What is ACCA Course? Details, Fees, Exemptions, Papers & Eligibility Criteria
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants popularly know as ACCA is a globally recognized course with over 200,000 members and 600,000 students across 180+ countries. The ACCA qualification is considered the largest professional accounting qualification in the world.
ACCA course is one of the most prestigious certifications in accounting and is preferred by many students who want to build a successful career abroad.
In India, ACCA is said to be equivalent to CA and ACCA professionals are hired at the same salary in most companies such as PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, and BDO.
ACCA Eligibility Criteria
- ACCA Course Eligibility: To be eligible to register for ACCA qualification, students should have qualified their 10+2 examinations with an aggregate of 65% in Mathematics / Accounts and English, and a minimum of 50% in other subjects.
- Students who have just cleared their class 10 examinations, or do not qualify as per the aforementioned criteria, can still register for the ACCA Course via Foundation in Accountancy (FIA) route.
ACCA Syllabus
ACCA as a course covers aspects of Chartered Accountancy such as Accounting, Financial Reporting, Auditing, Taxation, Business Finance and Financial Management.
ACCA Syllabus has a total of 13 examinations that a candidate must appear for. The 13 exams are split into 3 levels – Knowledge, Skill and Professional.
The Knowledge Level exams are on-demand exams that can be appeared at any time in the 365 days of the year. The Skill and Professional Level exams are conducted every March, June, September and December.
All 3 levels of the ACCA syllabus are now computer-based (CBE) and the student also has the option to appear for remotely proctored exams in selected countries including India. This remote exam option allows the student to appear for their exams from any location with proper internet and power supply without having to go to an exam center.
Knowledge Level
- Accountant in Business (AB)
- Management Accounting (MA)
- Financial Accounting (FA)
Skill Level
- Corporate and Business Law (LW)
- Performance Management (PM)
- Taxation (TX)
- Financial Reporting (FR)
- Audit and Assurance (AA)
- Financial Management (FM)
Professional Level
Essential
- Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
- Strategic Business Leader (SBL)
Optional (2 of 4)
- Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
- Advanced Performance Management (APM)
- Advanced Taxation (ATX)
- Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)
ACCA Course Exemptions
ACCA offers exemptions to Commerce Graduates, Post Graduate (M.Com) Inter CA Students and CA Qualified. Students who have just cleared their class 12 examinations, do not qualify as per the aforementioned criteria, but are still qualified to register for the ACCA Exam via Foundation in Accountancy (FIA) route.
| Qualifications | Number of exams to clear | Exemptions granted |
| Completion of Class 10th and 12th | 13 papers* | NIL |
| B.Com – Commerce Graduate | 9 papers | BT, MA, FA, LW |
| M.Com – Post Graduate | 9 papers | BT, MA, FA, LW |
| CA IPCC – Both Groups | 8 papers** | BT, MA, FA, TX, AA |
| Qualified CA | 4 papers** | BT-FM (9 subjects) |
*The applicant should have passed 5 subjects including English and Mathematics / Accounts, with 65% in at least 2 subjects and over 50% for the rest.
**A CA IPCC / Final candidate is eligible to attain additional exemptions if they’ve scored 40 and above marks in their examination for relevant subjects even if they haven’t cleared total group.
Check complete ACCA Exemption calculator
Ethics and Professional Skills Module
This module helps you gain professional and ethical skills required in real-time work situations.
ACCA Affiliate
To become an ACCA Affiliate member, students are required to complete 36 months of work experience and achieve about nine performance objectives. This experience documentation should be signed by a supervisor.
Scope of ACCA in India
The scope of ACCA in India has been increasing tremendously over the last few years. Candidates who’ve successfully completed their ACCA and gained professional skills are hired by the best of companies such as PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, EY, Grant Thornton, and BDO.
They are hired in various profiles such as Accounting Advisory, Risk Advisory, Statutory Audit, Internal Audit, Forensic Auditing, Mergers & Acquisitions, Valuations, and more. The ACCA salary (₹5 to ₹9 lacs) is the same as CAs, just with the same profile.
Scope of ACCA overseas
ACCAs are hired across the world in 180+ countries. For students studying in India, the most popular countries are the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Dubai. ACCAs have signing authority in the majority of these countries.
What is the eligibility criteria for ACCA?
To qualify for ACCA course, you should be of 18 years of age and should have completed your 10+2 with 65% average score in Math and 50% average in English.
