Historical examination papers

If you are looking for past papers from the last few years, or the latest sample papers, these can be found in the ACA Exam Resources section.

Copies of older past papers are held in the ICAEW Library, and details of the Library's holdings of historical examination papers are set out below.

Please note: ICAEW strongly discourages students from relying on older papers, which is why students can only access past papers and learning resources going back a few years on our website. Previous papers were appropriate for the time that they were set but may now be dated because of political, economic or accounting developments or because of changes to the exam.

The structure of ICAEW examinations has changed considerably over the years. Below we set out a simplified guide to the examination papers that have been set from 1882 to the present day, with links to fuller details of the papers held in the Library collection.

The information given here does not cover the full complexity of some of the changes, and of the transitional arrangements made between examination types. More detailed information on changes made to the examinations over time (as well as on transitional arrangements) can be found in the relevant regulations and syllabuses, as well as in certain other publications held in the Library collection (some of which are referenced below).

A complete listing of the Library's holdings of ICAEW examination papers is also available through our online catalogue.

The first examinations were held in July 1882.

A biannual set of examination papers was published between 1882 and 1938, when it was replaced by separately published sets of Preliminary, Intermediate and Final examination papers. The ICAEW Library holds a complete set — full details can be found on LibCat.

In addition, the Library holds a set (probably complete) of the Accountants Manual published by Gee from 1884 to 1926, which contains examination questions from December 1884 to December 1924.

A selection of example questions set for the Preliminary examination in 1882-1886 is available to view online.

The changes made to the examinations in 1974-1975 were related to wider changes in ICAEW's system of education and training. From 1973, the old system whereby prospective chartered accountants would train 'under articles' was replaced by a new a system based on training contracts. More information on this change can be found on our page on training under articles. Transitional arrangements provided for the transfer of those who had entered articles before 1st August 1973 to the appropriate part of the new examination structure, although for a time the old examinations overlapped with the new.

A set of specimen questions was published by the Institute in advance of the introduction of new examinations with effect from 1974/75; the Library holds copies.

Details of the changes made to the structure of ICAEW's examinations in 1993-1994 (and the reasons for these) are set out in a document entitled 'New syllabuses and examinations', published in 1990. The Library holds a copy of this publication, filed as part of the series of ‘Examinations conduct and syllabuses’. Three pages are devoted to a discussion of the new multi-disciplinary case study paper, which formed part of the Final examination and was first tested in July 1994.

A set of 'pilot papers' for the new examinations was published in 1992; copies are held in the Library collection.

Information on the changes made to the examinations in 1998-1999 and the transitional arrangements that were put in place at the time can be found in the ICAEW publication 'Safeguarding the future: short-term syllabus review and transitional arrangements'. The Library holds copies of this publication in its collection.

Brief summaries of the changes made to the structure and content of the ACA examinations in 2000-2001 (and the reasons behind these) were published at the time on the ICAEW website, with one page covering the new Professional Stage, and one covering the new Advanced Stage.

A summary of the changes made from September 2007, when ICAEW launched the 'new' ACA, can be found in the ICAEW publication 'Get the facts... changes to the ACA qualification from 2007'. Copies of this publication are held in the Library collection. The 'old' and 'new' ACA exams ran in parallel during 2007 and 2008.

The latest evolution of the ACA was introduced in July 2013. The 'evolved' ACA ran in parallel with the previous iteration of the ACA between 2013 and 2014/15.

A full list of key dates for the ACA evolution is available online (page 24).

In addition to the examination papers listed above, ICAEW previously provided an AAT Top-Up examination as part of the Professional Stage. The Top-Up examination enabled members of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) to become qualified as Chartered Accountants through the AAT-ACA Fast-Track. The LIS collection includes some AAT Top-Up Papers, and you can access a full listing of LIS holdings of AAT Top-Up Papers through our online catalogue.

The Financial Accounting Top-Up for AAT students is no longer available as of June 2014. However, those who have completed AAT exams may still gain credit for prior learning (exemptions) for up to five Certificate Level modules. To find out more about the current situation, see the AAT-ACA Fast-Track page.