Introduction to the 13 papers of ACCA
ACCA, one of the most reputed and coveted Chartered Accountancy Qualifications available today, though to be honest, it is a pretty tough nut to crack.
Anyone who dreams of pursuing ACCA and becoming a certified member has to go through the 3 major components of ACCA qualification level.
These components consist of ACCA qualification Exams that contain 13 papers, the Ethics and Professional Skills Module, and the Practical Experience Requirements.
The ACCA coursework syllabus comprises a total of 14 modules (including ethics and Professional Skills). The 13 modules are further segregated into 2 categories called Fundamental level (9 papers) and Professional Level (4 papers).
There are a total of 4 exam sessions per year, and a candidate can appear for at least 8 exams each year.
Different levels in acca qualification:
Fundamental Level :
The fundamental level consists of 9 courses. Students who do not have a relevant undergraduate degree or a professional qualification need to pass all 9 courses in order to be eligible for the ACCA Qualification. The level is further subdivided into 2 categories:
Knowledge level (3 papers)
Skills level (6 papers)
The fundamental papers are labelled as F1 to F9.
Knowledge Level Papers
The Knowledge level is a broad introduction to finance and accounting and the students also understand the practises and techniques of accounting.
Exams under the knowledge level:
F1 — Business and Technology (BT)
F2 — Management Accounting (MA)
F3 — Financial Accounting (FA)
Skills Level Papers :
The Skills level is the next immediate level after the knowledge level and is built on the existing knowledge the students acquire from the knowledge level. A student can learn about applications and gain practical knowledge of the finance skills needed to become a professional accountant here.
Skills Level papers:
F4 — Corporate and Business Law (LW)
F5 — Performance Management (PM)
F6 — Taxation (TX)
F7 — Financial Reporting (FR)
F8 — Audit and Assurance (AA)
F9 — Financial Management (FM)
Strategic Professional Level
While the foundation level provides knowledge and skills, ACCA aspirants need something more, like the development of strategic and leadership skills.
The Strategic Level exams enable students to develop leadership skills for future executive positions. The Strategic Level has a total of 6 papers, out of which 2 are compulsory and the other 4 are optional. Furthermore, the student needs to choose two specialisations. They can choose them based on what suits their future career ambitions.
Compulsory Courses
P1 — Strategic Business Leader (SBL)
P2 — Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
Optional Courses (Choice)
P3 — Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
P4 — Advanced Performance Management (APM)
P5 — Advanced Taxation (ATX)
P6 — Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)
Ethics and Professional Skills Module :
It is compulsory for a student to clear the Ethics and Professional Skills module. This Ethics and Professional skill module is designed to develop a variety of skills to accommodate the employability of ACCA students. All the 13 papers of ACCA and Ethics and Professional skills modules have to be attempted in modular order. Each student has to follow the order and attempt the knowledge level, followed by the skills level, and lastly, the strategic professional level exams.
The Ethics and Professional Skills modules can be attempted at any point after you have cleared the Applied Knowledge exams.
