ICAG Paper 1.4 Cost & Management Accounting

It is intended for registered ICAG students who have progressed to the professional-level papers and need the costing and management accounting knowledge expected of a chartered accountant. If you are unsure where Paper 1.4 sits in your sequence, check your programme structure and exemptions on the ICAG student portal before planning your study order.

Apply for studentship at sms.icagh.org. Successful applicants pay a registration fee of GH¢400.00 and a subscription of GH¢400.00, and applicants who qualify for exemptions pay the applicable exemption fees. You must be at least 16 and meet the entry qualifications, and you upload a birth identity document, a passport-size photograph, and original educational certificates and transcripts.

SSSCE/GBCE/DBS holders need six passes (A-D) including English and Mathematics; WASSCE holders need six credits including English and Mathematics. Diplomas, HNDs, degrees, masters and any other qualification acceptable to the Institute are also considered. Applicants must be at least 16 years old.

ICAG has announced that registration for the March 2026 CA Examination is in progress, with a closing date of 13 February 2026. Deadlines are set by the Institute and can change, so confirm the current position on icagh.org or the student portal before you pay or submit anything.

ICAG states that your authority to sit note and mobile phones are not allowed in the examination hall. Treat the authority-to-sit note as an administrative document to be kept safely outside the hall, and avoid bringing your phone at all rather than risk a breach of examination regulations.

Practise full workings rather than jumping to final figures, because method marks are usually available even when the final answer is wrong. Work through ICAG past questions and suggested solutions under timed conditions, then review where your layout, workings or interpretation lost marks. Repeat the topics you get wrong rather than rereading topics you already know.

Start with cost classification and cost behaviour, since overhead absorption, marginal costing and variance analysis all depend on them. Move next to costing methods, then budgeting and standard costing, then decision making and performance measurement. This order lets each later topic reuse the mechanics you have already practised rather than introducing them cold.

Common causes are weak foundations in overhead absorption and cost behaviour, poor time allocation in the exam, and skipping written explanations in favour of numbers only. Another frequent problem is memorising formats without being able to apply them to an unfamiliar scenario. Practising mixed-topic questions under time pressure addresses all of these.

The source material reviewed here does not state ICAG's retake policy, the number of attempts permitted, or any limit on how long a pass remains valid. These are set by the Institute, so confirm them directly with ICAG rather than relying on second-hand information before you plan a resit.

The ICAG website lists Past Questions and Suggested Solutions, Examination Results, the Examination Pass List and the Examination Timetable under its student and examination resources. Use the official pages for results and timetables, and treat any third-party summary, including this page, as a study aid only.