To become a qualified accountant, you pass a professional body's exams and complete supervised work experience with an employer. In the UK that body is usually ACCA, ICAEW (the ACA), ICAS (the CA in Scotland) or CIMA; in the US a state board of accountancy licenses Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) after the Uniform CPA Exam. A degree helps but is not the only door: AAT and apprenticeships lead to the same qualifications.
This guide is published by EdCitation. Every exam, fee and timeline below was read at the body that sets it in late September 2026. Rules change yearly, and nothing here promises a pass, a licence, a job or a salary.
Accounting and finance students write referenced reports long before the professional exams. EdCitation's free Find sources searches about 300 million published works, and Cite a source builds each reference from the publisher's record. EdCitation never writes any part of a student's work or application: the thinking is yours, and the tools make sure your sources are real.
How do you become an accountant in the UK or the US?
In the UK you take a professional qualification while you work, entered from school, a degree or AAT; in the US you follow your state board's CPA rules. Each duration below is as the body's own page states it.
| Qualification | Country | How long, as the source states it | Exams | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAT Level 2, 3 and 4 | UK | 6 to 12 months (Levels 2 and 3), 12 to 18 months (Level 4), on average | One qualification per level | AAT (n.d.) |
| ACCA | UK | "As little as three or four years" when working and studying | 3 Applied Knowledge, 6 Applied Skills, 4 Strategic Professional, plus an ethics module | ACCA (n.d.-a, n.d.-e) |
| ICAEW ACA | UK | Typically three to five years | 14 in the Next Generation ACA (15 in the earlier ACA) | ICAEW (n.d.-a, n.d.-c) |
| ICAS CA | Scotland | Approximately three years for graduates | ICAS exams, plus 450 days' experience | ICAS (n.d.-a) |
| CIMA's CGMA | UK | On average four years for the three levels | Objective tests plus three case study exams | AICPA & CIMA (n.d.-b) |
| Level 7 apprenticeship | England | Typically 36 months | An end-point assessment | Skills England (2026a) |
| US CPA | United States | Set by each state board | Three Core sections and one Discipline | AICPA & CIMA (n.d.-a) |
| Your first referenced report | Anywhere | An evening | None | Find sources and Cite a source on EdCitation |
ACA vs ACCA: which is right for you?
ACA vs ACCA comes down to the employer and the kind of work: both need about three years of experience, but the frame differs.
ICAEW's ACA is taken under a training agreement with an authorised employer, and students must complete at least 450 days of practical work experience, which typically takes three to five years (ICAEW, n.d.-d). The experience need not include audit work (ICAEW, n.d.-c).
ACCA is more flexible. It asks for 36 months of supervised experience in a relevant accounting or finance role and nine performance objectives (ACCA, n.d.-a). The months may be gathered before registering, during the exams or after them, across several employers and in part-time roles, each signed off by a supervisor (ACCA, n.d.-f). ACCA (n.d.-e) sets no time limit on its first two levels, but once you pass your first Strategic Professional exam you have seven years to pass the rest.
Chartered accountant in Scotland: the ICAS CA
ICAS trains CAs through a training agreement with an ICAS-authorised employer, and gives approximately three years for graduates (ICAS, n.d.-a). Students record at least 450 days of relevant practical experience over three years (ICAS, n.d.-b).
CIMA and management accounting
CIMA's route leads to the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation, with experience measured in management accounting. It has three levels, Operational, Management and Strategic; each ends in a case study exam offered four times a year, and a minimum of three years of verified practical experience is needed, some of which may predate registration (AICPA & CIMA, n.d.-b).
How do the ACCA exams and exemptions work?
The ACCA Qualification has three levels: Applied Knowledge (Business and Technology, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting), Applied Skills (six exams, from Corporate and Business Law to Audit and Assurance) and Strategic Professional, where you take Strategic Business Leader, Strategic Business Reporting and two of four Options (ACCA, n.d.-a).
Exemptions from a degree
A relevant degree can earn up to nine exemptions from the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills exams, never from Strategic Professional and never for work experience alone. Each exemption carries a fee, payable within 30 days of the award (ACCA, n.d.-c).
What ACCA costs in 2026
ACCA's 2026 fees are an £89 initial registration and a £140 annual subscription. At standard entry for December 2026, an Applied Skills exam is £160, Strategic Business Reporting or an Option £208, and Strategic Business Leader £282; late entry costs far more. Exemptions are £86 each at Applied Knowledge and £114 at Applied Skills, and the Ethics and Professional Skills module is £83 (ACCA, n.d.-d). Tuition is extra and set by each provider.
The 2027 changes
ACCA is redesigning its qualification from mid-2027: the levels are renamed, Business Law joins the first level, and Strategic Professional will need one Option instead of two. The practical experience requirement will not change in 2027 (ACCA, n.d.-b).
What does the ICAEW ACA involve, and what does it cost?
The ACA is made up of 14 exams across the Certificate, Professional and Advanced Levels, and students with accounting or business degrees may claim credit for up to 12 of them (ICAEW, n.d.-a). Students who started before 1 July 2025 and have not switched are on the earlier ACA of 15 exams, where the Case Study must be attempted last (ICAEW, n.d.-b).
ICAEW (n.d.-c) lists the annual student registration at £216 plus VAT now and £223 plus VAT for 2027, and exam entry at £99 to £297 now and £103 to £350 for 2027; tuition varies by provider. Up to 12 months of experience from before the training agreement may count, if it meets ICAEW's criteria (ICAEW, n.d.-d).
Can you become an accountant without a degree?
Yes. AAT and apprenticeships both lead into the professional qualifications, and ICAEW (n.d.-c) lists routes into the ACA for school leavers and career changers as well as graduates.
AAT, the technician route
AAT's Level 2 Certificate and Level 3 Diploma each take 6 to 12 months on average, and the Level 4 Diploma for Professional Accounting Technicians 12 to 18 months; Level 4 leads to full membership and the letters MAAT. AAT says its qualifications bring exemptions from all of the UK's chartered bodies (AAT, n.d.).
An accounting apprenticeship in England
An accounting apprenticeship pays a wage while you train. Skills England publishes the standards:
- Assistant accountant, Level 3: version 2.0, for starts from 12 August 2026, typical duration 15 months (Skills England, 2026b).
- Professional accounting technician, Level 4: version 2.0, typical duration 18 months (Skills England, 2026c).
- Accountancy or taxation professional, Level 7: typical duration 36 months, with entry requirements set by employers, typically A levels or equivalent (Skills England, 2026a).
From 1 January 2026 the Level 7 is government-funded only for apprentices aged 16 to 21 at the start, or under 25 with an Education, Health and Care plan or experience of local authority care. Anyone who started before that date keeps their funding (Skills England, 2026a).
What are the CPA requirements in the US?
CPA requirements come in three parts: education, examination and experience. The exam is the same everywhere; education and experience rules are set by each state's board of accountancy (AICPA & CIMA, n.d.-a).
The Uniform CPA Exam
Everyone sits three four-hour Core sections, Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) and Taxation and Regulation (REG), then one four-hour Discipline section of their choice: Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Control (ISC) or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP). You need a score of at least 75 on each section (AICPA & CIMA, n.d.-a).
The 150-hour rule and the new pathways
The traditional route asks for 150 semester hours, a bachelor's degree in accounting plus 30 more credits, and one year of experience. NASBA's model now adds a third pathway: the bachelor's degree alone (120 hours) with two years of experience, beside the 150-hour route and a graduate degree with one year (Liger-Burton, 2025). Each state must pass its own law first, and NASBA keeps a map of those that have.
Two boards show the range:
- California. Today the California Board of Accountancy (2024b) asks for a bachelor's degree and 150 semester units, including 24 in accounting, 24 in business, 20 of accounting study and 10 of ethics, with 12 months of general accounting experience (California Board of Accountancy, 2024a). Under AB 1175, from 1 January 2027 a bachelor's degree with 24 accounting, 24 business and 3 ethics units will do, with two years of experience; both sets of rules stand through 2027 and 2028, and only the new ones from 2029 (California Board of Accountancy, 2025).
- Texas. From 1 August 2026, the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy (2025) offers Pathway A (150 hours and one year of full-time experience directly supervised by a CPA) and Pathway B (120 hours and two years). Both need 27 upper-level accounting hours, a three-hour ethics course and the board's exam on its Rules of Professional Conduct.
What do accountants in the US earn?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) gives the median annual wage for accountants and auditors as $83,680 in May 2025, with the lowest 10% under $56,020 and the highest 10% over $144,090. It projects 5% growth from 2025 to 2035, and says a CPA licence may improve prospects. These are national figures, not an offer.
A timeline from school to qualified accountant
This timeline is EdCitation's own, for the graduate route in the UK; the steps come from the bodies cited above.
- Sixth form: choose A levels you can do well in, since employers set their own entry grades, or start AAT or a Level 3 apprenticeship.
- University, years one and two: write your referenced reports with Find sources and Cite a source, and check which ACCA exemptions or ICAEW credits your degree carries.
- Final year: apply for graduate training contracts; your CV and applications are yours to write (our graduate CV guide helps).
- Training years one to three: sit the exams while logging experience: 450 days for the ACA or ICAS, 36 months and nine objectives for ACCA, three years for CIMA.
- Qualified: apply for membership. (In the US: a degree, four CPA sections, one or two years' experience, then a state licence.)
How does EdCitation help accounting and finance students?
EdCitation is the best tool for the referencing side of an accounting degree. It looks each work up in the publisher's record and never writes a reference, so a list built with it holds only works that exist, which no chatbot can promise.
Which style will your course use?
Harvard at the UK libraries we read, and APA at the US ones. Glasgow Caledonian University Library (2026) puts most Accountancy, Finance and Risk assignments in Cite Them Right Harvard, and the University of Staffordshire Library (2026) gives Harvard for Accounting and Finance. In the US, Washington & Jefferson College names APA for business and accounting (Clark Family Library, 2026), and Southern Connecticut State University Library (2026) says most business fields follow APA. Your module handbook decides. Cite a source gives Harvard (Cite Them Right) and APA 7 among six styles.
What one search returned
We ran Find sources on 27 September 2026 for "audit quality and earnings management", sorted by most cited. It answered from Crossref: a total of 5,580,071 records. The second result was "Internal Audit Quality and Earnings Management" by Douglas F. Prawitt, Jason L. Smith and David A. Wood, The Accounting Review, 2009, cited 451 times. Given its DOI, Cite a source screened it for retraction, found none, and returned in Harvard:
Prawitt, D.F., Smith, J.L. and Wood, D.A. (2009) ‘Internal Audit Quality and Earnings Management’, The Accounting Review, 84(4), pp. 1255–1280. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2308/accr.2009.84.4.1255.
Both tools, and Verify references for a finished list, are free with no account. Pro, at $8 a month, adds References from a file, which checks every reference in an uploaded paper and matches each in-text citation to the list. Company reports, 10-K filings and ONS figures have their own rules, covered in citing sources in a business report. Another profession, set out the same way: how to become a nurse in the UK.
Quick questions
How long does it take to become a chartered accountant?
Usually three to five years of work and study combined: three to five for the ACA, as little as three or four for ACCA, about three for ICAS graduates, and four on average for CIMA.
Do you need a degree to become an accountant?
No. AAT's Level 2 to Level 4 qualifications and the Level 3, 4 and 7 apprenticeships lead into the professional bodies, and ICAEW offers a school-leaver route into the ACA.
Is ACCA or CIMA better?
Neither is better in general. ACCA spans audit, tax and reporting; CIMA's CGMA centres on management accounting. Choose by the job you want and what your employer supports.
Can I become a CPA without 150 credit hours?
In some states, yes: the new model pathway pairs a bachelor's degree with two years of experience. Texas offers it from 1 August 2026 and California from 1 January 2027; check your own state board.
Can EdCitation write my accounting essays or applications?
No, by design. EdCitation finds published sources with Find sources and formats each reference from the publisher's record; every word of the essay or application is yours.
References
- AAT. (n.d.). Accounting qualifications. https://www.aat.org.uk/qualifications-and-courses/accounting
- ACCA. (n.d.-a). ACCA Qualification structure and requirements. https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/getting-started/acca-qualification-structure.html
- ACCA. (n.d.-b). ACCA Qualification students: Supporting your transition. https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/campaigns/accountancy-redefined/future-acca-qualification/supporting-your-transition/acca-qualification-students.html
- ACCA. (n.d.-c). Exemption information for ACCA students. https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/getting-started/exemptions.html
- ACCA. (n.d.-d). Fees and charges. https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/qualifications/accountancy-career/fees/fees-charges.html
- ACCA. (n.d.-e). How the ACCA Qualification works. https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/qualifications/glance/acca/how.html
- ACCA. (n.d.-f). 36 months' practical experience. https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/practical-experience-per/36-months-practical-experience.html
- AICPA & CIMA. (n.d.-a). Everything you need to know about the CPA Exam. https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/toolkit/cpa-exam
- AICPA & CIMA. (n.d.-b). Your journey to the CGMA qualification. https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/landing/cgma-designation
- Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026, August 27). Accountants and auditors. Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm
- California Board of Accountancy. (2024a, February 26). CPA licensure experience requirements. https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/applicants/experience-requirements.shtml
- California Board of Accountancy. (2024b, June 10). Educational requirements for CPA licensure. https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/applicants/ed-requirements.shtml
- California Board of Accountancy. (2025, November 10). Information about AB 1175, the CBA's sponsored legislation. https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/outreach/california-legislation.shtml
- Clark Family Library. (2026, September 1). Citing sources: Business and accounting. Washington & Jefferson College. https://libguides.washjeff.edu/c.php?g=1301643&p=9584534
- Glasgow Caledonian University Library. (2026, September 23). Referencing and plagiarism: Accounting, finance and risk. https://gcu.libguides.com/accounting/referencing
- ICAEW. (n.d.-a). Business, finance and accountancy exams. https://www.icaew.com/start-your-career/how-to-become-a-chartered-accountant/discover-aca/exam-module
- ICAEW. (n.d.-b). A guide to the ACA exams. https://www.icaew.com/learning-and-development/aca/employers/support-hub/aca-training-process/the-aca-exams
- ICAEW. (n.d.-c). How ACA training works. https://www.icaew.com/learning-and-development/aca/employers/train-the-aca/how-aca-training-works
- ICAEW. (n.d.-d). Practical work experience. https://www.icaew.com/learning-and-development/aca/employers/support-hub/aca-training-process/practical-work-experience
- ICAS. (n.d.-a). ICAS CA qualification for graduates. https://www.icas.com/become-a-chartered-accountant/how-to-become-a-chartered-accountant-ca/icas-ca-qualification-for-graduates
- ICAS. (n.d.-b). Relevant practical experience (RPE) and the logbook. https://www.icas.com/train-a-chartered-accountant/resources-for-authorised-training-offices/support-your-students/relevant-practical-experience-rpe-and-the-logbook
- Liger-Burton, N. (2025, December 23). New CPA licensure pathways and CPA mobility. NASBA. https://nasba.org/blog/2025/12/23/new-cpa-licensure-pathways-and-cpa-mobility/
- Skills England. (2026a, July 9). Accountancy or taxation professional (ST0001, Version 1.0). https://skillsengland.education.gov.uk/apprenticeship-standards/st0001-v1-0
- Skills England. (2026b, August 12). Assistant accountant (ST0002, Version 2.0). https://skillsengland.education.gov.uk/apprenticeships/st0002-v2-0
- Skills England. (2026c, July 27). Professional accounting technician (ST0003, Version 2.0). https://skillsengland.education.gov.uk/apprenticeships/st0003-v2-0
- Southern Connecticut State University Library. (2026, June 15). Citing your sources: Business research. https://libguides.southernct.edu/business/citing
- Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. (2025). Requirements for CPA certification: Pathway A and new Pathway B [Fact sheet]. https://www.tsbpa.texas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Certification-Requirements.pdf
- University of Staffordshire Library. (2026, September 11). Referencing guidance: Accounting and finance. https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/accountingandfinance/referencing