Overview
ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is a global professional body for accountants, headquartered in the UK and operating in more than 180 countries. The ACCA Qualification is the main route to becoming an ACCA member and using the Chartered Certified Accountant designation. It has three parts: a set of exams taken across three levels, an Ethics and Professional Skills module, and a Practical Experience Requirement. You can complete the exams and the ethics module in any order relative to gaining your practical experience, and many students do all three at the same time while working.
Who can apply
ACCA accepts students at different starting points.
Standard entry: completed senior secondary schooling (broadly equivalent to two A-Levels and three GCSEs, including English and Mathematics or a similar numerate subject) lets you register directly for the ACCA Qualification.
Foundations in Accountancy route: if you do not yet meet standard entry requirements, ACCA's Foundations in Accountancy suite of certificates and diplomas gives a path into the ACCA Qualification once completed.
Mature student entry: candidates without the standard academic entry requirements can be considered on the basis of relevant work experience.
Graduates and professionals: holders of an accredited accounting or finance degree, or of certain other professional qualifications, can usually claim exemptions from some exams rather than starting from Applied Knowledge. Exemptions can cover some Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams, but never Strategic Professional, and each exempted exam carries its own exemption fee (see Fees).
Registration is done online by creating a myACCA account on ACCA's website and submitting proof of identity and of your educational background.
Levels or stages
The ACCA Qualification has three exam levels (13 exams in total if no exemptions are claimed), plus the Ethics and Professional Skills module and the Practical Experience Requirement.
Applied Knowledge
Three exams: Business and Technology (BT), Management Accounting (MA), and Financial Accounting (FA).
These give a broad introduction to business and the fundamentals of accounting.
All three are on-demand computer-based exams: you can book and sit each one on most days of the year at an approved exam centre, and you see your result on screen straight after the exam.
Applied Skills
Six exams: Corporate and Business Law (LW), Performance Management (PM), Taxation (TX), Financial Reporting (FR), Audit and Assurance (AA), and Financial Management (FM).
These build the technical accounting, audit, tax, law and finance skills a future strategic-level accountant needs.
The Corporate and Business Law exam is on-demand. The other five Applied Skills exams are sat only in ACCA's four yearly exam sessions.
Strategic Professional
Two compulsory Essentials exams: Strategic Business Leader (SBL) and Strategic Business Reporting (SBR).
Four Options exams, of which you choose any two: Advanced Financial Management (AFM), Advanced Performance Management (APM), Advanced Taxation (ATX), and Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA).
All four Strategic Professional exams are sat in ACCA's four yearly exam sessions and are built around case-study style, constructed-response questions that test judgement and application rather than recall.
Ethics and Professional Skills module
An online, self-paced module most students complete alongside Strategic Professional study.
It covers professional scepticism, ethics, communication, analysis and other skills ACCA expects of a qualified accountant, and it directly supports the Strategic Professional exams.
It ends with a short online assessment, and you need to pass it before you can apply for membership.
Practical Experience Requirement (PER)
36 months of relevant supervised employment in an accounting- or finance-related role, which can run before, during or after your exams.
Nine performance objectives signed off by a practical experience supervisor: five Essentials objectives (covering areas such as ethics, professionalism, leadership and stakeholder relationships) and at least four Technical objectives linked to your own exams and role.
Your supervisor must be a qualified accountant recognised in your country, or a member of an IFAC body, and you record your progress through ACCA's online My Experience system.
Marking and results
Every ACCA exam is marked out of 100, and the pass mark for every exam at every level is 50%. There is no distinction or merit grade: any score of 50 or above is simply recorded as a pass. Applied Knowledge and Corporate and Business Law, being on-demand exams, give you a result on screen immediately. Results for the other, session-based exams are published on myACCA roughly five to six weeks after each exam session closes.
Important dates
ACCA runs four exam sessions a year, in March, June, September and December, for every Applied Skills and Strategic Professional exam that is not on-demand. Each session has a standard entry deadline and a later, higher-cost late entry deadline, both roughly a month or so before the session starts; exact entry windows and the specific exam dates for each session are published on ACCA's exam-entry pages well in advance. On-demand exams (the three Applied Knowledge papers and Corporate and Business Law) have no fixed session dates and can be booked throughout the year, subject to seats at your chosen centre.
Fees
All fees below are in pounds sterling (GBP) and reflect ACCA's 2026 published rates; always check ACCA's own fees page for your country, since ACCA reviews fees each year and some are lower in certain markets.
Initial registration: a one-off fee of £89 when you first register as an ACCA student.
Annual subscription: £140 a year, payable every year you remain a registered student, to keep your record active and stay eligible to sit exams.
Applied Knowledge exam fees: set by the exam centre, typically in the region of £125-£145 per exam, since these are on-demand exams.
Applied Skills exam fees: £173 per exam at standard entry, rising to £387 per exam at late entry.
Strategic Professional exam fees: £295 for Strategic Business Leader and £229 for Strategic Business Reporting or any Options exam at standard entry; late entry for any Strategic Professional exam is £430.
Exemption fees: charged per paper you are exempted from, around £86 for an Applied Knowledge exemption and £114 for an Applied Skills exemption; there are no exemptions from Strategic Professional exams.
Ethics and Professional Skills module: a one-off fee of around £83, with no separate resit charge.
How to apply
Create a myACCA account on ACCA's website and complete the online registration form with your personal and educational details.
Upload the documents ACCA asks for, usually proof of identity and evidence of your educational qualifications.
Pay the initial registration fee and, once registered, your first annual subscription.
If you hold a relevant degree or professional qualification, check and claim any exemptions before you start booking exams, since this changes which papers you actually need to sit.
Book your exams through myACCA: on-demand exams at any time through the year, and session exams within the entry window for your chosen March, June, September or December sitting.
After the exam
Once you pass all required exams, finish the Ethics and Professional Skills module, and complete your 36 months of practical experience with your performance objectives signed off, you become an ACCA affiliate. You then apply for full membership through myACCA; once ACCA approves your application, you can use the ACCA letters and the Chartered Certified Accountant title. Members who stay in good standing for five years and meet ACCA's criteria can later apply for Fellowship (FCCA).
Preparation tips
Work out your exemptions before you plan your study, since a relevant degree can remove the need to sit some Applied Knowledge or Applied Skills exams entirely.
Start your 36-month Practical Experience Requirement as early as you reasonably can; it usually takes longer to complete than the exams do, so running it alongside your studies saves time overall.
At Applied Skills and Strategic Professional, practise full, timed case-study style questions, since these exams reward structured written answers more than short recall questions.
Complete the Ethics and Professional Skills module well before your Strategic Business Leader attempt, since the two are designed to reinforce each other.
FAQs
Do I need an accounting degree to start ACCA?
No. ACCA Applied Knowledge is designed as an introduction for people with no prior accounting background. A relevant degree can earn you exemptions, but it is not required to register.
How many of the 13 exams do I actually have to sit?
That depends on exemptions. Without any exemptions you sit all three Applied Knowledge exams, all six Applied Skills exams, both Strategic Professional Essentials exams, and two of the four Strategic Professional Options exams. Relevant prior qualifications can exempt you from some Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams, but never from Strategic Professional.
Can I complete my practical experience before I finish the exams?
Yes. The 36-month Practical Experience Requirement can be completed before, during or after your exams, as long as it is in a relevant accounting or finance role and your performance objectives are signed off by an eligible supervisor.
What happens once I pass every exam?
Passing all the exams makes you an ACCA affiliate, not yet a full member. You still need to complete the Ethics and Professional Skills module and the Practical Experience Requirement, then apply for membership through myACCA.