Thoughts on the ACA, exams and the 3 year journey
I have been wanting to produce a write up for quite some time now but wanted to wait till exams were all over and qualified to share my thoughts over this 3 year journey. I felt it would be quite cathartic for myself, to go over such a long journey, and hopefully useful to others. It’ll be general advice rather than specific because exams change over time and, to be quite frank, I don’t remember them all too well. The advice and experiences are just my own personal experience – everyone has their own take.
I’ll start off that I was very much studious, and it was of utmost importance to get through the exams above all. I worked hard and won multiple internal prizes and 2 ICAEW Prizes. I’m also someone who doesn’t like audit (or even accounting, for that matter) and never went beyond what was required of me at work. So frame this post in that context of being a diligent student – overpreparing, quite frankly – and someone who didn’t find work enjoyable and a bang average auditor. It’s just my opinion, everyone has their own personal experiences.
Work
Firstly, work. Work in itself is very, very boring. I found it to be very tedious and very mind numbing. It's important, no doubt, it genuinely is. But it's so dull.
It’s understood that wherever you’ll end up, you’ll end up doing the grunt work. As competitive as Law or Investment Banking is, for example, the first few years will involve A LOT of Power Point presentation or Word editing, re-editting, drafting etc – so grunt work is to be expected. It’s just that the salary doesn’t reflect the level of hardwork.
I was very fortunate that I was spared from “toxic” engagements and seniors. I did come across one or two during my time here but I have heard other absolute horror stories. Busy season gets pretty bad and, quite frankly, at our level of pay, the work we have to undertake is ghastly. It’s tragic looking at folk wasting away some of their best years of their life for such little pay and such hard work with noses deep into workbooks – it’s why I never ever went above and beyond and prioritised my own well-being.
As well as that, the thing with auditing is that I’ve seen the so-called “promise land” of Managers and Senior Managers with greater autonomy and, quite frankly, it doesn’t get much better. The hours get longer, the responsibilities increase, there’s Director and Partner pressure and you’re still having to interact with workpapers which I have no ambition for whatsoever. I’d personally like to get into something forward thinking, strategic. Some sense of fulfilment. Also, on the “I don’t know what I’m doing” thought/belief – trust me, we’ve all been there. There are so many different areas, so many different approaches, it’s pretty brutal and quite frankly, I still don’t know what I did over the past 3 years.
You do, however, IMO, learn a lot regarding soft skills and project management. The ability to interact with Directors and Partners – just even being in the same room – is so, so, so incredibly valuable and that too at Big 4 where you interacting with Seniors who have decades worth of financial experience and project management know how. As the cliché goes, you do learn through “osmosis”. As well as that, I have made so many friends who are fellow colleagues and my experience is that 90% of the Associates and Senior Associates (1s and 2s) were pleasant and most managers – in my experience – were genuinely pleasant but absolutely destroyed by pressure and workload. And not every single engagement is “rough”, unless you’re really unlucky, you can have “down time” engagements.
Overall, I feel like I had gotten it lightly during my time here at Big 4 but at the same time, where there was a contribution of luck, I also never “looked for trouble” by seeking clients that were notoriously challenging but rewarded “praise” from Seniors or ever went above and beyond. It can turn into a nightmare for some, very mentally strenuous and especially during study season, it can turn awful. As my time went on within the organisation, I passed more and more exams, got to grips with more and more details, I feel like my time has gotten easier. I became more confident in drawing boundaries and sticking to them, more confident in exams and knowing how to tackle them. As well as that, it just felt that every single exam, every single week was one exam closer or one week closer to becoming Qualified. Thus, there is solace in that. The finishing line starts to appear on the horizon.
Difficulty level of the exams
I’ve posted a pic of the difficulty level of the exams (with marks in brackets) by level and by difficulty tier in the following pic –
I would say that it’s quite fluid, personal but broadly in line with what I found others found too. Very exam paper dependent too – SBM, for example, was quite a rough paper in July 24 whereas CR and CS were quite comfortable papers.
Certificate Level
Here my advice is simple – go through the workbook that your tuition provider provides over once and then hit the Question Bank. I used to go through the Question Bank twice – I’d advise this for the Certificates as they’re quite quick to go through. If it’s anything like at our organisation, you’d get a couple of weeks of prep and that’s it. It was very dependent on short term memory which wasn’t a forte of mine – I am the read, consolidate, read again, consolidate again type of student. Have never had a great memory but once it clicks, it clicks really well (kind of applies to all facets of learning I’ve undertaken).
Assurance, BTF, Principles of Tax, MI I found all quite simple – the financial exams came very naturally to me. Law and Accounting were tough and Law was the last Certificate that I undertook.
Accounting is tough because it’s likely to be the first exam you undertake, the structure, the concepts, the exam software in itself is all very new and there is a sense of anxiety too. Looking back – especially after FAR and CR – it’s a very simple exam but in the context of it all, it’s quite tough. Law I found difficult to get my head around because of the amount of content, the minute laws. Quite tough and not so easy with the multiple choice. However, for this exam, for the sake of efficiency and trusting in previous technique, I didn’t try to remember and rote memory the exam by utilising the workbook but purely smashed out the QB.
To keep it short – go over the workbook once, smash out the Question Bank twice, if you can, and you’ll pass comfortably.
Professional Level
This was definitely a step up. Same advice – go through the Question Bank, hit as many questions as you can. I never went through every single question in the QB – for the sake efficiency, I’d aim for about 80-85% of coverage and never bothered with the 2015 or 2016 papers. I went through the QB for the Professional Levels 2 ½ times – the ½ being key questions that I’d noted down as key/repetitive. Again, this is just what I went through, my learning method was read, consolidate, read, consolidate and with a weak short memory, admittedly. I know folk who covered maybe 50% of the QB only and didn’t even attempt going through it, in its entirety, even once, let alone twice, who passed comfortably. I did go a tad over the top but it was very important for me to pass these exams and avoid the pressure of a resit.
AA was the only exam that I didn’t go through the QB at all – focused on the workbook – and it worked out well.
BST – a weird exam, studying for this was so, so arduous. I definitely went with overkill with going over the QB for this exam repeatedly. Literally only a handful of papers would have been sufficient – be adept regarding Excel and formulae as well as analysis. Utilise common sense, ensure that your mind is fresh for the exam so you can think quick on your feet. Do not underestimate it, however, as, off the top of my head, this exam rate’s pass rate has started to become lower than FM’s. FM – very formulaic, loved this exam, very repetitive, very structured, and the Question Bank repeats often which is beautiful.
FAR – the first “big” exam, very formulaic I remember. It’s tough, it’s meant to be tough but it’s an exam that if you commit the hours you will be able to get your head around it.
TC – another formulaic exam, I quite enjoyed studying for it, again, very structured but exam day the paper was a tad tougher than the usual paper. Follow the TC QB structure and you can’t go wrong – tackle by topic, 5 Qs IIRC with VAT, IHT etc, be systematic in breaking down by topic rather than all over the place, makes it easier to tackle.
BPT is something else entirely, really, really difficult to get my head around, so much variation but in the beginning of the Question Bank, they should have a contents page which lists out the questions by topic. Without a shadow of a doubt, cover the topics that repeat themselves – should be fairly obvious by the number of Qs that appear. Tackle those and work your way down. My open book was brilliant for me during the exam, literally copied out chunks of answers. Please, do organise a tidy open book, have a list of topics with the questions related to them and make it clear. It’s a really tough, time pressured exam, you’re not expected to remember even most of it, but do remember key aspects and ensure that your open book is at hand to help.
The key for all is Question Bank.
Advanced Level
Case Study – really simple exam, you’ll hear the word “exam technique” repeatedly and that’s all it is. No new topics to learn or cover. It’s pure exam technique. So for this exam, I went over all the exam papers on the ICAEW website, the tuition providers 2 mocks and 3 ACA Masters mocks as well as preparing a 30 page doco on the entity, industry, answers to provide structure etc.
Was that necessary? Of course not! The first exam I’ve “overprepared” for in my life – and ironically, my lowest score across the ICAEW – although Case doesn’t receive typically high scores – and it was a combination of factors at play. I was tired at the end of CR and SBM, I didn’t play the exam but played my own report. What I mean by that is that if I was being marked on a brief technical report, I would have marked higher. But I was being marked for ICAEW Case Study with a specific exam marking scheme. Don’t psyche yourself out for the exam – it’s not too much, play the exam and remember that. Figure out what is required of you from the exam – your tuition provider/ACA Masters are key. It’s time consuming to write up the paper, read through the model answers – this is key – and then to mark them too.
At most, I’d suggest 2 past papers – your tuition provider will go over in class – the ACA Masters Mocks – the first 2 are most important, 3rd is rather redundant – and a mock paper from your tuition provider. All in all, I’d say doing 5-6 papers is sufficient for a comfortable pass. However, again, most pass with just the 2 past papers + 1-2 tuition provider papers. I would advise to prepare – if you have the time – a 3-4 page document on the basics – such as structure, pre-prepared recommendations, calcs etc – so that you can quickly have it at hand to jog your mind. But it’s a time pressured exam so do bear that in mind.
SBM – weird exam, really weird exam. Never quite understood the exam going through the Question Bank, it varied so much and so wildly year on year. I was specifically told by my tutor to accept that it is an “on the day” paper in that you couldn’t predict the paper. Really tough to prepare for. Make sure your comfortable with Excel – COUNTIFs, SUMIFs – is absolutely pivotal. Make sure you’re comfortable with financial analysis, commenting on variances, analysing (basic) statements. I would strongly recommend to take this exam with CR as a good 20-25% of the paper is derived from CR related topics.
CR - not sure what to say about this exam. Really tough to prepare for. Found it more so structured than SBM, however. Please, do focus on 3 key areas that will garner you "easy marks". (1) Inflo prep, (2) Audit risks and procedures and (3) nailing ethics. Honestly, if you can nail those three, you've got a good 40-50% of the exam right there.
The Inflo prep your tuition provider should provide you with details - although ours was very late in the day. I'd advise utilising ACA Masters, don't get bogged down in Inflo during the exam. Very important to be aware of timing.
Audit risks and procedures is literally just exam question practice - note these down in the Open Book bible/file you have. And flick straight to them when risks and procedures are required.
Ethics is ethics, "easy" marks but do not neglect.
Time pressured exam, know when to "move on" and keep going. Make sure your file is clean and again, references Questions.
On the whole 2 exams vs 3 exams debate – just as the above – sitting all 3 is quite tough, Case was definitely a side distraction. If you struggle with workload, sit CR by itself and then SBM & Case. If you want to optimise performance, I’d sit CR & SBM together with Case by itself as the latter is a distraction. If you want to get them all out of the way, sit all 3 but I would strongly advise that you utilise annual leave to give yourself a rest because, again, all 3 together are brutal. From my cohort – it’s definitely doable – I’d say about 80% passed all 3. It’s just mentally something else.
General Tips
Start early with your studies – don’t fall behind, it’s the worst and sickening feeling in the run up to exams knowing you’re undercooked and underprepared. It affords you so much more time and freedom later as you pace yourself through studying.
Very important to draw boundaries, very important to be assertive and confident in yourself – if you’ve got exams in a month’s time, there’s nothing wrong in asking to leave at half 5 or 6.
Important to converse with colleagues – these will be your therapy sessions, colleagues who you can confide in when you’re feeling low or need advice. Develop this support network, you’re all feeling the same pains and anxieties.
Take care of yourself – it’s very, very important to take care of yourself physically and mentally. I know it is easier said than done but get good sleep, eat well and exercise. Please, do socialise. Do not look back on these years and it’s just a blur of working and studying.
As far as I am concerned, DO NOT go “above and beyond”, you won’t be rewarded for it other than more and more work outside of your responsibilities, outside of your pay grade and beyond your technical knowledge. Unless you really want to become a Director/Partner, where you’ve got bigger unresolved issues, you’ll just be taken advantage of. See above, utilise that time for taking care of yourself.
Take what you can, what you want from this place. If you’re like the vast, vast majority, you’ll be gone within 6 months of Qualification – it’s actually low key hilarious seeing the turnover just before and post Qualification. Just take what you want – skills that you want to learn – and protect yourself. Please, and I found this difficult too, but you have to be selfish and look at for yourself.
Try to pass your exams first time – it’s not an absolute necessity but you do want to spare yourself unnecessary stress and worry.
For Open Book exams, print out the Question Banks, have a “bible” of the topics and related topics at hand, also.
Take it easy otherwise you’re going to end up being burnt out – it’s not a case of work is over and that’s it. The exams are constant – I had 15 exams in the space of 26 months – and the level of fatigue that builds up is so, so much.
Conclusion – was it worth it?
I, quite frankly, don’t know. An answer that I’ll really be able to truly answer in 5-10 years time and when I look back. The feeling of having done all the exams and passed them well is a sensational feeling, enormous amount of pride because of the resilience that’s required.
Would I advise for it?
I think of it as if I had a child or a cousin asking me for advice to join the organisation. If you have no options or the alternatives are a smaller firm or you are looking to break into finance and willing to suffer for it, I’d advise for it. Other than that, I’d strongly advise against it. 2+ years of your life revolving around work and studying, a toxic culture – which I fortunately shielded myself from – and relatively – compared to other supposed “prestigious” companies/careers – low pay. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many individuals being “broken” mentally at the organisation. But like I said, the fruits of the labour will only become apparent years down the line so take what I say with a pinch of salt.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
Otherwise, I wish you all the very best of luck!