The ACA exams

There are 15 exams spread over three levels: the Certificate Level, the Professional Level and the Advanced Level. The exams can be taken in any order, except for the Case Study exam which must be attempted last and in the final year of a training agreement.  

All ACA exams are computer-based and can be sat in an exam centre or remotely, either at home or in the office. Credit for prior learning (otherwise known as exam exemptions) is available for some exams.

Students with accounting or business-related degrees or professional accountancy qualifications may be able to claim credit (otherwise known as exemptions) for up to 12 of the ACA exams. Students cannot claim exemptions for the Advanced Level exams. It is up to you whether you allow your student to apply for any exemptions they may be eligible for. 

• Visit our CPL directory to find out what credit is available to your students
• Guidance for students on applying for CPL

You can pick a tuition provider from our list of approved Partners in Learning. You may wish to let your students choose a tuition provider that suits their individual learning styles. 

• Find a tuition provider

A wide range of exam resources, including past exams, insights articles and webinars, are available for students on our website. We recommend that your students use these when preparing for their exams.

• Explore our exam resources

It is your student’s responsibility to apply for exams within the specified booking windows via my.icaew.com/examsonline. Once your student has completed an application, they will receive an application summary via email. They will be able to make any changes to their booking application up until the booking window closing date.

• Guidance for students on applying for exams

There are four Professional Level exam sessions throughout the year in March, June, September and December, and two Advanced Level exam sessions in July and November. Certificate Level exams can be attempted at any time of the year.

Please ensure you and your students are aware of all exam dates and deadlines, particularly surrounding booking windows. Late applications are unlikely to be accepted, and any requests that can be accommodated will incur additional fees. We also encourage students to apply for their exams early, particularly if they will be sitting their exam in an exam centre, as availability is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

• View the ACA exam dates and deadlines

If you are offering the ACA on an apprenticeship programme, please ensure you are also aware of the dates and deadlines relating to the apprenticeship assessments:

• View the Level 4 apprenticeship dates and deadlines
• View the Level 7 apprenticeship dates and deadlines

If your student feels their exam performance may be hindered due to a health condition, disability, or specific learning difficulty (SpLD), we may be able to put access arrangements in place to support them during their exams.

Students should apply for access arrangements via my.icaew.com/examsonline by the following deadlines:

• ICAEW CFAB and ACA Certificate Level exams - 21 working days before the exam date.
• ACA Professional and Advanced Level exams – no later than the closing date of the respective exam session.
• Level 4 Accounting Technician Apprenticeship Role Simulation exam - no later than the closing date of the respective exam session. 

• Guidance for students on applying for access arrangements

Where a student feels that their performance in an exam has been adversely affected by illness or other circumstances, they can apply for an exam disruption appeal. Applications should be made via my.icaew.com/examsonline with any supporting evidence within seven days of the exam.

• Guidance for students on making an exam disruption appeal

Exam attempts

ICAEW Student Regulations allow a maximum of four attempts at each Certificate Level and Professional Level exam, except for the Business Planning and Financial Accounting and Reporting assessments. Students are permitted a combined maximum attempt of four attempts across all three of the Business Planning exams. Similarly, students are permitted a combined maximum of four attempts across both Financial Accounting and Reporting exams. 

There are an unlimited number of attempts at the Advanced Level exams.

Please note, these are the maximum number of attempts allowed according to our regulations however you, as the employer, are allowed to advise your student on how many attempts you are prepared to support. 

Failing an exam

If your student fails an exam, marks feedback will be available for them to access in their online training file. Marks feedback provides a breakdown of the mark achieved per question allowing you and your student to identify any areas where your student has scored lower marks. 

We take the marking of exams very seriously and therefore errors in the calculation of exam results are very rare. However, if your student has failed an exam and believe that this result is not correct, they may request a marks review. The marks review is not a re-mark, but it is a complete check of all the processes involved in arriving at their result.