ICAEW ACA Certificate Level Exams: Every Module, the Format, the Pass Mark and the Order to Sit Them

The ACA Certificate Level is six computer-based exams that you can sit at any time of year. Each is 1.5 or 2 hours long and each has a 55% pass mark. Since ICAEW launched the Next Generation ACA in September 2025, the six modules are Accounting Fundamentals, Assurance and Risk Fundamentals, Business Insight and Performance, Business Law, Sustainability and Ethics, and Tax Fundamentals. This guide sets out how each exam is built, how credit and resits work, and the order I suggest to trainees. The figures come from ICAEW's 2025–2026 syllabus handbook and student pages. Where a detail depends on your own circumstances, such as fees or credit, I point you to the official page.

If you want the story of what changed from the old modules (Accounting, Assurance, Law, Management Information, Principles of Taxation and BTF), read our guide to the 2025 changes. This article is about passing the exams as they are now.

The Six Exams at a Glance

Accounting Fundamentals: 2 hours

60% of the marks come from 24 multiple choice, multi-part multiple choice or multiple response questions. The other 40% comes from two long-form questions: a 25-mark question preparing a single company's statement of financial position and statement of profit or loss from a trial balance, and a 15-mark question adjusting a draft set of financial statements for year-end transactions or correction of errors. Syllabus weightings: accounting concepts, ethics and sustainability 15%; maintaining financial records 20%; adjustments 20%; preparing financial statements 45%.

Assurance and Risk Fundamentals: 1.5 hours

50 questions worth two marks each. Weightings: the concept, process and need for assurance 20%; risk, internal controls and information flows 25%; obtaining assurance evidence 35%; professional ethics and regulatory issues 20%.

Business Insight and Performance: 2 hours

One scenario-based question carries 20% of the marks and covers a single area: costing and pricing, budgeting and forecasting, performance management, or management decision making. The other 80% comes from 32 objective questions. This is the successor to Management Information; our Business Insight and Performance guide goes through it in detail.

Business Law: 1.5 hours

50 questions worth two marks each. Company and insolvency law is 40% of the syllabus and the impact of civil law (contract, negligence, employment) is 30%, so those two areas carry most of the marks.

Sustainability and Ethics: 1.5 hours

50 equally weighted questions across ten syllabus areas, from the pillars of sustainability to the fundamental ethical principles, threats and safeguards, and data ethics. No area is larger than 14%, so you cannot pass by mastering one topic.

Tax Fundamentals: 2 hours

Two 10-mark scenario questions, one on income tax and NIC and one on corporation tax, plus 40 objective questions that can include numeric entry. The tax tables from the ICAEW learning materials are provided on screen. ICAEW made this exam available from December 2025, later than the other five.

Pass Mark, Results and Attempts

Pass mark: 55% for every Certificate Level exam. That is higher than ACCA's 50%, so aim for 65% or more in mocks before you book.
Results: ICAEW says Certificate Level results are only available online.
Attempts: ICAEW's regulations allow four attempts at each Certificate Level exam. An attempt is recorded once you have seen the exam content, so starting the exam and leaving still counts. Not turning up, or withdrawing before the exam, does not. Your employer can set a lower limit in your training contract, so check it.
Where you sit: exams are computer-based. ICAEW has exam centres around the world and also supports remotely invigilated sittings; the options open to you show when you book through ICAEW's book an exam page. If you are on a training contract, your employer or tuition provider may book for you.

Exemptions: Credit for Prior Learning

ICAEW calls exemptions credit for prior learning (CPL). Credit is available only at Certificate and Professional Level, never for the Advanced Level case studies. To check what you are entitled to:

Search your degree or professional qualification in ICAEW's CPL directory. During the transition it shows both the old and the Next Generation exams, so make sure you are reading the Next Generation column.
If your qualification is not listed, ICAEW's guidance is to email the CPL team with your certificate and a list of the exams you passed.
You cannot claim credit for an exam you have already sat, so apply before you book.
Credit carries a fee per exam. It changes each year, so take the current figure from ICAEW's CPL FAQs rather than from a forum.

Before you claim, ask whether you want the exemption at all. Accounting Fundamentals is the base for everything at Professional Level. If your degree covered it two years ago and you are rusty, sitting the exam may be the cheaper option in the long run.

The Order to Sit Them

ICAEW lets you take the exams in any order; only the Advanced Level case studies must wait until you have passed or been credited with everything else. So the order below is my recommendation, not a rule. It follows how the knowledge builds.

1. Accounting Fundamentals. Double entry is the language of the other five. Assurance questions on evidence assume you know what a receivables ledger or an accrual is.
2. Assurance and Risk Fundamentals. Taken straight after Accounting Fundamentals, controls over sales, purchases and payroll make sense because you have just been recording those transactions.
3. Business Insight and Performance. A different kind of numbers (costing, budgets, variances, decisions). It also introduces the data and technology topics that come back at Professional Level.
4. Business Law and Sustainability and Ethics. Mostly recall and application of rules, and only 1.5 hours each. They fit well around busy season, when you have less time for numerical practice. Sustainability and Ethics also supports the ethics content running through the whole ACA.
5. Tax Fundamentals. Leave it until you can give it a solid block, ideally close to when you will need it at work. It is the most rule-heavy calculation exam, and you need to know which tax year's rules your exam is based on, which ICAEW states in its exam guidance.

If your employer sets a different sequence through a tuition provider, follow it. The logic above is most useful if you are self-studying or sitting ICAEW CFAB, which is made up of the same six exams.

A Worked Example of the Pass-Mark Arithmetic

In Business Law, 50 questions at 2 marks give 100 marks, so 55% means 28 correct answers (56 marks); 27 correct answers is 54% and a fail. In 1.5 hours you have 1.8 minutes per question. If you average two minutes, you run out of time with about five questions unread. That is 10 marks lost before you have got anything wrong. Practise at 1.5 minutes per question so you finish with a few minutes to spare for review.

In Accounting Fundamentals, the 40 long-form marks need roughly 48 of your 120 minutes at the same rate per mark. Students who spend 70 minutes making the trial balance question balance perfectly usually fail on the objective questions they rushed.

Free Practice for Each Module

We do not have a Tax Fundamentals bank yet. For ten mixed questions a day across the five banks, play the ICAEW daily challenge. Everything for the ACA is collected on the ICAEW exam hub.

FAQs

What is the pass mark for ICAEW Certificate Level exams?
55% for all six exams.

How long are the Certificate Level exams?
Accounting Fundamentals, Business Insight and Performance and Tax Fundamentals are 2 hours. Assurance and Risk Fundamentals, Business Law and Sustainability and Ethics are 1.5 hours.

Can I sit the Certificate Level exams in any order?
Yes. ICAEW only restricts the Advanced Level case studies, which come after everything else.

How many attempts do I get?
Four at each Certificate Level exam under ICAEW's regulations, unless your employer sets a lower limit.

Is the Certificate Level the same as ICAEW CFAB?
ICAEW CFAB is made up of the same six exams as the ACA Certificate Level. If you later move to the ACA, check with ICAEW how your passes are carried across.

How much do the exams cost?
Fees change annually and are often paid by training employers. Check ICAEW's ACA fees page for current figures.

Sources

ICAEW, Next Generation ACA Syllabus Handbook 2025–2026 (exam durations, methods of assessment, specification grids, pass marks)
ICAEW, Business, finance and accountancy exams (availability from September 2025, Tax Fundamentals from December 2025)
ICAEW, ICAEW launches Next Generation qualification
ICAEW, ACA exam FAQs (exam order, attempts, results)
ICAEW, Assessment regulations
ICAEW, Credit for prior learning FAQs and CPL directory