Professional skills marks in ACCA AAA

AAA has 20 professional skills marks: 10 in Section A and 5 in each Section B question. The four skills are communication, analysis and evaluation, professional scepticism and judgement and commercial acumen.

Section A	10 marks, all four skills examined
Each Section B question	5 marks, at least two of analysis, scepticism and commercial acumen
In all	20 of 100 marks

The four skills

Communication: informing concisely and objectively, advising with logical arguments, and making complex issues clear for the reader.
Analysis and evaluation: using information from several sources to find the causes of issues, the significant risks and the right responses.
Professional scepticism and judgement: questioning contradictory information and explanations, and concluding on whether the evidence is sufficient and appropriate.
Commercial acumen: seeing the wider factors and the practical consequences of recommendations for the client and the firm.

How the course practises them

Every written question here ends with parts on the professional skills criteria it states. Mia reads them like any written part: she shows which criteria your answer meets, in your own words, and what to add. The criteria are the course's own, not an examiner's marking scheme.

Try 3 questions

Short questions in the course’s own format, not ACCA’s: the exam itself is all written.

Question 1 · Course practice question · Fraud and error2 marks

Fraud and error

Having assessed a risk of material misstatement due to fraud that affects the financial statements as a whole, the engagement partner for Langdon Co wants to build an element of unpredictability into the audit.

Which of these would add unpredictability? (2 marks)

Counting inventory, unannounced, at a warehouse not visited beforeUsing the same sample sizes and items as last yearRelying on controls tested last yearAgreeing the dates of all site visits with management at the planning meeting

Question 2 · Course practice question · Completion and review2 marks

Completion, final review and engagement quality review

Marlow & Co audits Ulverston Co, a listed retailer, and must appoint an engagement quality reviewer for the 2026 audit. The firm's policy sets a cooling-off period of two years before a former engagement partner may review the same audit.

Which candidate is eligible? (2 marks)

Jonah, the engagement partner on the 2025 audit, who handed over last year and has agreed not to discuss this audit with the teamRosa, a partner in another office who audits listed retailers, has not worked on this client and has time for the reviewKemi, a newly promoted partner who has never audited a listed company and has no time scheduledLuca, a partner who will review the file after the auditor's report is signed

Question 3 · Course practice question · Fees and appointments2 marks

Fees, tendering and professional appointments

Lorton & Co has been invited to become auditor of Sorrel plc, a listed company, and its subsidiaries. If appointed, it expects these fees from the group in each year: the audit of Sorrel plc $1.5m; the audits of its subsidiaries $0.6m; tax and other non-audit services $0.5m.

The firm expects its total annual fee income, including all of these fees, to be $24.0m in each future year.

What percentage of the firm's annual fee income would the fees from the Sorrel group represent, to one decimal place? (2 marks)

Next step

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Questions people ask

How many professional skills marks are in AAA?

20: 10 in the Section A case study and 5 in each of the two Section B questions.

Which professional skills does AAA test?

The four skills are communication, analysis and evaluation, professional scepticism and judgement and commercial acumen. All four are examined in Section A.

Unofficial practice for the ACCA Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA) exam, not affiliated with ACCA. ACCA is a trademark of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, which does not endorse this course. Every question here is original. No VAT is charged.