Exam entry terms and conditions

By entering for the examination(s) you are agreeing to be bound by the examination regulations and these Terms and Conditions. The examination regulations are available in our Exam regulations section and in the post-registration information issued to you when you joined ACCA. They are also reproduced on your Examination Attendance Docket. You should familiarise yourself with the regulations prior to the examination session.

An email acknowledgement will be sent to you on successful completion of your exam entry. Please read this carefully and ensure that the details represent the entry that you wish to make for this session.

Examination compensation policy

If an examination attempt is suspended, cancelled or otherwise nullified by the examining board (at any stage, whether before or after the examination sitting itself) ACCA will waive the fee (or part thereof) for the next attempt at the exam(s) unless such suspension, cancellation or otherwise is caused by an epidemic, pandemic or any other event against which ACCA is unable to obtain insurance on reasonable commercial terms.

Due to the nature and complexity of operating professional examinations, ACCA reserves the right not to reschedule any examination or offer any compensation other than as specified above.

Exam centres

The address of the venue you have been allocated to will be shown on your Examination Attendance Docket, which will be available in the month prior to the examination session.

Where entries exceed the capacity at any particular centre it may occasionally be necessary for ACCA to either a) transfer candidates to another centre or b) offer a remotely invigilated exam alternative. In such instances ACCA reserve the right to invoke either option, which will involve for option a) transferring candidates to the nearest alternative centre or for option b) providing the student the opportunity to enter a remotely invigilated exam.

Confirmation of the physical centre or remote exam allocated to you will be shown on your Examination Attendance Docket.

If you have selected a Special Centre from the list (please see Exam Centre List) you will be required to pay any invigilation and centre costs involved. Such fees are normally paid direct to the examination supervisor in advance of the examination date. These fees are payable in addition to the examination fees payable to ACCA. You remain liable for these costs if you subsequently absent yourself from an exam.

Payment, cancellation and refunds

By ordering an ACCA exam, you are confirming your agreement to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

Exam moderation

ACCA shall moderate and finalise exam results to ensure they are valid and reliable. ACCA may use data forensics, plagiarism software and statistical evidence to identify irregular conduct and/or anomalous testing results in connection with your examination. If irregular conduct and/or anomalous results are identified ACCA reserves the right to:

  • nullify your exam result, and/or
  • not refund your exam fee, and/or
  • withhold your examination results, and/or
  • in the event you receive two or more nullified results, permanently suspend your ability to sit further remotely invigilated ACCA examinations, and/or
  • suspend your ability to sit any ACCA examinations, and/or
  • take any other appropriate action to protect the integrity of ACCA exams.

1 Payment terms

1.1 Payments for any exam entry must be received in full for the whole price of the exam(s) that you wish to sit before your order is accepted by ACCA.

1.2  The price payable is as set out on our Website at the time of paying for the exam, as the same may be amended from time to time.

1.3  If your employer/tuition provider or any third party acting on your behalf, books, registers or pays for an exam through their ACCA Exchange account please be aware that you are ultimately responsible for the payment of the entry or registration fee, irrespective of any agreement that you may have made directly with them.

2 Confirmation of your exam entry

Once we receive your payment we will confirm our acceptance of your exam entry by sending an email to the email address you provide. If you have not received this email please ensure the following before contacting us:

  • You have allowed a few hours to pass, particularly around the standard entry deadline.
  • You have checked your spam and/or junk folders.

In the event it is still not received, please recheck the exam planner to check for your entry and use our Contact Us page by selecting the following form options:

  1. "I am a student"
  2. "Exam entry-centre" or "Exam entry-remote" (depending on your exam)
  3. Confirm you have completed and/or understood any instructions given on the page by selecting 'YES'
  4. A chat function should then display for you to contact.

3 Your right to cancel

3.1  Subject to clause 3.2, you may cancel your order at any time before the standard exam entry closing date for each examination session. You will receive a full refund by using the ACCA self-serving online tools of your MyACCA account. Details of the exam entry closing dates are published annually and can be found in our important dates section.

3.2  Without affecting your rights under clause 4, after the standard exam entry closing date for each examination session, you must use our contact page where you can use our webchat option if you wish to cancel an exam entry, as you will not be able to process your cancellation using the ACCA self-serving online tools of your MyACCA account. You will be entitled to cancel the exam entry and receive a full refund only if a period of fourteen (14) calendar days’ (“Cancellation Period”) has not lapsed from the date of payment for your exam entry. This means that you will only receive a full refund within the Cancellation Period, which is calculated from the first day after the date of your payment to ACCA for the exam entry.

3.3  Any refunds under clause 3.1 will be made using the same method of payment as you used to pay for the order and will be paid within fourteen (14) calendar days ("Refund Period”) of you informing ACCA of the cancellation. Any refunds under clause 3.2 will be made by applying a credit to your MyACCA account and will be paid within fourteen (14) calendar days ("Refund Period”) of you informing ACCA of the cancellation.

3.4  If you cannot sit an exam that you have booked to sit, you will be marked absent. This will not affect the marks of other exams you may have entered to sit and you can sit the exam you missed at the next available examination session.

3.5  Without prejudicing your rights under clauses 3.2 and 4, after the standard exam entry deadline, examination entry fees are not refundable or transferrable. However, we understand that occasionally difficult circumstances may arise after the standard entry closing deadline, such as critical illness or bereavement which may prevent you from attending an exam. In such cases, you may submit an exam cancellation request together with supporting documentary evidence after the standard entry closing date following the process outlined in clause 3.6.

3.6  If you wish to request an exam cancellation, please have the appropriate documents available for submission to support your request. These include (but are not limited to):

  • Copy of a death certificate of an immediate family member
  • Certificate of life-threatening illness of yourself or immediate family member
  • Certificate of serious injury of yourself resulting in hospitalisation
  • Locally imposed restrictions covered by evidence of mandate.

(a) All documents must be on official headed paper and stamped, translated to English by official translator (where applicable).

(b) The quickest and easiest way to request a cancellation is the 'Exam cancellation' option on our contact form, where you can use our webchat function. Your exam cancellation request should be submitted by the exam cancellation request deadline published here important dates section for each examination session. Please note that once you submit your exam cancellation request you don't need to contact us again to check the progress status.

(c) There is no guarantee that your examination cancellation request will be approved. Your exam cancellation request is evaluated to ensure that all aspects of your individual circumstances are considered fairly and thoroughly, and we undertake a comprehensive assessment of your documentary evidence to ensure that your submission is valid and genuine.

(d) Exam cancellation and/or exam fee refund requests shall not be processed or approved if the supporting documentary evidence submitted is found to:

    (i) not meet the requirements set out in clause 3.6(a); or
    (ii) contain information that appears to be inconsistent and/or false.

(e) You will receive written notification of the outcome of your exam cancellation request. If successful, your exam fee will be credited to your MyACCA account within fourteen (14) days. You should not attend the examination under any circumstances; if you do so, you will be liable to pay additional fees.

(f) If we refuse your exam cancellation request and you disagree with the outcome, you may appeal our decision within fourteen (14) days from the date of notification. Your appeal must include detailed reasons for your appeal, together with supporting documentation/evidence (“Appeal Documentation”). You can submit your Appeal Documentation for our consideration to Contact Us.

(g) In exceptional circumstances where your exam cancellation request is approved and we subsequently discover discrepancies in your documentary evidence that indicate that they are not valid or genuine, such that they appear to contain information that is inconsistent and/or false under clause 3.6(d)(ii), we reserve the right to revoke your exam cancellation approval and we will re-charge your MyACCA account with the relevant examination fee(s). You will receive written notification of3.7  In the event that you cancel any exam entry which is not in compliance with the cancellation policies herein, ACCA is entitled to take any and all actions, including but not limited to reinstatement of your examinations, not refunding the examination fees and (if refunded) re-charging the examination fees to your MyACCA account. By agreeing with the Exam Entry Terms and Conditions, you have expressly acknowledged and confirmed that you agree that ACCA can take such actions.

3.7 In the event that you wish to cancel any exam entry, in accordance with clauses 3.1 (before the standard entry deadline), 3.2 (Cancellation Period), or 3.5 (after the standard entry deadline), consideration must be given to the ACCA examination progression rules, details of which can be accessed in our exam progression rules section. If the cancellation of an exam entry contravenes the progression rules, your entire exam entry that is applicable to the rules will be subject to cancellation and a full refund provided within the Refund Period stipulated in clause 3.3.

3.8 If ACCA cancels the exam, our liability shall be limited to a full refund of any exam you have paid for only. We will not refund any travel or accommodation costs associated with the cancellation of an examination.

3.9 ACCA reserves the right to cancel or reschedule exams without prior notice and to amend or alter published exams, fees and exam venues.

3.10 In the event that you cancel any exam entry which is not in compliance with the cancellation policies herein, ACCA is entitled to take any and all actions, including but not limited to reinstatement of your examinations, not refunding the examination fees and (if refunded) re-charging the examination fees to your MyACCA account. By agreeing with these exam entry Terms and Conditions, you have expressly acknowledged and confirmed that you agree that ACCA can take such actions.

4 Changes to these terms

ACCA may amend these exam entry Terms and Conditions if we have a valid reason.

Examples include exam security, legal or regulatory reasons. We will contact you to let you know if we intend to do this by giving you 14 days’ notice. If you object to the change, you may cancel your exam booking and request a full refund or credit to your MyACCA account, provided you give no less than seven days’ notice prior to your scheduled exam day to the ACCA Connect team. You can contact Connect by using our contact form.