ACCA Skills Level: LW, PM, TX, FR, AA and FM Explained
A guide for students reaching the middle of ACCA, or starting there with B.Com exemptions: what each of the six Applied Skills papers covers, how hard each one is, what it costs and how the 2027 redesign affects your plan.
The Skills Level — ACCA's official name for it is Applied Skills — is the middle of the three levels and 13 papers. Six papers. This is where the course stops being an introduction and starts being a professional exam.
- Six papers: LW is a two-hour objective test; PM, TX, FR, AA and FM are three-hour exams with Sections A, B and C.
- Every paper passes at 50%, with no negative marking.
- Standard entry is £151 per paper, about ₹19,600.
- June 2027 is the last sitting under the current structure; the new Expertise Level starts in September 2027.
Many Indian B.Com graduates are exempt from the Knowledge Level and start here, so for a lot of students this is paper one. Here is what each of the six covers, how the exams are built, what they cost, and how hard they actually are.
The six papers
| Code | Full name | What it covers |
| LW | Corporate and Business Law | Contract law, employment law, company formation, directors' duties, insolvency, fraud. Almost no numbers |
| PM | Performance Management | Costing techniques, budgeting, variance analysis, divisional performance, transfer pricing, decision-making |
| TX | Taxation | Income tax, corporation tax, capital gains, VAT and national insurance for the variant you sit |
| FR | Financial Reporting | IFRS applied properly: revenue, leases, financial instruments, deferred tax, and full group consolidations |
| AA | Audit and Assurance | Audit planning, risk, internal controls, evidence-gathering, and the audit report |
| FM | Financial Management | Working capital, investment appraisal (NPV, IRR), cost of capital, sources of finance, business valuation |
A rough grouping that helps: PM and FM are the maths-heavy pair, FR and AA are the standards-heavy pair, TX is rules-and-rates, and LW is pure reading and recall.
How the exams work
| LW | PM, TX, FR, AA, FM | |
| Length | 2 hours | 3 hours |
| Total marks | 100 | 100 |
| Pass mark | 50% | 50% |
| Question types | Objective test questions only | Section A: 15 OT questions × 2 marks. Section B: 3 case-style sets × 10 marks. Section C: 2 constructed-response questions × 20 marks |
| Negative marking | None | None |
| When you can sit it | On demand, year round | Four sittings a year: March, June, September, December |
That last row matters more than anything else on this table. LW is one of only four papers you can sit on demand, and you can book an exam at our Indore centre. The other five lock you into ACCA's exam diary.
Pass rates: which papers actually hurt
ACCA's global pass rates for the June 2026 sitting:
| Paper | Pass rate |
| LW | 82% |
| TX | 55% |
| FR | 52% |
| FM | 48% |
| AA | 47% |
| PM | 41% |
PM was the hardest paper at this level. Fewer than half the people who sat it passed. The reason is Section C — two 20-mark questions where a number without an explanation earns only part of the marks.
AA surprises people. Students assume a theory paper is an easy paper. It is not. AA asks you to apply audit thinking to a scenario you have never seen, and generic textbook answers score very little.
LW was the outlier at 82%. If you need an early confidence win, this is the paper.
What it costs
ACCA charges per exam. Standard-entry fees for Indian students:
| Item | GBP | INR (approx.) |
| One Skills paper, standard entry | £151 | about ₹19,600 |
| All six papers, standard entry | £906 | about ₹1,17,800 |
Rupee figures are converted at about ₹130 to the pound, as of November 2026. For every other fee, including registration and the annual subscription, see the full fee breakdown in rupees.
Two things students get wrong here. First, the exam fee is not the coaching fee; they are separate. Second, an exemption is not free — ACCA charges an exemption fee for each paper you skip, so check the current amount in MyACCA before you claim.
What order should you sit them in?
ACCA lets you sit Skills papers in any order. A sequence that works for most students:
- LW — on demand, highest pass rate, gets you moving
- FR — the backbone paper; AA and SBR both lean on it
- AA — much easier once FR is in your head
- PM — hardest, so give it a full sitting on its own
- FM — shares maths habits with PM, so pair it or follow it
- TX — self-contained, sit it whenever it fits
Do not book four papers in one sitting because the fee feels efficient. Two per sitting is the ceiling for most working students, three if you are studying full-time.
The 2027 change
ACCA announced a full redesign of the qualification in June 2026. From 2027 the Skills Level is replaced by a new Expertise Level of five papers, not six. LW moves down into the Knowledge Level, and performance management is rebuilt as Performance with Data Analytics.
The dates: June 2027 is the last sitting under the current structure, and the new Expertise Level exams start from September 2027.
If you are starting the Skills Level now, March and June 2027 are the last two sittings before the switch — not enough for most students to clear five session papers. Plan to finish under the new structure, and read ACCA's transition guidance on how your passes carry across before you choose which papers to sit first. If you want help mapping that against your college timetable, book a free counselling session at Vidhyoday Global and bring your marksheets.
Frequently asked questions
How many papers are there in the ACCA Skills Level?
Six: LW (Corporate and Business Law), PM (Performance Management), TX (Taxation), FR (Financial Reporting), AA (Audit and Assurance) and FM (Financial Management). LW is a two-hour objective-test exam; the other five are three-hour exams. All have a 50% pass mark and no negative marking.
Which ACCA Skills Level paper is the hardest?
PM (Performance Management), with a global pass rate of 41% in the June 2026 sitting. AA followed at 47% and FM at 48%. LW was the easiest at 82%.
How much does one ACCA Skills Level exam cost in India?
£151 for standard entry, about ₹19,600 at about ₹130 to the pound (November 2026). Late entry costs much more, so enter by the standard deadline. ACCA bills in pounds, so check the current rate before paying.
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