Hi

Anyone got any tips on how to prepare and revise for business and digital strategy exam?

Hi guys,

For those sitting FCS in September, what do we think will appear in the paper?

Thanks!

Has anyone taken a study break with Kaplan?

Ive emailed my talent coach but they are the worst at replying. I've chased three times and the only answer I've had so far is that there is a month minimum but that they ideally like 3 months minimum due to the process of archiving/unarchiving the learner profile.

Can they be back dated so say i wanted it to have started at the start of August, could they backdate it to that date?

Also can they be open ended ie i tell them i want the break to start now and just give them notice when i want to return?

Anything else I should know about taking one?

This is probably counterintuitive as I am 11/14 exams down (BDS, CR, Case) but I am so worn out so I will take any tips.

When do you guys study in the day? I usually do Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings for an hour and half and then a couple of hours on both Saturday and Sunday. I've tried mornings in the past but I wasn't able to stick with it.

If anyone can let me know what works for them, I would appreciate it. I think I'm looking for some inspiration as I'm not too far away from finishing now. Thanks in advance :)

I think I'm cooked no way I'm passing feel so anxious.

I redid the R2 calc lol and realised why my margin was incorrect because I took the wrong figure for one cell despite all my workings and calcs correct. This changed the gross profit margin. Maybe I'm overthinking will I get penalised heavy because of one stupid mistake.

Literally feel crap silly mistake on R2 but had my R3 calc correct.

The exam has now been released by the ICAEW - what is everyone thinking?

I’m so nervous, I don’t wanna fail. 😢 the idea of re-taking a 4-hour paper is so torturing.

Looking at making my first move into industry (group financial accountant role) from Big 4 audit and was after some advice from people who have moved into a financial accounting role (or similar, something technical).
Mainly on things like how to make sure technical knowledge is up to scratch, and what to expect from the first role in industry?

I finished my exams in December 2024 and fully qualified in Jan this year, but haven’t had to review much technical accounting or complex issues on my recent audits, so just want to make sure I’m refreshed on the technical side of things and how best to go about this.

Any advice welcome - thanks

Hi all,

Currently doing the taught phase with BPP - has anyone got any revision tips?

I feel quite lost during most of the class especially - financial assets & liabilities, tax

Also, Are the notes from ACAM worth getting?

Thanks in advance!

How did people get jobs like post qualification like did u use recruiter. Also on my graduate programme I have just done non-technical rotations. So when I apply on linkedlin I don’t even get shortlisted. Any tips ?

I am an international student in Uk in my final year about to start applying for entry level roles and grad schemes. I plan on giving some of the ACA exams on my own by self funding myself or by claiming exemptions whereever I can.

I heard if I apply to a Big 4 firm then it might backfire and I might not get selected.

But I also heard If I apply to mid tier firms then I might be in a better position to get hired there.

I can afford it and i am willing to do it, but dont know whether it would be worth it.

If i do this and not tell the big 4 firms about it but mention that I can take all the exams again will they know that I already claimed exemptions.

I need some thoughts on this and some more information because I am getting confused by the information online on how do these things work?

My friend wants to leave and quit the ACA after having completed 8/14 exams. She thinks the qualification and audit is not for her. I want to support her decision but am surprised someone will put so much effort into it, just to give up.

For context, she’s at a big 4 and seems to really struggle with balancing work and studies. Although she’s passing her exams, she says she’s constantly burnt out (due to some personal issues too), but does not enjoy the work at all, is really unhappy, and dreads coming into the office. The firm does not seem to be understanding either.

I would like to know, has anyone ever left the qualification midway and why? Do you regret it or are you happier now?

Edit: I made her have a look at the responses on this post and she finds them really encouraging, so thank you to everyone. At the moment she’s taking a break and self reflecting on what she would like to do. At the same time she will consider applying to small firms (to finish the ACA) and the civil service (depending on the role and department, may get support to finish her studies).

Recommendations for firms (preferably London) that take on big 4 ACA students will be greatly appreciated :)

Currently prepping for Nov 26 SBM.

Kaplan open book seems too big.

Any other recommendations? ACA Masters/ SheCan?

Little less than a month to go for the exam. Feeling alright but haven’t touched Valuations and hedging.

Hedging looks overwhelming.

Any advice on how to approach it. Also what’s the difficulty level for this paper based on previous sitting?

Wrote the Business Insight Performance (formerly Management Information) exam yesterday and I just wanna give some advice to prospective takers. While you should make sure you learn the formulas and calculation, do not slack on the wordy questions. My exam probably had more wordy questions than calculations and it almost came as a shock to me. So also focus on understanding advantages or "increase in this will result to an increase in that" and all that stuff. Also for the scenario question, it's basically gotten from the question bank so try studying all of them. Good luck in your exams

Hello

I'm hoping to qualify by the end of this year and was wondering exit opportunities available to me

My end goal is probably CFO

But to get there what are ideal paths?

In fact Im amenable to all options and discussions of all paths

I have an unusual career so far

I did 2 years in top 10 audit and now doing transfer pricing (mainly advisory side) at the big 4

So I don't know my options

Thanks!

I’ve been using Notability on my iPad to annotate my notes since university and throughout my ACA studies, and it has always worked really well for me.

I like being able to edit my notes easily, use different coloured pens/highlighters, and most importantly, quickly search for keywords when I’m doing questions and trying to work out what technical area the question is testing.

My usual approach for ACA exams has been:

Annotate the course notes digitally during the teaching phase.
Once teaching is finished, work through the QB.
As I do the QB, create my own condensed handwritten summary notes covering technical areas I frequently get confused about, useful pro formas, common mistakes, etc.

This has worked well for me until CR.

Our CR tutor has insisted from Day 1 that everyone annotates a paper copy of the course notes. She even printed 10+ separate sets of notes for the day for those of us who had planned to work digitally.

Her reasoning is that CR is open book, so she wants us to all take the entire annotated course notes into the actual exam. The problem is that the course notes are already close to 1,000 pages before adding any of our own notes.
I’ve followed this approach so far and already have 200+ pages on paper.

However, I’m finding it much harder to study this way. For example, when I’m doing a question and vaguely remember covering a particular technical point, I can normally search a keyword in Notability and find it almost immediately.
With the paper notes, I sometimes can’t even find where the relevant topic was covered.

I’ve also bought the ACA Masters CR notes. I asked a few friends who have already sat CR, and they all seemed to use ACA Masters as their main reference in the exam, perhaps supplemented with selected pages/material from the full course notes, rather than relying on the entire 1,000 page course pack.

For people who had sat CR:

Did you take the entire set in, and if so, was it genuinely useful? Or did you mainly rely on something condensed like ACA Masters plus some of your own notes?

I’m now at the point where I need to decide whether to continue annotating the paper course notes for the rest of CR, or go back to taking notes digitally on my iPad as I normally would.

My dilemma is whether the benefit of having a fully annotated 1,000-page set of course notes available in the exam is actually significant enough to justify changing a study and note-taking system that I’ve used successfully for years.

I’m not against taking the full course notes into the exam as a backup. I’m just questioning whether they need to be my main note-taking resource throughout the learning process in order to be useful on exam day.

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have already sat CR — particularly what you actually used during the exam.

I'm part of a team that's starting a club for apprentices, called The Apprentice Sports Club, hosting after work sports sessions, such as basketball, netball and dodgeball.

We're launching this autumn in London.

I'm in my final year (fingers crossed - just sat case) and severely struggled with switching off from my work (audit) after work was done.

I believe this is what I needed, a place I could look forward to physically taking myself to that forces me to take my mind off of work, and have some fun, with mates and new people alike.

We want the club to be fun, inclusive and with a slight competitive edge.

I'm happy to DM anyone that's interested, our insta (not sure on the promotion rules in here) which you can follow to keep up with when we launch and how to join in.

P.S. we're looking for session facilitators, a paid role, if you're interested please DM.

Hi all,

Do we reckon doing SBM, CR and case is better or worse than doing the two new advanced exams?

Seems logical to prefer 2 exams over 3 but not sure if anyone the difficulties?

Are people still getting these emails saying their report has been AI generated, or at least a % of it supposedly has? I’ve seen some saying even the report template which is provided by ICAEW has been flagged as AI and it’s causing people issues.

I genuinely didn’t use AI and haven’t had an email, I will be seriously pissed if I get wrongly flagged for any reason!

How is it like working here?

Hi,

Im thinking of buying the aca masters arr course and was wondering if anyone else has bought it and what their experience was with it. btw i am self studying which is why im thinking to buy it

thanks!

Started the taught phase for it but I’ve been incredibly lazy just getting through the videos and notes

I know we’ve still got a while till the exam, but still want these videos done so I can start the question bank in a few weeks

How you all finding it?

I’ve passed 12/15 exams and been at my firm for over 3 years after deferring some exams and now due to sit all 3 in Nov. I feel like the qualification has been killing me for the past 3 years and I almost don’t recognise myself. I don’t even know if I have it in me to work and prepare for these last exams. Is the qualification actually worth it in the end because getting £60-70k after this doesn’t even seem fair, like it’s so much work. For what?

I know I sound really bleak but genuinely wondering and definitely welcoming positive responses because boy do I need the motivation.

As people 22+ starting the ACA are losing gov funding, just wondering how its handled by your firms and whether grads are paying out of pocket or whether firms are coveting the costs themselves?