Sri Lanka Accountants' Service Exam study plan
Sri Lanka Accountants' Service Exam · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Financial Accounting and Reporting
Build a one-page map of the Sri Lankan financial reporting framework (LKAS/SLFRS tiers, statutory reporting duties under the Companies Act) so you can place any given entity in the correct reporting tier without notes
Work through recognition and measurement of revenue and construction contracts under LKAS 18/115 and LKAS 11-style contract accounting, writing journal entries for two multi-period contract scenarios
Prepare a full set of financial statements from a trial balance, including statement of changes in equity and notes on accounting policies, within 90 minutes
Identify and correct five common presentation errors (classification, offsetting, comparative figures) in statements you prepared yourself
Your checkpoint
A 10-page handwritten or typed question-and-answer pack containing your framework map, four contract accounting entries, and one complete set of financial statements with a self-marked error list.
Financial Accounting and Reporting & Management Accounting and Cost Accounting
Apply LKAS 16, 36, 38 and 40 to classify, depreciate, impair and revalue non-current assets, producing computations for three mixed asset portfolios
Consolidate a parent and one subsidiary with intra-group trading and unrealised profit, preparing the consolidation worksheet and group statements
Compute cost of production and unit product cost under job and process costing, including normal loss and equivalent units for work in progress
Reconcile marginal and absorption profit for a single period and explain the difference in a short written note
Your checkpoint
A consolidation file (worksheet plus final group statements) and a costing exercise set with a written reconciliation of the marginal versus absorption profit difference.
Management Accounting and Cost Accounting
Prepare a full master budget (sales, production, materials, labour, cash) for a manufacturing entity and test it for internal consistency
Compute and interpret variances for materials, labour and overheads, splitting each into price and usage or efficiency components
Perform cost-volume-profit analysis to derive break-even, margin of safety and target profit, then advise on a pricing or product-mix decision
Evaluate a capital investment proposal using payback, net present value and internal rate of return, and state the assumptions behind each
Your checkpoint
A decision-support pack: one complete master budget, a variance statement with written explanations of the three largest variances, and a one-page investment appraisal memo with a recommendation.
Auditing and Assurance
Map the audit process from engagement acceptance to signing, listing the documentation required at each stage under Sri Lankan auditing standards
Assess risk at financial statement and assertion level for a given entity, and design substantive procedures that respond to each identified risk
Compute materiality and performance materiality and justify the benchmark chosen
Draft the key sections of an unmodified audit report and adapt it for one modified scenario (qualified opinion on a misstatement)
Your checkpoint
A simulated audit file for one case entity: risk register, materiality memo, audit programme for two cycles, and two draft audit reports (unmodified and modified).
Auditing and Assurance & Taxation (Sri Lankan tax law)
Apply professional scepticism and ethics requirements to three independence and conflict-of-interest scenarios, citing the applicable fundamental principles
Compute income tax liability for an individual and a company, applying current Sri Lankan rates, qualifying payments and reliefs, and showing the full schedule
Compute and account for VAT and withholding tax obligations in a given transaction set, including the filing and remittance timeline
Explain the audit implications of tax balances (deferred tax, provisions, penalties) and design procedures to test them
Your checkpoint
A tax computation workbook (individual, company, VAT, WHT) plus a written note linking each tax balance to the audit procedure that would test it.
Taxation (Sri Lankan tax law) & Public Financial Management and Government Accounting
Prepare the annual financial statements of a government entity in accordance with the applicable public sector reporting framework and the statutory timetable
Explain the appropriation and budget cycle, from estimates to warrant to expenditure control, and apply it to a given ministry scenario
Analyse the roles of the Auditor General, the Committee on Public Accounts and internal audit in public financial accountability
Reconcile a departmental cash book with treasury records and identify control weaknesses in a provided narrative
Your checkpoint
A public sector reporting pack: one set of government entity financial statements, a cycle flowchart with narrative, and a control-weakness report with recommendations.
Business Law, Ethics and Information Technology & Public Financial Management and Government Accounting
Apply core Sri Lankan business law principles (contract formation, agency, partnership and company law fundamentals) to five short fact patterns and state the legal outcome
Identify the information security and general IT controls that support reliable financial reporting, and describe how an auditor tests them
Explain data protection and confidentiality duties in handling client and taxpayer information
Resolve three ethics case studies using a structured decision framework and document the reasoning
Your checkpoint
A case-response booklet: five legal answers, one IT general controls testing memo, and three ethics decisions with reasoning trails.
Financial Accounting and Reporting & Management Accounting and Cost Accounting & Auditing and Assurance & Taxation (Sri Lankan tax law) & Public Financial Management and Government Accounting & Business Law, Ethics and Information Technology
Sit two full-length timed mock papers under exam conditions and mark them against the rubric within 24 hours
Rank your error patterns by domain and rework the ten weakest questions until you can explain each answer aloud
Drill calculation speed on the highest-frequency computations (consolidation adjustments, variances, tax schedules, materiality) to a fixed time per item
Assemble a one-page pre-exam revision sheet covering formulas, statutory references and report wording
Your checkpoint
Two marked mock papers with an error log, a prioritised two-day revision list, and a final one-page revision sheet.
Milestones
Week 2: Produce a complete single-subsidiary consolidation and a process costing statement from blank paper in under 90 minutes each with no reference material; score at least 70% on a self-marked set of 20 mixed financial and management accounting questions.
Week 4: Complete a full simulated audit file for one case entity, including risk register, materiality memo and two draft reports, and correctly identify at least 8 of 10 seeded control and assertion-level risks.
Week 6: Score at least 65% on a timed 60-question mixed paper covering domains 1 to 5, with no domain scoring below 50%, and submit a completed government entity financial statement set.
Week 8: Achieve at least 70% on both full mock papers, with every domain at or above 60%, and have a written error log showing that previously missed question types are now answered correctly.