The Next Generation ACA, which applies to students starting from 1 July 2025 or switched to it, combines 14 exams, a minimum of 30 units of Specialised Learning and 450 days of professional work experience, with ethics built in and reviewed every six months. Confirm your version, download the syllabus edition matching your exam year, and plan both units and experience across your training agreement.
What the Next Generation ACA is
The ACA is ICAEW's chartered accountancy qualification. From 1 July 2025 new students start under the Next Generation ACA, and existing students can be switched to it.
ICAEW's employer guidance is explicit about the boundary: it covers students who started the ACA from 1 July 2025 or who have been switched to the Next Generation ACA. If you began earlier, your route may still follow the previous structure or a transition path, so confirming your status is the first planning decision.
The qualification has three elements: business, finance and accountancy exams; Specialised Learning; and professional skills and experience. Ethics, sustainability and technology run through the whole structure as key themes rather than sitting in one module.
This guide explains what those elements require and how to plan them. It draws on ICAEW's own pages about the training process and the published syllabus editions.
Sources: The Next Generation ACA training process | ICAEW — Employer support hub
The three elements and their requirements
The verified requirements are 14 exams, a minimum of 30 units of Specialised Learning and 450 days of professional work experience.
Each element is a hard requirement of the training structure, not optional study advice. The exams build in-depth business, finance and accountancy knowledge under the key themes of sustainability, ethics and technology. Specialised Learning is tailored to business needs and keeps students current with new developments.
Work experience is where professional skills develop: 450 days of professional work experience are completed as part of training, and students must also develop professional skills, ethics and professional scepticism. Your employer and counsellor plan how both the units and the days fit across your training agreement.
Practice check
Your training plan schedules 12 units of Specialised Learning in your first year and 10 in your second. How many more units must you schedule to reach the minimum?
Show answer
8 more units.
The Next Generation ACA requires a minimum of 30 units of Specialised Learning. The plan already covers 12 plus 10, which is 22 units, so 30 minus 22 leaves 8 to schedule. This assumes each unit counts once and none have already been completed; if your employer has credited prior units, recalculate from your own total.
- Exams: 14, underpinned by sustainability, ethics and technology
- Specialised Learning: a minimum of 30 units, tailored to business needs
- Professional work experience: 450 days, alongside professional skills development
| Element | Verified requirement |
|---|---|
| Exams | 14 exams across business, finance and accountancy |
| Specialised Learning | Minimum of 30 units, tailored to business needs |
| Professional skills and experience | 450 days of professional work experience, plus professional skills, ethics and scepticism |
Sources: The Next Generation ACA training process | ICAEW — Employer support hub
How ethics, reviews and sign-off work during training
Ethics is integrated throughout the ACA, with Ethics in Practice scenarios discussed at each six-monthly review, and progress is recorded in an online training file.
You will not sit a single ethics hurdle at the end; instead, ethics is integrated throughout the qualification. ICAEW's guidance requires Ethics in Practice scenarios to be discussed with your employer at each six-monthly review, so preparing for these discussions is part of regular study, not an afterthought.
Training runs through an online training file that your employer monitors and reviews. ICAEW's guidance also names specific roles — including the QPRT, PRT, counsellor, student manager and authorised training principal — each with defined duties; your employer can confirm who fills each role in your agreement.
Administratively, you register with ICAEW, sign a training agreement at the start, attend the six-monthly reviews, and finish with a final sign off of your training file at the end of the agreement. Knowing this sequence helps you see what each stage of your training is for.
- Register with ICAEW and sign the training agreement at the outset
- Discuss Ethics in Practice scenarios at every six-monthly review
- Keep the online training file up to date for employer monitoring
- Complete final sign off at the end of the agreement
Sources: The Next Generation ACA training process | ICAEW — Employer support hub
Which syllabus edition applies to you
Use the up-to-date syllabus edition for your exams — ICAEW's verified example is the 2025 edition for exams taken in 2025 — and check the transitional arrangements in place until 2027 if you started before the new structure or switch versions.
ICAEW reviews and approves the syllabus and learning materials each year through its examiners, and publishes both a clean syllabus and a version showing changes from the previous year. ICAEW therefore recommends studying from the up-to-date edition — for example, the 2025 edition for exams taken in 2025 — because it reflects changes to the syllabus, learning outcomes and assessment.
For the new structure, the syllabus page lists a Next Generation ACA syllabus with skills development and technical knowledge grids covering 2025–2026. The 2026 and 2027 syllabus entries on the same page sit under an Advanced Level heading, so the page alone does not confirm they belong to the Next Generation ACA — check the current edition list, or ask ICAEW, before relying on them. Separately, transitional arrangements run until 2027 to help students plan while the qualifications change.
The verified rule is the example ICAEW gives: study from the up-to-date edition, such as the 2025 edition for exams taken in 2025, because it reflects the current syllabus, learning outcomes and assessment. Which editions apply to your later exam years under the new structure depends on how ICAEW lists them, so confirm each module's edition on the official syllabus page before buying materials.
- Next Generation ACA syllabus, skills development and technical knowledge grids for 2025–2026
- The 2026 and 2027 syllabus entries appear under an Advanced Level heading — confirm which applies to you with ICAEW
- Transitional arrangements run until 2027
Sources: Syllabus and learning materials | ICAEW — Partners in Learning resources; The Next Generation ACA training process | ICAEW — Employer support hub
Getting the official learning materials
ICAEW publishes its own digital-only learning materials, sold through the ICAEW Bookstore, and they show how the syllabus learning outcomes are tested.
The learning materials provide clear guidance on how the syllabus learning outcomes are tested in the exams, which is why matching the edition to your exam year matters as much as owning the materials at all.
All ICAEW Learning Materials are digital only and are bought from the ICAEW Bookstore, either by an employer to distribute to students or by students themselves. Redemption links arrive by email, and ICAEW does not resend them, so keep the email safe when your materials arrive.
If you study with a tuition provider, note that Professional Education Providers applying to ICAEW's Partner in Learning scheme confirm that each of their students will have their own copy of the official materials. If your provider has not issued them, ask.
Sources: Syllabus and learning materials | ICAEW — Partners in Learning resources
Your next steps and what to confirm with ICAEW
Confirm your version, download the matching syllabus, register, and plan the 30 units and 450 days across your agreement — then check per-exam details in the ACA handbook.
The retrieved ICAEW pages verify the structure described above, but they do not set out per-exam details such as question formats, duration or pass marks. Treat those as open questions and check the downloadable ACA handbook and ICAEW's exam pages before booking anything, rather than relying on third-party summaries.
Work through the checklist below in order. The first two steps determine everything else, because the version you are on and the edition you study from shape which exams and requirements apply to you.
For practice material alongside this guide, the practice questions page and the wider study guides offer extra preparation support once you know your syllabus edition.
- Confirm whether you started before or after 1 July 2025, or were switched, and check the transitional arrangements
- Download the up-to-date syllabus edition from ICAEW — the verified example is the 2025 edition for 2025 exams — and confirm later editions for your exam years
- Register with ICAEW and set up your training agreement
- Plan the 30 Specialised Learning units and 450 experience days across the agreement with your employer
- Prepare for six-monthly reviews, including the Ethics in Practice scenarios
- Check the ACA handbook for per-exam formats, duration and any fees before booking
Sources: The Next Generation ACA training process | ICAEW — Employer support hub; Syllabus and learning materials | ICAEW — Partners in Learning resources
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