The ACA Business, Technology and Finance exam is a broad syllabus aimed at giving candidates a grounding in some business concepts which will be built on in the Business Strategy & Technology exam at the professional level.
This exam should be achievable for most people as the concepts are not too complex or overly challenging.
Contents:
- Overview of ACA Business Finance and Technology Exam
- Method of Assessment
- How to Pass
- How hard is the exam?
Overview of the ACA Business Technology and Finance exam
This paper provides an introduction to business strategy which is further built on at the professional stage.
The areas of examination are as follows:
| SYLLABUS AREA | WEIGHTING |
| Business objectives and functions | 15% |
| Business and organisational structures | 10% |
| The role of finance | 20% |
| The role of the accountancy profession | 10% |
| Governance, sustainability, corporate responsibility and ethics | 15% |
| External environment | 15% |
| Technology | 15% |
As can be seen in the table above, the marks are spread broadly across the syllabus in this exam. There is therefore no real area of focus when it comes to revision. The goal should be to acquire a solid understanding of each topic, and then mastering the question bank.
Method of Assessment
The exam itself is 1.5 hours and given it forms part of the Certificate level, it can be sat at any time. As such, in the exam you will be set random questions from a question pool and so you will not be answering the same questions as many of your peers.
The exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions, meaning each question is worth 2 marks each.
How to Pass the ACA Business Technology and Finance Exam
Unlike with many of the other exams, there isn’t a particular area of focus or difficulty with regard to this paper. As can be seen in the topic weightings, the marks are spread out broadly across each area.
The key to passing this exam is to master the question bank. As I have said previously, complete the entire question bank and understand why each answer is actually the answer, and you will be more than fine for this exam. It’s not rocket science!
How Hard is the Exam?
I would say that this is one of the easiest exams of all 15 ACA papers. Providing ample time is committed to learning the basic concepts, this exam should be well passable for most candidates.
I would give this exam a 2 out of 5 for difficulty.
