Overview
Encompassing the first six exams of the ACA qualification, the ICAEW Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business, also known as ICAEW CFAB, provides a solid foundation in key finance and business skills.
As this can be taken as a standalone qualification, it is a great route for your students to get a better understanding of whether an accountancy career is right for them, and for you to get a taste of the training process. But it can also be taken as a stepping stone to the ICAEW Business and Finance Professional (BFP) designation, and the full ACA qualification.
If you would like your students to progress to the BFP designation, they must complete three additional elements. This includes applying for the BFP designation during or at the end of their studies, as well as completing the ICAEW Ethics Learning Programme and gaining 12 months' work experience.
Benefits
This route is open to all, including school leavers, graduates, mature students and career changers. This opens your recruitment pool and allows you to consider other backgrounds and talents within your strategy.
ICAEW CFAB can also be undertaken by current employees, giving your workforce the essential finance, accounting and business knowledge to drive your organisation forward. Investing in your staff's development with ICAEW CFAB is a great way to build loyalty and demonstrate your commitment to continued professional development.
Structure
While your students must only complete the first six modules of the ACA to achieve ICAEW CFAB, they will still gain a wealth of knowledge and skills through work experience and the topics covered:
- Accounting: Ensures that students have a sound understanding of the techniques of double entry accounting and can apply its principles in recording transactions, adjusting financial records and preparing non-complex financial statements.
- Management information: Enables students to prepare essential financial information for the management of a business, including calculating costs of products and services, forecasting approaches, and effective performance management systems.
- Business, technology and finance: Provides students with an understanding of how businesses operate and how finance functions help businesses to achieve their objectives.
- Assurance: Ensures that students understand the assurance process and fundamental principles of ethics and are able to contribute to the assessment of internal controls and gathering of evidence on an assurance engagement.
- Principles of taxation: Enables students to understand the general objectives of taxation and to calculate income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, corporation tax and VAT in straightforward scenarios.
- Law: Provides students with an understanding of the principles of English law, including the nature of contractual agreements, legal implications of corporations and criminal behaviour.
Exams can be taken in any order, meaning your students can frontload the topics that best meet your organisational needs.
Credit for prior learning, also known as CPL or exemptions, recognises areas of the ICAEW CFAB syllabus that your students have previously studied. This enables credit to be claimed for up to five of the six exams.
Discover more about this stepping stone to the ACA
Are you interested in exploring the ICAEW CFAB route further? Register your interest to speak to our dedicated support team who can guide you through your options, as well as how to become an ICAEW Authorised Training Employer.
Not the right route for you to offer? Explore one of our other pathways to the ACA: