Exam regulations

The following Exam Regulations apply to candidates sitting Centre and Remotely-Invigilated On-Demand and/or Session Exams, as well as those taking internally assessed ACCA courses.

1. You are required to adhere at all times to ACCA’s Rulebook, the Exam Regulations and Exam Guidelines. If you are found to be in breach of any of the Exam Regulations or fail to adhere to the Exam Guidelines, you may become liable to disciplinary action pursuant to ACCA’s bye-law 8, which could result in your removal from the student register. You are liable to disciplinary action in accordance with the bye-laws, regulations and guidelines in force at the time of the breach. However, all disciplinary proceedings, shall be conducted in accordance with the byelaws and Complaints and Disciplinary Regulations in force at the time of such proceedings.

2. You are required to promptly comply in all respects with any instructions issued by ACCA, the exam supervisor(s), invigilator(s), remote invigilator(s), proctor(s), or any ACCA personnel before, during and at the conclusion of an exam.  

3. You must not give false or misleading information to  the exam supervisor(s), invigilator(s), remote invigilator(s), proctor(s) or any ACCA personnel.  

4. You are not permitted to possess (whether at your desk or on or about your person), use or attempt to use any notes, books or other written materials (whether in electronic form or otherwise) except those expressly permitted within the Exam Guidelines. These are known as ‘unauthorised materials’.

5(a) The use of dictionaries, electronic devices, and/or translators of any kind is not permitted during the exam by you or any other person. You must not have on or at your desk a calculator which can store or display text. Further, the use of any electronic communication device, camera, smart watch, or any other item with photographic, recording or smart technology functionality, including mobile phones, is not permitted by you or any other person (unless the exam is being conducted remotely in which case the mobile phone must only be used only in accordance with ACCA’s Exam Guidelines). Such items are regarded as ‘unauthorised items’ and are taken into the examination room at the candidate’s own risk.

5(b) ‘Unauthorised items’ must not be worn, or placed on your desk, in pockets of clothing, in your bag or personal belongings, or be kept anywhere else on or about your person or desk by you or another person. If you, or another person, bring ‘unauthorised items’ to the exam, you must declare them to the exam personnel prior to the start of the exam. For Centre-Based exams, mobile phones (or communication devices of any type), smartwatches or other wearable technology, must be switched off and stored as directed by the examination personnel.

6(a) If you breach exam regulation 4, or permit another person to act contrary to exam regulation 4, and the ‘unauthorised materials’ are relevant to the syllabus being examined; it will be assumed that you, and/or the other person, intended to use them to gain an unfair advantage for you, or others, in the exam and/or a future exam. In any subsequent disciplinary proceedings, you will have to prove that you, and/or the other person, did not intend to use the ‘unauthorised materials’ to gain an unfair advantage for you, or others, in the exam and/or a future exam.

6(b) If you breach exam regulation 5(a) and/or 5(b), or permit another person to act contrary to those exam regulations, it will be assumed that you, and/or the other person, intended to use the ‘unauthorised items’ to gain an unfair advantage for you or others in the exam and/or a future exam. In any subsequent disciplinary proceedings, you will have to prove that you, and/or the other person, did not intend to use the ‘unauthorised items’ to gain an unfair advantage for you, or others, in the exam and/or a future exam.

7. You (irrespective of if you are a licensed weapon holder), are not allowed to attend your exam with a weapon. If you are found to have a weapon in your possession you will be excluded from the exam without any reimbursement.

8. Supervisor(s), invigilator(s), remote invigilator(s), proctor(s) and ACCA personnel are obliged to report any suspected cases of irregularity or improper conduct to ACCA. They are also empowered to discontinue your exam if you are suspected of irregular or improper conduct and to remove or exclude you from the exam room.

9. If you breach exam regulation 2 and/or fail to disclose to the supervisor(s), invigilator(s), remote invigilator(s) or proctor(s), any ‘unauthorised materials’ or ‘unauthorised items’ which they reasonably suspect you have in your possession, it will be assumed the ‘unauthorised materials’ are relevant to the syllabus being examined and that you intended to use the ‘unauthorised materials’ and/or ‘unauthorised items’ to gain an unfair advantage for you or others.

10. You may not engage in any irregular conduct designed to assist you in any exam attempt or provide any improper assistance to any other exam entrant in any exam attempt.

11. If you are taking a computer-based exam you are not permitted to copy exam content in any manner or take photograph(s) or videos of your screen or permit any other person to do the same.

12. If you are taking a Remote On-Demand exam and you are permitted scrap paper, you must destroy all scrap paper on screen in front of your remote invigilator/proctor as instructed by them at the end of your exam before you end your examination session.

13. Exam content (questions, scenarios, format) is owned by ACCA. You are prohibited from copying, photographing, videoing or reproducing in any manner exam content (questions, scenarios and/or format) or permitting another person to do the same. You are strictly prohibited from distributing or seeking to exploit for commercial/personal gain and/or any other reason, copies of exam questions or scenarios to any person including other ACCA registered candidates.

14. To maintain the integrity of ACCA examinations, you must report to ACCA if you have been able to access, or you become aware that someone else has had access, to any exam content directly or indirectly before, during or after you sit an exam.  

15. Candidates must not whisper or speak out loud during the exam or communicate or attempt to communicate with any person, or permit another person to communicate with them, other than the exam supervisor(s), invigilator(s) or remote invigilator(s) or proctor(s). This includes from the time that you log into the remote proctoring platform until 5 minutes after the time that you submit your exam, or your exam is terminated. 

16. For Session Exams only you must not leave the room where you are sitting your exam early, i.e. before the time limit allocated for the exam expires, and you must remain under invigilator/proctor supervision for the entire exam duration. For the avoidance of doubt, this also applies before the exam has started if you have been seated at your designated computer workstation (applicable to centre-based exams only) or after you have verified your identity and room set up and successfully checked in for the exam (applicable for Remote Invigilated Exams only).  If you leave an exam early you will be in breach of this regulation and you will be reported to ACCA for further investigation, unless authorised to do so by the exam supervisor(s), invigilator(s), or proctor(s) or if there are emergency circumstances.

17. You must not attempt to access and/or obtain your examination results prior to ACCA’s official published results release date.

18. Candidates must not conduct themselves in an inappropriate way (including not using vulgar, offensive, abusive language or behavior and not engaging in any illegal activity).

19. If you are taking a Remotely Invigilated Exam, no one else is permitted in the room in which you are sitting your exam. This includes from the time that you log into the remote exam platform until 5 minutes after the time that you submit your exam, or your exam is terminated.

20. If ACCA suspects, or has cause to believe, that there has been irregular conduct and/or identifies anomalous testing results in connection with your examination (identified during the examination itself or identified by ACCA after the examination), it reserves the right to nullify your exam result, 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 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.

21. ACCA reserves the right to change these Exam Regulations and Exam Guidelines at any time without prior notice in accordance with its bye-laws. In the event that any changes are made, the revised Exam Regulations and Exam Guidelines shall be posted on ACCA’s website immediately. Please check the latest information on www.accaglobal.com to inform yourself of any changes. 

22. You are not permitted to book or sit remotely invigilated exams in a location where ACCA does not offer remotely invigilated exams.

23. If ACCA has reason to believe that a booking has been made for a remotely invigilated exam to be taken in a location where ACCA does not offer such exams, it may cancel your exam entry without a refund of your exam fee.

24. If ACCA has reason to believe you have sat a remotely invigilated exam in a location where ACCA does not offer remotely invigilated exams, the exam result will be nullified, and no refund will be issued.

25. You are not permitted to take a remotely invigilated exam using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). If you do so, your result will be nullified, and no refund will be issued.