As you complete the ACCA Qualification you will have the choice to take some exams which reflect where in the world you want to work and what areas of finance you want to specialise on. You can read more about these choices on this page.
Variant exams
Tax and law variants
In a number of countries, you have the opportunity of taking exams based on national tax and law – referred to as variant exams.
Variant are available for the following exams:
- Corporate and Business Law (LW)
- Taxation (TX)
- Advanced Taxation (ATX)
Auditing standards
You have the option of taking the accounting and auditing papers based on international standards or UK standards, or taking exams based on national standards in certain countries.
The following exams are based on international standards for financial reporting and auditing:
- Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
- Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)
Options exams - choose and specialise
ACCA is unique in allowing you to focus on the specialist areas of professional accountancy at an advanced level, giving you the chance to focus on those areas of finance which you are good at and would like to focus on in your career.
At Strategic Professional you must complete two from the following four Options exams.
- Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
- Advanced Performance Management (APM)
- Advanced Taxation (ATX)
- Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA).
When you are choosing your Options exam choices, think about which exams best reflect your strengths and which exams best reflect the experience you have gained or the career you want to have.
To help you reflect on where your strengths, think about how well you understand the concepts in the corresponding Fundamentals exam.
You should read the Essential underpinning for Options papers document to learn more, which can be downloaded from the 'Related documents' section of this page.
You can read a brief overview of the Options papers in the following sections.
If you have work experience in financial management, or have ambitions to work in this area, this exam could be a good choice for you.
Advanced Financial Management (AFM) is designed to enable you to learn relevant knowledge, techniques and skills, and to exercise professional judgment, in recommending or taking decisions relating to the financial management of a business.
It is mainly underpinned by Financial Management (FM). We have found that if you have a good knowledge of FM then you are more likely to pass AFM.
Even if you were exempted FM it is a good idea to look at the essential underpinning knowledge from FM to check how familiar you are with the concepts you will need to build on for AFM.
If you have work experience in performance management, or have ambitions to work in this area, this exam could be a good choice for you.
Advanced Performance Management (APM) is designed to enable you to learn relevant knowledge, techniques and skills relating to strategic performance management techniques and systems.
The exam is mainly underpinned by Performance Management (PM). We have found that if you have a good knowledge of PM then you are more likely to pass APM.
Even if you were exempted PM it is a good idea to look at the essential underpinning knowledge from PM to check how familiar you are with the concepts you will need to build on for APM.
If you have work experience in taxation, or have ambitions to work in this area, this exam could be a good choice for you.
Advanced Taxation (ATX) is designed to enable you to be able to provide clients – both individuals and businesses – with the information and advice they require regarding the impact that the major taxes have on their financial decisions and situations.
The exam is mainly underpinned by Taxation (TX). We have found that if you have a good knowledge of TX then you are more likely to pass ATX.
Even if you were exempted TX it is a good idea to look at the essential underpinning knowledge from TX to check how familiar you are with the concepts you will need to build on for ATX.
If you have work experience in audit and assurance, or have ambitions to work in this area, this exam could be a good choice for you.
Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) is designed to enable you to apply relevant knowledge and skills in evaluating and concluding on audit and assurance engagements.
The exam is mainly underpinned by Audit and Assurance (AA). We have found that if you have a good knowledge of AA then you are more likely to pass AAA.
Even if you were exempted AA it is a good idea to look at the essential underpinning knowledge from AA to check how familiar you are with the concepts you will need to build on for AAA.
Further information
You can use the ACCA career navigator to see how the different Options exams relate to different job roles.
