ICAEW ACA Business Law study plan

Map the English legal system: distinguish common law and equity, and explain how precedent, statute, and delegated legislation interact in a business context.

Classify the sources of law and identify which court or tribunal would hear a given commercial dispute, including appeal routes.

Define the essential elements of a valid contract (offer, acceptance, consideration, intention, capacity) and test each element against short scenarios.

Distinguish invitations to treat from offers using classic business situations such as advertisements, displays of goods, and tenders.

Explain consideration and promissory estoppel, and apply them to part-payment and variation-of-contract problems.

Analyse intention to create legal relations in domestic versus commercial settings and state the presumption and its rebuttal.

Identify terms versus representations, and classify terms as conditions, warranties, or innominate terms with their remedies.

Apply the rules on exemption clauses and the statutory controls on unfair terms to a supplied clause set.

Diagnose vitiating factors - misrepresentation, mistake, duress, undue influence, and illegality - and select the correct remedy for each.

Explain discharge of contract by performance, agreement, breach, and frustration, and predict the outcome in frustration scenarios.

Calculate damages using expectation and reliance measures, and apply remoteness and mitigation principles.

Distinguish common-law damages from equitable remedies such as specific performance and injunction, and state when equity intervenes.

Compare the main business vehicles (sole trader, partnership, LLP, private and public company) on liability, formation, and finance.

Explain the promotion and incorporation process, including the constitutional documents, and describe the legal effect of the company as a separate legal person.

Distinguish the roles of shareholders in general meeting and directors in board meetings, and identify the powers reserved to each.

Outline the types of share capital, class rights, and the rules on dividends and capital maintenance.

State the general statutory duties of directors and apply each duty to a conflict-of-interest or corporate-opportunity scenario.

Explain the rules on transactions with directors requiring member approval and identify the consequences of breach.

Describe the appointment, removal, and disqualification of directors, and the derivative claim and unfair prejudice remedies available to members.

Explain the company's capacity and authority rules, including the indoor management rule and its statutory counterpart, in dealings with third parties.

Classify the insolvency procedures available to individuals and companies, and explain the tests of insolvency and the consequences of each procedure.

Sequence the order of distribution of assets on insolvency and apply the priority rules to a short creditor list.

Explain wrongful and fraudulent trading, and identify who may be liable and to whom.

Distinguish the types of employment claim - unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, and redundancy - and state the eligibility tests for each.

Explain the contract of employment, the distinction between employee and independent contractor, and the sources of employment terms.

Apply the statutory framework for dismissal, including the qualifying period, reasonableness, and the ACAS code, to dismissal scenarios.

Describe the tribunal process for employment claims and the remedies available, including basic and compensatory awards.

Revise the legal-system foundations and integrate them with employment and insolvency questions where the syllabus overlaps.

Consolidate all four domains using a one-page summary sheet per domain of definitions, tests, and leading principles.

Complete a full mock examination under timed conditions and self-mark against the mark scheme.

Diagnose the three weakest syllabus areas from the mock and re-test them with fresh questions.

Rehearse exam technique: reading the verb in the requirement, planning before writing, and allocating time per mark.