IAB Professional Practice study guide
IAB Professional Practice · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The IAB Professional Practice exam is a four-domain assessment for bookkeepers, payroll specialists and accountants working in or toward UK practice. The four domains are weighted equally at 25% each: Anti-Money Laundering Supervision, Bookkeeping, Payroll, and Accounting. The credential sits within a body that describes itself as an Ofqual regulated awarding organisation, an HM Treasury appointed AML supervisor overseen by OPBAS, and a professional membership organisation founded in 1973 with three professional grades (AIAB, MIAB and FIAB). Candidates should note that the published source does not state the number of questions, the exam duration, the passing score, the fee, the retake policy or the validity period, so those details must be confirmed directly with the awarding organisation before booking. Topics on this exam: Anti-Money Laundering Supervision, Bookkeeping, Payroll, and Accounting. The IAB Professional Practice study guide has 4 sections and about 1,368 words.
01Anti-Money Laundering Supervision
Anti-money laundering (AML) supervision rests on a chain of obligations. Firms must identify and verify customers (customer due diligence, CDD), monitor transactions , keep records , and report suspicions to the financial intelligence unit. Enhanced due diligence (EDD) applies to higher-risk situations: politically exposed persons, correspondent banking relationships, and customers in jurisdictions with weak AML regimes. Simplified due diligence is permitted only where risk is demonstrably low, and it is never a blanket exemption.
382 words, about 2 min02Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping records transactions so that the accounting equation ( assets = liabilities + equity ) always holds. Every transaction has equal debits and credits. Debits increase assets and expenses; credits increase liabilities, equity, and income. The trial balance proves arithmetic equality but not correctness, so errors of principle, omission, and compensating errors can survive it.
354 words, about 2 min03Payroll
Payroll converts gross pay into net pay by deducting statutory and voluntary items. Gross pay includes basic salary, overtime, bonuses, and taxable benefits. Deductions typically include income tax (often via a cumulative or pay-as-you-earn system), employee social security contributions, pension contributions, and court orders. The employer separately owes employer contributions and must remit collected taxes to the authority.
318 words, about 2 min04Accounting
The accounting domain covers how transactions become financial statements : the statement of financial position (balance sheet), the statement of profit or loss, and the statement of cash flows. Understand the accruals basis , going concern , consistency , prudence , and substance over form . Assets are recognised when future economic benefits are probable and measurable; liabilities when an obligation exists. Know depreciation methods (straight line and reducing balance), inventory valuation (lower of cost and net realisable value), and impairment .
314 words, about 2 min