How Hard Is ACCA AA? Pass Rate

How hard is ACCA Audit and Assurance?

AA is an Applied Skills exam on how an external audit is planned, carried out and reported, and on internal control, internal audit and ethics. Pass rates of 43% to 47% over the last five sessions mean fewer than half of candidates pass.

Pass mark	50%
Recent pass rates	43% to 47% (September 2025 to September 2026)
Length	3 hours, 100 marks
Written questions	70 marks in Section B

Pass mark

50%

Recent pass rates

43% to 47% (September 2025 to September 2026)

Length

3 hours, 100 marks

Written questions

70 marks in Section B

What makes it demanding

Section B: 70 of the 100 marks are written answers with no options to choose from, so you must describe procedures and explain risks in your own words.
Application: marks come from tying each point to the scenario, not from reciting a standard. A general risk with no link to the client earns little.
The clock: 100 marks in 180 minutes is 1.8 minutes a mark, about 54 minutes for the 30-mark question and 36 for each 20-mark one.
Precision: a procedure needs the document, the direction and what it proves, and an assertion tested the wrong way round earns nothing.

What makes it manageable

The 50% pass mark leaves room for mistakes, and the same skills come up again and again: audit risks and responses, materiality, control deficiencies and recommendations, tests of controls, substantive procedures for the main balances, threats and safeguards, and the effect of a misstatement on the auditor's report. Once these are secure, the written marks follow.

Where to start

The free diagnostic asks one question on every topic of the syllabus, then shows the topic to fix first and a short lesson on it.

Try 3 questions

Question 1 · Single question · Syllabus D1, D2, D32 marks

Audit evidence, procedures and sampling

Thorne Co's sales director is paid a bonus on revenue for the year to 31 December 20X5. The auditor is concerned that goods dispatched in early January 20X6 were invoiced and recorded as revenue in late December 20X5. The auditor has already tested sales prices and the existence of year-end receivables.

Which procedure would directly detect this misstatement? (2 marks)

Select invoices recorded in late December and check each dispatch note is dated by 31 DecemberSelect invoices recorded in late December and agree their prices to the approved price list for the yearCompare December revenue with the monthly averageSelect dispatch notes dated in late December and check that each is invoiced in December revenue

Question 2 · Single question · Syllabus A42 marks

Professional ethics

Fees from Norcott Co, an audit client of Penn & Ash, make up a large and growing share of the firm's total fee income.

Which threat to the fundamental principles does this create? (2 marks)

A self-interest threatA self-review threatAn advocacy threatNo threat, as long as the fees are paid on time

Question 3 · Single question · Syllabus E52 marks

The auditor's report

Ingleby Co's auditor is drafting an unmodified auditor's report under ISA 700 (Revised).

Which section must come first in the auditor's report? (2 marks)

The Opinion sectionKey Audit MattersOther InformationThe Basis for Opinion section

Questions people ask

Is ACCA AA hard?

The pass rates were 43% to 47% over the last five sessions, so fewer than half of candidates passed. The pass mark is 50%, and 70 of the 100 marks are written questions.

Is there much calculation in AA?

Some. The exam has both computational and discursive elements: materiality and ratios for analytical procedures are calculated, but most marks are for explaining risks, controls and procedures.

Do I need to know the accounting standards?

AA assumes the accounting knowledge examined in Financial Accounting (FA), so you need to know how the main balances are measured to say how they could be misstated.