If you already have some qualifications you may not have to take all of the exams in the ACCA Qualification or Foundations in Accountancy awards. These are called exemptions and mean that you will start your studies at the right level for your knowledge and skill.
Our process of awarding exemptions is very rigorous as we need to ensure we are confident that the prior learning matches the skills and knowledge needed for the ACCA Qualification.
You can also claim exemptions on the basis of practical experience if you wish to complete the Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) Qualification.
You will need to pay an exemption fee for each exam awarded. These fees helps us with the continuous process of rigorously assessing and accrediting a global network of professional and academic bodies and their awards, so that employers know that ACCA members have the skills and knowledge needed to succeed, wherever they started on their learning journey.
ACCA offers conditional exemptions to students who are studying an assessed course and will graduate at a date in the future. Students can claim exemptions up to the Financial Management (FM) exam. Upon your graduation, you will be required to submit documentary evidence to ACCA to confirm that you have completed the course and passed all the required modules. The conditional exemptions would then be converted to actual exemptions.
This means that you may not have to take all of ACCA’s examinations in the professional qualification and can start your studies at the right level.
If your course offers conditional exemptions, our Exemptions calculator will display this at the top.
We’re passionate about giving as many people as possible the opportunity to gain our world-renowned qualification.
There are several routes to ACCA membership and many students undertake prior learning which is equivalent to some ACCA exams. Where appropriate, ACCA wishes to ensure that students' entry points match the knowledge and skills they have acquired from their previous qualifications. In doing so, we aim to provide students with the quickest possible route to membership.
Our process of awarding exemptions is very rigorous as we need to ensure we are confident that the prior learning matches the skills and knowledge needed for the ACCA Qualification. This is a continuous process as we make regular updates to our qualification, both in terms of annual syllabus updates and skills tested.
We award exemption to qualifications offered by educational institutions worldwide. Some examples are:
A maximum of nine Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams of the ACCA Qualification can be awarded. To preserve the integrity and rigour of the ACCA Qualification and to ensure that all students share a common experience, we do not award any exemptions for Strategic Professional exams.
Exemption from all three levels of the Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) Qualification can be considered, depending on the standard and equivalence of the qualification held.
Exemptions are also available for the Foundations in Accountancy suite of awards.
No exemptions are awarded from any of the exams of modules examined within ACCA's suite of post-professional qualifications.
Please take a look at the Exemptions calculator to find out which exemptions you could claim.
Our Exemptions calculator details all exemptions that may be available on the basis of qualifications held by students. This includes exemptions awarded to accredited programmes and exemptions awarded using our exemption framework.
We have produced a user guide to the Exemptions calculator, which provides a short step-by-step guide to checking what exemptions you may be eligible to claim.
If you require any further assistance in determining your exemptions, please contact ACCA Connect who will be able to assist you.
What you need to do to apply for exemptions depends on where you are on your ACCA student journey.
If you'd like a step-by-step guide on how to apply, you can use our tool.
Simply answer a coupe of questions and you'll get advice on how to prepare and submit your exemptions application.
Get your exam exemptions guidance.
You should apply for exemptions when you first register as a student with ACCA.
If you have gained additional qualifications since you first registered as a student and believe you may be eligible for further exemptions, you can apply for these at any time. You can send us copies of your educational documents via the contact us form
Please be aware that you should wait until your exemptions have been confirmed as awarded before committing to any course of study. ACCA will not be held liable for any fees incurred for changes to tuition or study materials where the award of exemptions has not been confirmed in advance.
ACCA implements a system of rigorous checks when assessing applications for exemptions, however, in the event that you are awarded an exemption in error, ACCA reserves the right to remove the exemption(s) and shall notify you immediately if this exceptional incident does occur.
Our process of awarding exemptions is very rigorous as we need to ensure we are confident that the prior learning matches the skills and knowledge needed for the ACCA Qualification.
Our assessment of students' qualifications takes into account a number of considerations, which may cause students with similar qualifications to be awarded differing levels of exemption. These considerations include:
To find out what exemptions are available for the qualifications that you hold, use our Exemptions calculator.
When your exemptions have been awarded, you will be issued with an exemption notification, and an invoice, and the relevant section will be updated in myACCA. Please pay for your exemptions as soon as you have received the invoice.
The easiest method of making a payment is online by credit or debit card through myACCA.
We’re passionate about giving as many people as possible the opportunity to gain our world-renowned qualification. We work hard to keep our fees competitive and have a pricing model that is fair and provides opportunity. Students’ qualification fees enable us to both deliver exams in over 140 countries worldwide and invest in continually evolving the ACCA Qualification so our students and members remain in demand by employers around the world.
Exemption fees helps us with the continuous process of rigorously assessing and accrediting a global network of professional and academic bodies and their awards. This work is supported by multiple teams within ACCA, so that each student can start the qualification at the point that’s right for them.
You will need to pay a fee for each exemption ACCA awards you. View details of all ACCA fees and charges, including exemption fees
You will be able to view your exemption status via myACCA and you will also be sent an exemption notification.
It's up to you to decide if you wish to claim the exemptions you are awarded. You may wish to consider forfeiting exemptions, for instance, if a significant period of time has passed since you gained your previous qualifications, and you have not undertaken any further activity related to your studies in the intervening time.
It is advisable to consult the syllabus and study guides for each ACCA exam that you are eligible to receive exemption from and consider whether you are entirely comfortable with the topics covered before accepting exemption.
If you do accept the exemptions, you may wish to consider whether you need to undertake any additional study or preparation to ensure you are ready to begin the higher-level exams.
If you decide to forfeit your exemptions, you must notify ACCA within 14 days to be eligible for a refund. After 14 days, exemption fees are non-refundable. Please read the exemption terms and conditions before applying. You can download the exemptions forfeit form from our administrative forms section.
If you intend to complete the BSc degree in Applied Accounting*, please be aware that Oxford Brookes University gives credit for exemptions awarded to ACCA students for any of the Applied Knowledge exams, but a student must sit and pass the Financial Reporting (FR), Audit and Assurance (AA) and Financial Management (FM) Applied Skills exams to be eligible for the BSc degree. Oxford Brookes is not able to give credit for exemptions based on qualifications gained more than 10 years ago. This does not apply for registrations from 20 September 2021 onwards.
*The BSc programme is closing in 2026. Find out more.
ACCA can only award exemption on the basis of qualifications awarded by recognised institutions (i.e those which are recognised by the local Ministry of Education as public sector institutions or the equivalent status under their regulations.)
If your institution is not listed on the Exemptions calculator, ACCA will check the status of your institution with our external references on receipt of your educational documents.
Please also be aware that we list qualifications under the awarding body, not the study centre. If you have taken a qualification which is awarded by an establishment other than the one where you studied, please ensure you have checked the Exemptions calculator for the awarding establishment.
Assessed programmes are educational programmes that have been fully assessed by ACCA. We evaluate the programme’s regulations, syllabus and assessments. Assessed programmes for an institute will be displayed at the top of the exemption calculator after you have entered the graduation date.
Our process of awarding exemptions is very rigorous as we need to ensure we are confident that the prior learning matches the skills and knowledge needed for the ACCA Qualification. This is a continuous process as we make regular updates to our qualification, both in terms of annual syllabus updates and skills tested.
Only when we are satisfied that the knowledge and skills to be gained from a qualification are closely matched to ours will exemption accreditation be confirmed to the institution.
If you graduated before the first assessment dates shown for your accredited programme on the Exemptions calculator, this means that your qualification was not assessed at the time of your graduation. You will not be able to claim the full level of exemption shown for the accredited programme but may still be eligible for some exemptions using ACCA's exemption framework.
If the assessment dates on the Exemptions calculator finish before your graduation date, your institution has not provided ACCA with up-to-date information about the programme or has informed us that the programme is no longer running in the same format. Please check whether your programme has been accredited under a different programme title, or check with your course leader.
If the modules you have taken are not those which have been assessed as part of the programme accreditation as shown on the Exemptions calculator, you will not be able to claim the exemptions.
If you have taken the modules which form part of the exemption accreditation but the titles or reference codes of these modules differ from those shown on the Exemptions calculator, ACCA's Accreditation team will need to check that these changes are valid with the awarding institution. If you are aware of any discrepancies between the information shown on our Exemptions calculator and the delivery of your assessed programme, please ask your course leader to contact ACCA in order for this information to be updated.
Please be aware that if you have studied part-time over a longer duration than is normal for your course of study or you have taken a sandwich or gap year, the modules you have studied may be spread across a range of graduate dates. Please check all assessment dates between the start and end of your studies if this is the case.
If your educational establishment or awarding body has not provided ACCA with the opportunity to fully assess their qualification, it will not be listed as an assessed programme.
If you are currently studying towards a qualification which has not been assessed and believe that programme accreditation may yield further exemptions, please ask your course leader to visit the Learning Providers section of the ACCA website to find out more about exemption accreditation. Please be aware that ACCA can only work directly with the awarding institution, and will not accept programme details submitted by students on behalf of their institution.
If your programme of study is assessed by ACCA in future, please be aware that any additional exemptions gained through the accreditation process will not be awarded to you retrospectively as the assessment will not relate to your graduate year.
ACCA uses its exemption framework to apply an appropriate level of exemption to specific qualification types that have not been assessed. For example, a student who has completed a programme which has not been assessed by ACCA may be awarded up to a maximum of the first four exams of the ACCA Qualification.
To find out what exemptions are available for the qualifications that you hold, use our Exemptions calculator.
ACCA uses information provided by an independent equivalency agency to determine the academic level of qualifications awarded nationally in all countries. This equivalency information is used to benchmark international qualifications against our qualifications and assign an appropriate maximum level of exemption.
A number of relevant subject areas have been defined, and a set level of exemption assigned to each subject area depending on its equivalence.
ACCA has undertaken extensive research to categorise the most common qualification subject titles within these subject areas. Indicative lists of subject titles within each subject area can be accessed from the Exemptions calculator.
Information on exemptions awarded to national qualifications can be accessed by clicking on the link to the ACCA Qualification, Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) Qualification or Foundations in Accountancy awards in the lower half of the Exemptions calculator.
The Exemptions calculator only displays qualifications of a level suitable to receive exemptions. If your qualification is awarded nationally and does not appear on the Exemptions calculator, please check the minimum entrance requirements database to check whether your qualification meets our minimum entry requirements.
If your qualification does not appear as a national qualification on the Exemptions calculator, it may not be awarded nationally - please check with your course leader or local Ministry of Education (or equivalent) for confirmation. If the qualification is not awarded nationally and has not been assessed by ACCA, no exemptions will be available.
ACCA calls the individual modules which have been assessed as part of a full programme accreditation ”accredited modules”. If you have taken one or more of these modules or module combinations as part of a programme which has not been assessed, you will be eligible to receive the appropriate exemptions.
Accredited modules can be checked on the Exemptions calculator by following the national qualifications path through the calculator and entering your graduate year at the end of the process.
ACCA recognises the module pass marks set by educational institutions for the purposes of exemptions. If your institution has awarded a pass mark for a module, ACCA will accept this for exemption purposes.
However, please note that fail or marginal fail marks and compensated or condoned passes awarded by educational institutions cannot be accepted for exemption purposes.
ACCA only awards exemption where students have sat and passed the specific modules detailed, as part of an assessed programme. If you have been awarded credit or exemption from your awarding institution for some or all of the modules specified on the Exemptions calculator, the exemption may not be awarded.
If your qualification has not been assessed and does not appear on the list of national qualifications for the country where you studied, no exemptions will be awarded. If you wish to study the ACCA Qualification, please check the minimum entrance requirements database to find out if your qualification meets ACCA's minimum entry requirements.
If you still intend to complete your qualification it is best to wait until you have done so before claiming exemptions. This is in order to ensure that you are able to enter for the most appropriate ACCA exams with no duplication of your studies.
If you have part-completed a qualification, you may still be able to claim some exemptions depending on the level of the qualification and how much of the qualification you have completed.
Yes, please confirm your expected date of graduation on your application and submit your transcript confirming the modules you have completed.
Qualifications which were submitted for assessment at the time of your initial registration with ACCA will not be re-assessed to take advantage of any changes in exemption policy.
If you have gained any additional qualifications which have not previously been submitted to ACCA for exemption assessment, these will be assessed using the current policy in place.
To gain the UK/Irish Audit Qualification, you must pass the UK or Irish variants of the Corporate and Business Law (LW), Taxation (TX), Strategic Business Reporting (SBR) and Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exams respectively. If you are awarded exemptions from Corporate and Business Law (LW) and/or Taxation (TX) on the basis of a degree/qualification which did not have sufficient coverage of UK or Irish tax and law you will need to pass the UK or Irish variants in order to be eligible for a practising certificate and audit qualification.
ACCA has made amendments to the time limits and the exemptions policy in regard to the audit qualification in line with The Financial Reporting Council and Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority's requirements.
Students who registered prior to 1 January 2016 and who were awarded exemptions from all of the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams of the syllabus are required to complete the Strategic Professional exams within five years should they wish to subsequently apply for an ACCA practising certificate and audit qualification.
Similarly, for a UK practising certificate and audit qualification, students who first registered on or after 1 January 2010 and are eligible for exemption from all or part of the Applied Knowledge and Skills exams based on a qualifications gained more than five years previously (at the date of initial registration as an ACCA student) will forfeit these exemptions and be required to complete the Applied Knowledge and Skills exams.
Students who fail to meet this requirement will not be eligible to apply for a practising certificate and audit qualification.
For all students registering from 1 January 2016 the rules are as follows:
Students who fail to meet these requirements will not be eligible to apply for a practising certificate and audit qualification. Students who are eligible to receive exemption from any or all of the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams on the basis of qualifications gained more than five years previously must forfeit these exemptions and sit the corresponding ACCA examinations.
Students who registered for the ACCA Qualification on or after 1 April 2019, who wish to apply to register as a statutory auditor in Ireland, you should only accept exemptions from Corporate and Business Law (LW) and Taxation (TX) examinations if their previous qualification is equivalent to university level in Ireland.
A previous qualification may be regarded as being equivalent to university level in Ireland if it is, or forms part of, an award which is accredited at:
If a student accepts exemptions from the Corporate and Business Law (LW) and/or Taxation (TX) examinations on the basis of a previous qualification; which was not equivalent to university level in Ireland, then they will need to forfeit these exemptions and pass those exams.
Yes, you must pass the UK or Irish variants of the Corporate and Business Law (LW), Taxation (TX), Strategic Business Reporting (SBR) and Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exams. If you are awarded exemptions from the Corporate and Business Law (LW) and/or Taxation (TX) exams but your degree/qualification does not have sufficient coverage of UK or Irish tax and law you will need to pass the UK or Irish variants in order to be eligible for a practising certificate and audit qualification.
To gain the UK/Irish Audit Qualification, you must pass the UK or Irish variants of the Corporate and Business Law (LW), Taxation (TX), Strategic Business Reporting (SBR) and Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exams respectively. If you are awarded exemptions from Corporate and Business Law (LW) and/or Taxation (TX) exams on the basis of a degree/qualification which did not have sufficient coverage of UK or Irish tax and law you will need to pass the UK or Irish variants in order to be eligible for a practising certificate and audit qualification.
ACCA has made amendments to the time limits and the exemptions policy in regard to the audit qualification in line with The Financial Reporting Council and Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority's requirements.
Students who registered prior to 1 January 2016 and who were awarded exemptions from all exams in the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams are required to complete Strategic Professional exams within five years should they wish to subsequently apply for an ACCA practising certificate and audit qualification.
Similarly, for a UK practising certificate and audit qualification, students who first registered on or after 1 January 2010 and are eligible for exemption from all or part of the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams based on a qualifications gained more than five years previously (at the date of initial registration as an ACCA student) will forfeit these exemptions and be required to complete these exams.
Students who fail to meet this requirement will not be eligible to apply for a practising certificate and audit qualification.
For all students registering from 1 January 2016 the rules are as follows:
Students who fail to meet these requirements will not be eligible to apply for a practising certificate and audit qualification.
Please check ACCA's Exemptions calculator in the first instance. If the exemptions awarded to you match those stated, this is the maximum exemption available to you.
If you have not received all of the exemptions stated on the Exemptions calculator for your qualification, please ensure that you have submitted all of your relevant educational documents.
If your exemption award differs from that stated on the Exemptions calculator and you have submitted all of the required supporting documentation, please contact ACCA Connect.