ICAEW Level 7 Accountancy Professional Apprenticeship

There are various pathways to begin the ACA qualification, including AAT Level 3. However, ICAEW state that there are no set academic entry criteria, so ICAEW CFAB is open to all.

So, if you are looking to increase your business skills, or are considering a career in business or want to start your own company, enquire today about our apprenticeship programmes.

For more details, you can view the ACA entry routes here: ACA entry routes

Here's what to expect:

Course Delivery

All courses are taught in the classroom and recorded via Microsoft Teams for revision and to consolidate learning. With prior approval from employers, some sessions can be attended live remotely via Microsoft Teams. All students will need a laptop. Recorded classes are available for review throughout your studies. Microsoft Teams offers several benefits to enhance the student experience: 

• Instant Access: Every teaching day is recorded and saved to the subject Team. While recording is an added benefit, it may not be available every time due to occasional oversights. 

• Collaboration: All communication with your tutor is conducted via Teams, providing a complete audit record and easily shared additional resources. 

• Student Communication: The Teams app allows for instant messaging, enabling tutors and staff to respond to queries quickly. You will receive support every step of the way from our team of professional tutors. The subject Team holds all your digital materials, practice exams, and tutor debriefs in one place. 

• Mock Exams: We are strong advocates of mock exams, which are managed and marked in one place, enhancing the student experience. 

• Regular Assignment Monitoring: Day-to-day assignments for certain modules provide greater insight into student progress. 

• Immediate Online Student Feedback: Automated feedback forms allow students to voice their opinions and help improve the learning experience by submitting feedback easily throughout the course. 

A bit more about our residential offering:
For students who wish to stay overnight, we offer highly competitive rates on a full-board basis – providing you with a study bedroom and all meals on-site. You don’t have to spend any time travelling to and from courses and can focus solely on your learning. Our accommodation rates compare very favourably to hotel costs enabling us to maximise the value of your spend on professional development. The rooms come as either single or premium (these are en-suite rooms with a range of single, double or king-sized beds)

The relaxed atmosphere and the beautiful surroundings allow students the opportunity to focus single-mindedly on preparing for, and more importantly, passing exams. Studying residentially enables students to avoid the demands of day-to-day domestic chores and daily commuting, using the valuable time saved for additional study or relaxation. We strongly believe the combination of our expert tuition and unique environment offering residential facilities helps our students achieve consistent first-time pass rate success.

Course Structure  

Certificate Level: Fundamentals of accountancy, finance, and business. 

• Accounting (AC) 

• Assurance (AS)  

• Business, Technology and Finance (BTF) 

• Law  

• Management Information (MI)  

• Principles of Taxation (PTX)  

These modules will be examined via on-demand computer-based exams (e-assessments, 1.5 hours each).  

These exams can be taken at Reed Business School or at a local Pearson VUE centre. Students will be permitted a maximum of four attempts at each module. These six modules are also available as a standalone certificate, the ICAEW Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business (ICAEW CFAB) 

Professional Level: Builds on fundamentals, testing technical knowledge in real-life scenarios. 

• Audit and Assurance (AA)  

• Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)  

• Financial Management (FM)  

• Tax Compliance (TC)  

• Business Planning Taxation (BPT)  

• Business Strategy and Technology (BST) (Reed teaches to the FAR UK GAAP variant)  

These exams will be set nationally and held at ICAEW appointed exam centres four times a year in March, June, September and December, Reed Business School mainly work towards the June and December sittings. 

Advanced Level: Three papers to be taken in the final year of training. 

• Corporate Reporting (CR)  

• Strategic Business Management (SBM)  

• Case Study  

CR and SBM are 3.5 hours each, whilst the case study is 4 hours. All exams are taken as computer-based exams using bespoke software developed by ICAEW. There are two sittings a year in July and November. The three papers can be sat together or separately.  

The Case Study must be the last exam attempted, and when a student has entered their final year of training. 

Tuition & revision
We run tuition courses and a revision course for Professional and Advanced courses. The tuition element covers the main areas of the syllabus and the revision course culminates with question practice and a full mock exam either taken as a whole mock or a question-based day (QBD). Tutors and professional markers are on-site to mark the questions on a QBD and provide immediate feedback and question de-briefs. Students can attend a full link course or for those who may be re-sitting or have taken a home study course, a revision-only course can be attended

These courses typically take 3 years or a little more, depending on each student.

There are three elements to an apprenticeship, Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours.  

Knowledge  

You will learn the technical knowledge to pass the required professional exams. Each apprentice will be provided with an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) which will map out their study route throughout their apprenticeship, taking into consideration any exemptions they may be entitled to. The final exam is a Case Study, which forms part of the overall End Point Assessment.  

Skills and behaviours  

Throughout the apprenticeship programme, the apprentice will develop their professional skills and behaviours. A report of these skills also forms part of the End Point Assessment. This element of training is supported by a suite of online modules, which are mapped to specific skills and behaviours requirements. Each apprentice is assigned a learning coach who will engage with the apprentice and their line manager on a quarterly basis to provide support and guidance throughout their learning pathway. Apprentices are required to provide evidence of their progression and ‘off the job’ training, and this is managed by an online e-portfolio platform 

We are an approved CBE exam centre.

All students must register with ICAEW before they start with us. Your 20% off-the-job training will be assessed throughout the programme and will be based on the Skills, Knowledge and Behaviours (SKBs) you develop. You will be assigned your own learning coach who will meet with you four times a year.

An End Point Assessment will need to be submitted once you have completed all the on-programme requirements of the apprenticeship and is an assessment of the Skills, Knowledge and Behaviours.