If you already hold a relevant qualification, you may not need to sit all 13 ACCA exams. Exemptions let you skip papers ACCA recognises as already covered by your prior learning.
ACCA exemptions: Quick summary
ACCA awards a maximum of 9 exemptions, and only for Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers. Strategic Professional is never exempted, regardless of your background.US CPA holders get 8, ACA and Indian CA (ICAI) members get the full 9, and Indian CMA (ICMAI) members get 9 with 5 years’ experience.
CIMA is more complicated than most sources suggest, it depends heavily on when you completed it, ranging from 9 down to just 3 for anyone who finished from 2025 onwards.
Exemptions aren’t compulsory, and you can forfeit ones you’re not confident in. Always confirm your specific entitlement using ACCA’s own exemptions calculator.
What is an ACCA exemption?
An exemption means you don’t have to sit an ACCA exam because ACCA recognises that a qualification you already hold covers the same knowledge and skills. It lets you start at the level that matches what you’ve already learned, rather than repeating material from scratch.
Exemptions are assessed rigorously. ACCA reviews the institution, the type of qualification, the specific modules studied, and even the year you completed them, since syllabuses and accreditation change over time. That last point matters more than most articles on this topic admit, as the CIMA section below shows.
How many exemptions can I get overall?
The maximum is 9 exemptions, and they only apply to Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers, never Strategic Professional. This cap exists deliberately, ACCA wants every member to share a common Strategic Professional experience regardless of their entry route.
How many exemptions you actually get depends on your specific qualification, institution, and sometimes even your graduation year. We tested the figures below directly against ACCA’s own exemptions calculator rather than relying on secondary sources, but you should still confirm your own case using ACCA’s exemptions calculator.
| Prior qualification | Exemptions | Papers |
|---|---|---|
| CPA (US, any state board) | 8 | Everything except Financial Reporting (FR) |
| ACA (ICAEW, fully qualified) | 9 | All Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills |
| CA (ICAI, India, fully qualified) | 9 | All Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills |
| CMA (ICMAI, India, ACMA/FCMA + 5 years’ experience) | 9 | All Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills |
| CMA (IMA, US, fully qualified) | 3 | BT, MA, FA |
| AAT (Level 4, Professional Diploma in Accounting) | 3 | BT, MA, FA |
| CIMA, completed 2025 onwards | 3 | BT, MA, FA |
| CIMA, completed 2016-2024 | 5 | BT, MA, FA, PM, FM |
| CIMA, completed through 2015 | 9 | All Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills |
| CFA (charterholder or Level 3 pass) | 1 | Widely reported as a single Financial Accounting (FA) exemption, although we couldn’t verify this on the ACCA exemption calculator ourselves. We’ve written to ACCA directly and will update this once we hear back |
| CAIA, FRM, CFP | None found | No exemption listing exists for any of these in ACCA’s database |
A word of caution on CIMA specifically. You’ll find some sources online confidently stating CIMA gets you 9 ACCA exemptions. That’s only true if you completed CIMA before 2016. The exemption has been reduced twice since then.
Do I have to accept the exemptions I’m offered?
No, and this is worth thinking about rather than accepting automatically. ACCA explicitly allows you to forfeit exemptions you’d rather not take, and even suggests considering it if significant time has passed since you gained the original qualification, or if you’re not entirely comfortable with the topics an exempted paper would have covered.
There’s also a specific case worth knowing about if you’re considering the University of London BSc Professional Accountancy: part of its eligibility criteria requires you to have actually passed Financial Reporting, Taxation, and Audit and Assurance, not been exempted from them. Claiming those exemptions would rule you out.
If you decide to forfeit an exemption, you need to notify ACCA within 14 days to get a fee refund. After that window, exemption fees become non-refundable.
What if I want to become a UK or Irish registered auditor?
This is a genuinely easy trap to miss. If you’re awarded exemptions based on a qualification that was more than 5 years old at the time the exemption was granted, you may later be required to forfeit those exemptions and sit the actual exams if you want a UK or Irish practising certificate and audit qualification.
There are also time limits tied to when you complete different exam levels once you’re on this specific pathway. If audit is even a possibility for your career, it’s worth checking ACCA’s audit qualification rules directly before assuming your exemptions are settled for good.
How much do ACCA exemptions cost?
You pay a fee for each exemption awarded: £98 per Applied Knowledge exemption and £123 per Applied Skills exemption, matching ACCA’s standard UK exam entry fees at each level. See our ACCA fees guide for the full current fee breakdown.
How do I check and apply for my ACCA exemptions?
Use ACCA’s exemptions calculator to get an initial indication based on your qualification and institution. You’ll then need to submit official proof, certificates and transcripts, with certified translations if they’re not in English, as part of your application.
If you’re still completing a qualification, ACCA offers conditional exemptions up to the Financial Management (FM) exam. These convert to confirmed exemptions once you submit evidence that you’ve graduated and passed all required modules.
You can also apply for further exemptions at any point after you’ve registered, if you complete an additional qualification later. Just wait until any new exemptions are formally confirmed before committing to study materials or a course of tuition for those papers.
FAQs
Up to a maximum of 9, and only for Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers. Strategic Professional is never exempted. Your actual number depends on your specific qualification, institution, and in some cases your graduation year.
Only if you completed CIMA before 2016. The exemption has been reduced twice since then, to 5 (BT, MA, FA, PM, FM) for those who finished between 2016 and 2024, and to just 3 (BT, MA, FA) for anyone completing from 2025 onwards.
Yes, AAT Level 4 (the Professional Diploma) exempts you from the three Applied Knowledge papers (BT, MA, FA), letting you start at Applied Skills level.
This is widely reported as a single exemption from Financial Accounting (FA), although we haven’t been able to verify it directly through ACCA’s own exemptions calculator. We’ve contacted ACCA directly for confirmation and will update this once we have a verified answer.
No, exemptions are optional. You can forfeit ones you’re not confident in, particularly if time has passed since you gained the original qualification, though you must notify ACCA within 14 days of being awarded the exemption to get a fee refund.
£98 per Applied Knowledge exemption and £123 per Applied Skills exemption, the same as ACCA’s standard UK exam entry fees at each level.
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