)	2 years
Bcom + IPCC Aspirants	7	Fundamental Level (F1, F2, F3, f4, F6, F8)	1 year
Chartered Accountants	4	Fundamental Level (F1 to F9)	1 year

Recommended Read: How to Become a Chartered Accountant

Syllabus of ACCA Exams 2023

The ACCA Exams constitute a total of 13 papers classified into 4 levels. There are a total of 4 modules in which 13 papers have been divided. Take a look at the following table elucidating the ACCA exam syllabus in further detail:

Module	Topics Covered in ACCA Exams
Applied Knowledge (3 Papers)	F1. Accountant in Business: History and Role of Accounting in Business; Leading and managing individuals and teams; Business organisation, structure, governance and management; Specific accounting functions & internal financial control; Environmental influences on business and accounting F2. Management Accounting: Nature and purpose of cost management accounting; techniques of cost accounting; cost classification, behaviour and purpose; budgeting and standard costing; business mathematics & computer spreadsheets; short-term decision-making techniques F3. Financial Accounting: Context & purpose of financial accounting; preparing trial balance, basic financial statements; qualitative characteristics of financial information and fundamental bases of accounting, recording transactions and events; use of double-entry accounting systems
Applied Skills (6 Papers)	F4. Corporate and Business Law: Employment law; legal implications for companies in difficulty or crisis; the law of obligations; essential elements of the legal system; capital and financing of companies; formation and constitution of business organisations; management, administration and regulation of companies; governance and ethical issues relating to the business; formation and constitution of business organisations F5. Performance Management: Performance measurement; decision-making; standard costing and variance analysis; cost accounting techniques; budgeting and forecasting F6. Taxation: Investment income; self-assessment; trading profits; personal tax computations; corporation tax; national insurance; capital allowances; value-added tax; property business profits; employment income F7. Financial Reporting: Regulatory framework; analysing and interpreting; preparation of financial statements; conceptual framework; business combinations F8. Audit and Assurance: Cost of capital, investment appraisal; business finance; financial management function; working capital management financial management environment; risk management; cost of capital F9. Financial Management: Working management; investment appraisal; business finance, etc.
Professional Level (Two categories) Essentials [2 papers] & Options [Choice of 2 from 4 papers]	Essentials:  P1. Governance, Risk and Ethics P2. Corporate Reporting P3. Business Analysis Options:  P4. Advanced Financial Management P5 Advanced Performance Management P6. Advanced Taxation P7. Advanced Audit and Assurance

Know All About How to Become An Auditor

Benefits of Pursuing ACCA

• While in-demand courses like CA & CS are famous in India, ACCA has global recognition & not just restricted to Indian boundaries & known around the world. 
• As compared to other courses ACCA is comparatively cheap & the course is not just related to accounting or finance, the course also includes management skills as well. Students will gain the knowledge of both in the entire course that increases their better growth opportunities.
• CA & CS are more focused on Indian accounting standards whereas ACCA is based on international accounting & auditing standards, this is the reason ACCA is in demand worldwide and not just in India.
• The USA which has the highest economy in the world is also the highest country to pay the most to ACCA professionals.
• ACCA uses international standards that allow them to work in about 173 countries.

Key Takeaways

While appearing for the ACCA exams, there are some things that you must keep in mind, be it following the rules that are specified for taking each paper or the passing criteria. These key pointers have been given a rundown below:

• The candidate must take the ACCA exams in a certain order for its three levels, i.e. Applied Knowledge, Applied Skills and then Strategic Professional.
• You can appear for four papers in a single setting. 
• The exam paper which falls within the same module can be taken in any order.
• The passing mark for each paper is 50%.
• To get the membership of ACCA as well as the accreditation, you must complete the professional ethics module; get three years of industry experience as well as clear all 13 papers with a minimum of 50% marks. 

Career Scope

After successfully acing the ACCA exams, you can then move towards attaining this prestigious qualification. Moreover, Certified Chartered Accountants by ACCA can explore a wide range of career options in Finance and Accountancy, some of which are:

Roles	Average Salary In INR
Risk Manager	$85,000 to $126,000 69.22 Lakh – 1.02 Cr
Chief Financial Officer	$318,590 to $535,464 2.59 Cr – 4.36 Cr.
Forensic Accountant	$71,000, to $113,000 57.82 Lakh – 92.03 Lakh
Auditor	$56,680 46.16 Lakh
Management Accountant	$85,000 – $125,000 69.22 Lakh – 1.01 Cr.
Credit Control Manager	$61,410 50.01 Lakh
Business Advisor	$21.88 to $43.27 (hourly) (INR 1,781 to INR 3,524)
Business Analyst	$80,824 65.82 Lakh
Insolvency Practitioner	$130,775 to $160,208 1.06 Cr. – 1.30 Cr.
Financial Analyst	$84,717 69.22 Lakh

FAQs

We hope that this blog has provided you with all the key details of ACCA exams. If you are planning to pursue accounting courses, but don’t know which one to opt for, register for an e-meeting with our Leverage Edu experts and we will guide you in choosing the right degree program and university that can equip you with the necessary knowledge and exposure to establish a rewarding career in this field.