Introduction

Welcome to the ACCA Financial Accounting (FA/FFA) course.

The FA/FFA course is one of the three courses in ACCA’s Applied Knowledge level. ACCA describes it as providing “a broad introduction to the world of finance and developing essential understanding and techniques in accounting.”

If you’d like to see how FA/FFA fits into the full qualification pathway, refer to the ACCA Qualification.

This course also supports ACCA’s Foundational Level awards (certificates and diplomas), including the ACCA Diploma in Accounting and Business and the Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) qualification. In other words, you can use the same FA/FFA content to prepare for either:

• ACCA qualification exams, or
• Foundational level awards exams offered by ACCA

For details on those awards, see the Eligibility section below.

ACCA defines the main objective of FA/FFA as developing “knowledge and understanding of the underlying principles and concepts relating to financial accounting and technical proficiency in the use of double-entry bookkeeping, including the preparation of basic financial statements.”

Eligibility

Eligibility to enrol in the ACCA qualification varies by country. Check the requirements here: ACCA Minimum Entrance Requirements.

If you’re not eligible for the ACCA qualification exams, explore the Foundations in Accountancy (FIA) courses.

The FA/FFA syllabus

This course follows the ACCA FA/FFA syllabus closely.

The syllabus organises the exam into nine (9) broad modules (A to I). Each module is divided into sub-modules with specific learning objectives. Exam questions are written to assess those objectives.

ACCA classifies objectives as either:

• Knowledge: recalling concepts and definitions
• Skills: applying, analysing, and synthesising concepts in context

For the full syllabus and learning objectives, refer to the ACCA FA/FFA Syllabus and Study Guide, the September 2026 to June 2027 edition. ACCA lists the standards examinable in this period in a separate examinable documents document: IFRS 18 replaced IAS 1, which is no longer examinable, so older materials that teach IAS 1 may be out of date.

How to use this course

This course is aligned to the FA/FFA syllabus and is organised into nine (9) chapters, matching the nine syllabus modules. Each chapter contains sub-chapters.

In each sub-chapter, you’ll see the relevant syllabus learning objectives. After you complete a sub-chapter, take the accompanying quiz to check how well you’ve met those objectives.

If you score below 70% on a sub-chapter quiz, or you miss questions you can’t explain, don’t move on yet. Review the sub-chapter and make sure you understand the ideas before continuing. The course builds from chapter to chapter, so gaps early on can make later topics - especially skills-based ones - much harder.

You’ll also find articles written by the ACCA FA/FFA examination team on topics students often find challenging. Read these as you reach the relevant topics. They’re useful for clarifying tricky areas and highlighting common mistakes to avoid.

For Modules 7 and 8 (which include multi-task questions in the exam style described below), plan to repeat the walkthrough questions several times. These questions often feel more demanding because they combine multiple steps and require careful exam technique.

Exam format

The FA/FFA exam is a 2-hour computer-based examination (CBE) with two sections:

• Section A: 35 objective test questions, worth 2 marks each (70 marks total)
• Section B: 2 multi-task questions, worth 15 marks each (30 marks total)

Both sections share the same 120-minute time limit - there’s no separate time allowance for each section, which works out to about 1.2 minutes per mark.

ACCA’s on-demand CBEs use four objective test question types: multiple choice (two-mark questions have four options), multiple response, multiple response matching, and number entry. Section B can also include gap-fill tasks (number entry or drop-down) and hotspot tasks.

Section B mainly tests Modules 7 and 8 of this course (syllabus sections G and H): accounts preparation (G, Preparing financial statements) and consolidations (H, Preparing basic consolidated financial statements).

These questions typically ask you to prepare financial statements (or extracts), such as the statement of profit or loss, statement of financial position, or statement of cash flows. The accounts preparation question may be set for a sole trader or a limited company, and the consolidation question may include a small amount of interpretation, such as ratio calculations.

According to ACCA’s examining team technical article Exam structure of FA/FFA, multi-task questions are automatically marked, so the own figure rule isn’t available - each part is designed to be independent, meaning an error in one part won’t carry forward to later parts.

A specimen question is provided at the end of the content for practice.

You need a score of 50% or higher to pass. For calculations, you may bring a noiseless, cordless pocket calculator with no printout or graphic/word display; in a remote exam, the computer’s on-screen calculator can’t be used.

Booking and results

FA is an on-demand exam with no fixed sessions, so you can sit it any time of year. Book it directly with an exam centre - use Find an on-demand exam centre to locate one; where there’s none in your country, you may be able to sit remotely. Your result shows on screen at the end of the exam and uploads to your ACCA account within 72 hours. For fees and exam-day rules, see the Wrapping up chapter.

FA is changing in July 2027

ACCA is redesigning its qualification. K1 Financial Accounting replaces FA at the new Knowledge level, with exams available on demand from July 2027. A pass in FA earns transition credit toward K1 (FFA earns credit toward both F1 Accounts Preparation and K1). ACCA’s transition guidance sets mid-July 2027 as the deadline to complete current exams, with exact dates still to be confirmed.

K1 keeps FA’s exam format:

• Two-hour CBE: 35 two-mark objective test questions and two 15-mark multi-task questions
• Pass mark of 50%
• New coverage of payroll and partnerships

See ACCA’s transition guidance for details.

Tips for success

Make steady progress through the material:

• Read the content carefully.
• Click Complete at the end of each chapter.
• Keep up with your assigned reviews.
• Where it helps, create simple mental pictures of processes (for example, how a transaction flows through double-entry bookkeeping into the financial statements).
• If you work in a finance-related role, connect the concepts to what you see at work - practical links often make the rules easier to remember and apply.

For guidance on how the platform works, see the Achievable method.

If you want to study on your phone, see study on the go for instructions on turning the program into an app.

Consistency matters more than occasional long study sessions. A practical starting point is 20-30 minutes per day. As the exam gets closer, increase your study time.

As you work, watch for patterns in your mistakes. When you can name what you’re struggling with (for example, “I keep mixing up debit and credit entries” or “I’m slow at preparing statements”), you can target your review time more effectively.