How Many ACCA Exams Are There?

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How Many ACCA Exams Are There?

The ACCA qualification consists of 13 exams, split across three distinct levels. This structure is designed to build your knowledge and skills progressively, starting with foundational concepts and moving towards strategic professional expertise. Completing these exams, plus an ethics module and practical experience, leads to full ACCA membership.

Why this actually matters

Knowing the total number of exams is about calibrating your effort and managing your long-term timeline, especially when you are already stretched thin by a full-time job. Understanding the structure helps you create a realistic plan from the start, preventing the burnout that comes from a seemingly endless journey and allowing you to focus your limited time effectively.

Structured breakdown

The 13 exams are organised into a clear, progressive structure. You must pass all exams within a level before moving to the next. In addition to the exams, you must also complete the Ethics and Professional Skills Module (EPSM).

• Total Exams: 13 papers in total.

• Applied Knowledge Level (3 Exams): This is the entry point, establishing the foundational knowledge in accounting and business. These exams are on-demand computer-based exams (CBEs), offering flexibility.

• Business and Technology (BT)

  • Management Accounting (MA)
  • Financial Accounting (FA)

• Applied Skills Level (6 Exams): This level builds on your existing knowledge and develops the strong, practical finance skills required for a professional role. These exams are session CBEs, held four times a year.

• Corporate and Business Law (LW)

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

• Strategic Professional Level (4 Exams): This final level prepares you for future leadership positions. It consists of two essential exams and two options, where you choose based on your career goals.

• Essentials (2 exams): Both are compulsory.

• Strategic Business Leader (SBL)

  • Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
  • Options (Choose 2 from 4):
    • Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
    • Advanced Performance Management (APM)
    • Advanced Taxation (ATX)
    • Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)

• Ethics and Professional Skills Module (EPSM): This is a mandatory online module you must complete to qualify. It is not a formal exam but is a critical component that builds your professional capabilities. It is best completed before you sit your Strategic Professional exams.

If you're working full-time

Balancing a demanding job with ACCA study requires a realistic strategy, not just more hours. The structure of the qualification can be managed effectively if you plan correctly.

• Pace yourself: Attempting one paper per exam sitting is sustainable and significantly increases your chance of passing. Booking two papers is highly ambitious and a common cause of burnout and wasted fees. Your goal is to pass consistently, not quickly.
• Map your year: There are four exam sessions: March, June, September, and December. Plan your year around these dates. For example, if you pass a paper in March, you can start studying for the June sitting immediately. This creates a steady rhythm.
• Use on-demand exams strategically: The first three Applied Knowledge papers can be sat at any time. Use this flexibility. You could, for instance, sit one in between the main exam sessions to maintain momentum without the pressure of a fixed session date.
• Check for exemptions first: Before you plan anything, use the ACCA exemptions calculator. If your university degree or other qualifications grant you exemptions from the Applied Knowledge papers, you can save a significant amount of time and money.
• Prioritise consistency over intensity: Studying for 1-2 focused hours on weekdays is more effective than trying to cram 10 exhausted hours into a Sunday. Your brain learns and retains information better with consistent, spaced repetition. Protect that small, daily study window.

Common mistakes

Many candidates lose time and confidence by making predictable errors. Acknowledging them is the first step to avoiding them.

• Ignoring the logical flow: While you can take papers within a level in any order, they are designed to connect. Taking Financial Reporting (FR) before Audit and Assurance (AA), or Performance Management (PM) before Advanced Performance Management (APM), makes the later papers much more manageable.
• Underestimating the jump to Strategic Professional: The final level is not just more advanced content; it is a different style of exam. It requires application, evaluation, and professional scepticism. Relying on knowledge recall alone will lead to a fail.
• Leaving the Ethics Module too late: Many candidates see EPSM as a final box-ticking exercise. However, its content is explicitly designed to help you with the Strategic Professional exams, particularly SBL. Doing it before you sit these papers gives you a tangible advantage.
• Choosing the wrong Options: Do not pick your two optional papers based on perceived pass rates or what your friends are doing. Choose them based on your career path. If you work in audit, take AAA. If you want to go into corporate finance, AFM might be better.
• Forgetting knowledge is cumulative: Information from earlier papers is assumed knowledge in later ones. If you pass an exam and immediately forget everything, you are making the next paper much harder than it needs to be.
• Not checking for exemptions: Many graduates are eligible for exemptions from the first 3 to 9 papers. Sitting an exam you did not have to is a huge waste of time and money that a time-poor professional cannot afford.

How examiners think

Examiners view the qualification as an integrated programme, not 13 disconnected subjects. They are trying to build a competent, ethical, and professional accountant from the ground up. Understanding their mindset helps you score marks.

• Progression is key: They assume that a candidate sitting an Applied Skills paper has mastered all the Applied Knowledge content. A Strategic Professional candidate is expected to have deep technical knowledge from the previous nine papers.
• Application over memory: Especially at the Strategic Professional level, examiners do not award marks for simply listing facts or models. Marks are for applying that knowledge to the specific scenario in the question to solve a problem or provide advice.
• They are testing professional skills, not just numbers: This is particularly true for SBL. Your ability to structure an answer, use a professional tone, and create a useful business document (like a report or presentation slides) is explicitly marked. The EPSM is designed to build these skills.
• Integration of knowledge: Examiners expect you to see the connections. A question in SBR (reporting) could have implications for AAA (audit). An SBL scenario could draw on financial analysis skills from FM. They want to see a holistic understanding, not isolated knowledge.
• Scepticism and Evaluation: At the highest level, they want you to challenge the information you are given. You need to question assumptions, consider limitations, and provide balanced arguments. Answers that accept all information at face value will not score well.

FAQ

Calm summary

Seeing the number 13 can be intimidating, but you will never study for 13 exams at once. Your focus is only ever on one paper at a time. To make immediate, concrete progress, here are your next steps for this week.

1. Confirm your starting point: Go to the official ACCA website and use their exemptions calculator. This is a non-negotiable first step and will only take 10 minutes. It tells you exactly where your journey begins.
2. Identify your next paper: Based on your exemptions, identify the very next paper you need to sit. If you have no exemptions, this will be Business and Technology (BT). Do not think about any other paper.
3. Review the syllabus: Download the syllabus for that one paper from the ACCA global website. Block out one hour in your calendar this week to simply read through it. Understand what is expected for this single step.

Forget the other 12. Your entire world for the next 90 days is this one paper. That is how you complete the journey without overwhelming yourself.

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