I have been asked this question a lot these days by potential ACCA students. ACCA is becoming more and more recognized and is intriguing a wider range of students which is a good thing as global qualifications like ACCA should be pursued for a better career. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of misconceptions that need to be addressed. In this article, I will provide you with the basic information that you need to know before starting your journey with ACCA.
What is ACCA
ACCA Stands for Association of Chartered Certified Accountancy and is a Global body of Professional Accountants. Some major Subjects covered by ACCA program are:
- Financial Accounting
- Financial Management
- Cost Accounting
- Taxation
- Auditing
- Ethics and Business Law
ACCA has 3 Modules namely Fundamental, skill, and Professional. The fundamental level has 4 papers: AB(Accountant in Business), MA(Management Accounting), FA(Financial Accounting), and LW(Corporate and Business Law).
The Skill level has 5 Papers including PM(Performance Management), TX(Taxation), FR(Financial Reporting), AA(Audit & Assurance), and FM(Financial Management). All of the subjects mentioned are compulsory in fundamental and skill level.
The Professional Module of ACCA has 6 Papers: 2 compulsory and 4 optional in which the student has to pass 2 in order to qualify the professional module. The Subjects in Professional Module are:
SBR (Strategic Business Reporting)
SBL (Strategic Business Leader)
AFM (Advanced Financial Management)
APM (Advanced Performance Management)
ATX (Advanced Taxation)
AAA (Advanced Audit & Assurance).
ACCA Modules Table
| ACCA Modules | Subjects | Passing % | Average Duration |
| Fundamental | AB (Accountant in Business). MA (Management Accounting). FA (Financial Accounting). LW (Corporate & Business Law). | 50% | 6 Months – 1 year |
| Skill | PM(Performance Management). TX(Taxation). FR(Financial Reporting). AA(Audit & Assurance). FM(Financial Management). | 50% | 1 year – 1.5 years |
| Professional | SBR (Strategic Business Reporting). SBL (Strategic Business Leader). AFM (Advanced Financial Management). APM (Advanced Performance Management). ATX (Advanced Taxation). AAA (Advanced Audit & Assurance). | 50% | 1 year – 1.5 years |
The number of examinations to qualify ACCA varies with the educational background of the student. A student with 10 or 12 years of education would have to first complete FDA (four introductory papers) in order to become eligible for the remaining 13 (previously 14) papers of ACCA.
ACCA Exemptions
However, if a student has an accounting background, ie B.com; an exemption is given for FDA and the student would be enrolled directly in the ACCA program. ACCA also has exemptions for BBA and MBA in Accounting and Finance (Read our article on starting ACCA after MBA). For masters, the exemption is extended to 7 papers ( the first four FDA papers and 3 ACCA papers; F1, F2 & F3 ).
Exemptions also vary with the college/university from which you have completed your previous qualification. ACCA has ranked different colleges & universities and have an automated exemption calculator on their official site.
Exemptions are only given for FDA ( fundamental level ) and skill level. There are no exemptions for strategic professional examinations. For detailed information regarding ACCA exemptions, here’s the official exemption calculator.
Procedure for starting ACCA
If you have scored minimum 50% marks in Metric or intermediate, you can register for ACCA. For equivalent qualification or graduate, additional 5% relaxation is given and the eligibility comes down to 45%.
ACCA is different than traditional diplomas and certifications in that ACCA gives the options to either enroll in a college or prepare for examinations completely on your own. ACCA does not differ in enrolled and unenrolled students and does not consider the ranking or standard of the college/university that you’ve attended. If you score at least 50% marks in each paper of ACCA, they will welcome you to their club.
BUT, you must register yourself with ACCA before you apply for examination. There are 2 ways to do that. Normally, if you get enrolled in a college, the college administration will collect your documents and will apply for your registration charging you the official registration fee and sometimes a commission.
If you are planning to do ACCA on your own, you can apply online using the official website of ACCA. All you need to do is to upload your documents as an evidence for meeting their demands and make an online transaction to complete the process. However, you can also visit their office for a much easier registration and detailed guidance from team ACCA.
ACCA Full Fee Structure
The registration Fee of ACCA is 45 Pound sterling (United Kingdom’s Currency). It is a one-time fee and is payable at the start of ACCA.
The fee for the 3 Applied Knowledge/Fundamental level is 84 Pounds per paper and one has to repay the fee every time he fails to score 50% Marks. The total fee required to clear the module is 252 (84+84+84)
In Applied Skill Module including paper LW(Corporate % Business Law), the per paper fee is 111 Pounds hence the total fee required to clear the module is 666 pounds.
The Fee Structure for Professional Module is as follows:
- Paper SBR(Strategic Business Reporting) 147 Pounds
- Paper SBL(Strategic Business Leader) 206 Pounds
And Per Paper Fee in the optional Papers is 147 Pounds. The total Fee for Professional Module becomes 647 Pounds (147+147+147+206).
On the assumption, if a student passes all the examinations in a single go, the total examination cost would be 1610 Pounds (45+252+666+647).
It’s noteworthy to mention here that ACCA also has an annual fee of 112 Pounds that is payable each year throughout your journey with ACCA.
In addition, tuition fee should also be taken in consideration when calculating the total cost of ACCA. The tuition fee varies with the difficulty level and/or the duration of the course and standard of teaching.
Before starting ACCA, I recommend you go through a detailed process of research on different online platforms and meet a few ACCAs to get to know about their experience and to seek professional guidance from them. Best of luck!
