ACCA AA
Audit and Assurance (AA)
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Cheat sheet
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Give each week a clear focus.
ExploreCommon mistakes
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ExploreAbout this exam
Audit and Assurance (AA) is one of ACCA's Fundamentals-level exams, sitting within the Applied Skills stage of the ACCA Qualification. ACCA describes its purpose as developing knowledge and understanding of the process of carrying out the assurance engagement and its application in the context of the professional regulatory framework. It is aimed at students who have completed the earlier applied knowledge exams and who intend to work in audit, assurance or a related finance role where an understanding of how an audit is planned, performed and reported is essential. The syllabus is commonly organised around five areas: the audit framework and regulation, planning and risk assessment, internal control, audit evidence, and review and reporting. In practice this means you are expected to understand why an auditor is appointed, how risk is identified at the planning stage, how controls are evaluated, how evidence is gathered and documented, and how conclusions are expressed in the auditor's report. Preparation should combine a study text with question practice under timed conditions, focusing on written explanations as well as numerical or objective items. ACCA publishes pass rates for recent sessions and offers study resources, including the ACCA Study Hub, to support your preparation.
What you'll study
About ACCA AA preparation
What does the AA exam actually test?
ACCA states that the exam develops your knowledge and understanding of the process of carrying out the assurance engagement and its application in the context of the professional regulatory framework. Expect questions on regulation, risk assessment, internal control, evidence and reporting rather than pure bookkeeping.
How is the AA exam structured?
This page does not set out the current exam structure or section weightings, so check the official ACCA AA study support resources for the definitive format before you plan your revision. Do not rely on second-hand descriptions of the paper.
How long is the exam and what is the pass mark?
Those details are not given in the source material available here, so treat any figure you hear informally with caution and confirm it on ACCA's own AA pages. ACCA publishes pass rates for each session, which are shown on the AA study support page.
What were recent AA pass rates?
ACCA's AA page lists pass rates of 46% for September 2025, 46% for December 2025, 43% for March 2026, 47% for June 2026 and 45% for September 2026. These figures suggest a demanding but achievable paper.
How long should I spend studying?
The source does not specify a recommended number of study hours for AA, so any figure you see quoted elsewhere may be out of date. Plan backwards from your exam session and allocate enough time for both learning content and timed question practice.
Can I resit if I fail, and how often?
The retake policy and any sitting restrictions are not set out in the material available here, so confirm the current rules in ACCA's rules and regulations for students. In practice most candidates simply re-enter for a later session.
What is the best order to study the AA topics?
A logical sequence follows the audit itself: start with the framework and regulation, move to planning and risk assessment, then internal control, then evidence, and finish with review and reporting. This mirrors how an engagement progresses and makes later topics easier to absorb.
Why do candidates fail AA?
Common weaknesses are shallow answers that state a point without explaining why it matters, poor application to the scenario given, and running out of time on written requirements. Practising full responses under timed conditions and self-marking against the requirement verbs addresses all three.
Where can I find official study materials?
ACCA's AA study support page links to the ACCA Study Hub, which provides ACCA-produced study chapters, flashcards and practice questions, plus a personalised My Exam Performance tool that analyses previous exam performance to identify strengths and areas for improvement.