Are you studying for your ACCA Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exam? This overview is designed to provide you with the key information for success in this optional ACCA Strategic Professional level unit.

How is the exam structured?

The ACCA AAA exam is three hours and 15 minutes long. There will be three questions in your exam, worth 100 marks in total. All questions are compulsory and, to give yourself the best chance of passing, you must attempt every question. Even if you don’t feel like you quite know the answer, just write something, since something is better than nothing!

The question in section A will always be set at the planning stage of the audit. You will most likely be identifying and explaining audit risks or risks of material misstatement in the scenario provided.

If you are lucky, you may also get a requirement on business risks - which learners tend to be very good at! The question in Section A is also likely to include a requirement on audit procedures - so make sure you’re practising those by attempting lots of questions from the ACCA AAA Exam Kit.

For section B, one of the 25-mark questions will focus on the ‘completion, review, and reporting’ part of the syllabus. The other question will cover areas other than this. For example, the second question may test your knowledge of non-audit assurance engagements, such as a due diligence assignment or review of prospective financial information. Review the Exam Kit carefully to see the variety of topics that could be tested.

Somewhere in the exam paper you’re very likely to see a requirement dealing with an ethical dilemma, so ensure that you’re comfortable with this syllabus area.

What are professional skills marks?

In total, there are 20 professional skills marks in the whole paper. The professional skills being tested are:

• Communication (Section A question only)
• Analysis and evaluation
• Professional scepticism and judgement
• Commercial acumen

Timings

The exam is three hours and 15 minutes long. You should spend around one hour and 37 minutes on the section A question, and the other half divided evenly between the two section B questions.

You can attempt all three questions in any order - and I would suggest playing to your strengths and starting with the question you feel most comfortable with as this will build your confidence.

Before walking into the exam, ensure you have a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses so that you can create an action plan. For example, if you’ve been practising lots of audit risks and procedures, start with section A. Planning ahead will save you valuable time.

Once you’ve decided on a question and have read the scenario, don’t change the order in which you will tackle the questions - this would lose you valuable time in an already time-pressured exam. Stick to your plan and do your best!

For each question, aim to answer the requirements in the right order (i.e. a, b, c, etc.) because the requirements often build on each other. If you are stuck on a requirement, try to write something sensible. Don’t leave a requirement blank as you may not have the time to go back to it.

How does the ACCA Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exam subject help towards my studies and career?

ACCA AAA is a great unit whether you work in practice or industry.

If you work in practice and spend your time auditing clients, AAA teaches you the skills that you need to do your job well and will help you on your career path to audit partner, if that is your ultimate aspiration.

If you work in industry, the chances are that your organisation will be audited at some stage, and the auditors will be so impressed if you show an understanding of what their role entails.

More broadly, the skills that you develop through AAA will stand you in great stead, whatever your future career. In the AAA exam, you have to read and assimilate a lot of information, process it, and then produce a coherent and convincing response – an invaluable life skill!

What are the key challenges for this subject and how would you address these?

There are three key challenges in AAA:

• Time management
• What to write
• How to revise

Let’s tackle them one by one…

Time management

Solution: Planning

The number one challenge in the ACCA AAA exam is time management. It is a very time-pressured paper, especially the section A question, where there is a lot of content to digest.

My top tip for coping with the time pressure is to plan, plan, plan. As the saying goes, ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’. This is so true of AAA!

My advice for the 50-mark question is to break up the 97 minutes into 17 (even up to 20) minutes of reading and planning time, and then 80 minutes for writing up your answer.

As part of your plan, you should set up the briefing notes format, as well as an introduction (to earn some of the professional skills marks), and then copy the requirements into your answer area and turn them into headings.

Then, as you are reading the scenario, you already know what the requirements are and you can jot down the points from the scenario under the appropriate headings.

If you follow this approach, then, once you’ve read the whole scenario, you should have some typed-up notes under each heading.

When you are ready to answer the question, you’ll already have annotations for each requirement in front of you. During your writing time, you’ll be converting your brief annotations into full sentences and expanding on them so that your final answer reads like a report.

This approach has helped many of my learners who struggled with time management to feel a lot more in control, so it’s definitely worth a try.

What to write

Solution: Write what is right and relevant

A common issue that learners encounter in the ACCA AAA exam is knowing what to write. Most of the content for your response will be found in the scenario, and your job is to identify the issues and then explain them.

When writing about an issue, make sure you ask yourself whether what you are proposing to say is correct: is it right? If your response contradicts the scenario (e.g. you claim it’s a first-year audit when the scenario states that the client has been audited for a number of years) then you won’t get the marks.

Also ask yourself whether what you are proposing to write is relevant. For example, in an ethics question, you may be tempted to state lots of rules for a listed company – but if the company in the scenario is not listed, then your points won’t be relevant, and won’t gain any marks.

So, in a nutshell, read the scenario carefully and, if your answer is right and relevant, there will be plenty of marks on offer.

How to revise

Solution: Question practice in exam conditions

It’s often quite difficult to motivate yourself to study for the ACCA AAA unit as the syllabus can feel quite overwhelming. By far the best approach is to tackle as many questions as you can from the Exam Kit – in exam conditions (so to time and without your notes).

I always suggest to my learners that they compile their own practice ACCA AAA exam paper. This involves choosing one section A question and two section B questions from the Exam Kit, and then attempting them back-to-back in three hours and 15 minutes on a Saturday morning. This provides exposure to various syllabus areas and helps with time management. After this, ensure you take a proper break and then spend Saturday afternoon critically reviewing your answers and learning from your mistakes.

If you spend a few weekends doing this, it’ll give you a greater sense of accomplishment than just simply reviewing your notes. Moreover, experience shows that question practice is absolutely key to passing.

Additional support and resources

If you’re not already studying ACCA Advanced Audit and Assurance with us at Kaplan, give yourself the best chance to pass the exam with our ACCA AAA course. With four study methods, you’ll find a course that’s perfect for you.

When studying with Kaplan, you will have access to the Academic Support team via the ‘contact a tutor’ option on your MyKaplan. They are available seven days a week and can support you with any tricky topics via live chat, email, or by requesting a call back.

And if you have any additional learning needs, get in touch with our inclusion team, who can support you.

Practising exam-standard questions in timed conditions is essential when preparing for your real exam. Be encouraged to practise questions in the ACCA practice platform when possible.

Alternatively, Kaplan Publishing, an ACCA Content Partner, also offers ACCA Study Texts, Exam Kits, and Pocket Notes - which cover the full syllabus and help you feel exam-confident.