ACCA Qualification, ACCA Rus and DipIFR: Exams, Costs and How to Get Certified

This guide provides an overview of the ACCA qualifications framework globally and within Russian language programs (DipIFR and ADFBR). It outlines curriculums, exam structures, and fees, offering guidance on exemption checks and selecting accredited tuition providers. A separate section explores ACCA courses in Russia, using the programs of the STEK Training Centre as a practical case study. Prices and dates are current as of October 2026.

What ACCA is and where it is recognised

ACCA is the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a global professional accountancy body founded in 1904. In its 2026 annual integrated report ACCA says it supports more than 266,000 members and 546,500 future members (students and affiliates) in 179 countries.

The official ACCA Global website, accaglobal.com, holds the syllabi, past exam papers, fee tables, exam timetables and the myACCA portal, where students register, pay fees and book exams. Russian-language pages are available in the CIS section of the site.

ACCA is a route rather than a single exam. Depending on your language, experience and goal, you can take a one-exam diploma such as DipIFR, a Russian-language diploma such as ACCA Rus, or the full ACCA Qualification that leads to membership. The next section puts them side by side.

ACCA qualifications worldwide and in Russian

ACCA’s own “Choose your qualification” page lists four options relevant to our readers. The Russian-language ones are the Advanced Diploma in Finance and Business in Russian (ACCA Rus) and the Russian version of DipIFR.

Table 1. ACCA qualifications at a glance

The ACCA Qualification has three levels. At Applied Knowledge you take Business and Technology (BT), Management Accounting (MA) and Financial Accounting (FA). At Applied Skills you take Corporate and Business Law (LW), Performance Management (PM), Taxation (TX), Financial Reporting (FR), Audit and Assurance (AA) and Financial Management (FM). At Strategic Professional you take Strategic Business Reporting (SBR), Strategic Business Leader (SBL) and two options from Advanced Financial Management (AFM), Advanced Performance Management (APM), Advanced Taxation (ATX) and Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA).

Once the exams and the ethics module are passed you become an ACCA affiliate; full membership then requires 36 months of practical experience.

ACCA Rus: the diploma you can sit in Russian

Available since 2019, the Russian-language ACCA Diploma in Finance and Business ("Финансы и управление бизнесом") is benchmarked at a bachelor's degree level. It is tailored for professionals working in Russian, featuring exam papers that are direct translations of the core Applied Skills modules from the ACCA Qualification.

Seven exams which can be taken in Russian are:

• Introduction into Finance and Business;
• Corporate and Business Law;
• Performance Management;
• Taxation (rus);
• Financial Reporting;
• Audit and Assurance;
• Financial Management.

A candidate with a relevant degree (for example in finance and credit or in accounting, analysis and audit) is exempt from the introductory paper, which brings the programme to six exams. ACCA’s fee table also gives a free exemption from Financial Reporting and Taxation to holders of the DipIFR and the Russian tax diploma (DipTX). You must still sit at least two exams to earn the diploma. Papers can be taken in any order and several in one session, in June and December.

After each paper you pass, myACCA lets you download an electronic ACCA certificate for that subject, for example “Financial Management” or “Taxation in the Russian Federation”. When all papers are done, the diploma follows. Holders then move on to the Strategic Professional exams, which are in English, and ACCA gives them exemptions from six ACCA Qualification papers and from the ethics module.

One availability point matters before you plan. ACCA’s page describes the diploma as intended for Russian speakers living in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the UAE (Dubai only).

What changes for ACCA Rus in 2027

ACCA’s page on the future ADFBR states that the changes take effect from July 2027 and that the first session they affect is December 2027. The diploma will shrink from seven exams to five: Taxation (Russian Federation), Financial Reporting, Audit, Risk and Control, Finance and Investment, and Performance with Data Analysis. The introductory paper and Corporate Law (Russian Federation) disappear, and the minimum entry requirements are removed. There will be no automatic progression to Strategic Professional: holders must pass or be exempt from the Knowledge-level exams first. The Russian ethics module stays. Exams you sit before the changeover follow the current structure.

Learn more in Russian>>

ACCA DipIFR: the IFRS diploma in English and Russian

DipIFR, the Diploma in International Financial Reporting, is a one-exam qualification for specialists who prepare or review financial statements under IFRS, including consolidated statements. ACCA gives typical study time as three to six months.

DipIFR exists in two language versions: the English version offered worldwide, and the Russian version, DipIFR (Rus), which has been sat in Russian since 2004. A DipIFR (Rus) holder is exempt from the Financial Reporting paper when moving to the ACCA Qualification, according to ACCA’s DipIFR press release.

To register for DipIFR (Rus) you must meet one of ACCA’s five criteria:

• membership of a professional accountancy or audit body that is a full member of IFAC;
• a relevant degree that would earn exemption from the first four ACCA exams (or a professional accountant certificate from a body outside IFAC) plus two years of finance, accounting or audit experience;
• three years of experience in finance, accounting or audit;
• ACCA Affiliate status;
• the ACCA Certificate in International Financial Reporting plus two years of experience.

The exam is computer-based and has been since December 2020. It lasts 3 hours 15 minutes, with 10 extra minutes to read the instructions, and consists of four compulsory questions worth 25 marks each. The pass mark is 50%. Sessions run in June and December and results arrive about six weeks later.

ACCA’s published world pass rates for DipIFR were 46% in December 2025 and 44% in June 2025; STEK reports that 63% of its candidates passed in December 2025. For fees, ACCA’s Russian fee page lists £89 for initial registration and £155 for the June 2026 exam, and £160 for December 2026 standard entry.

How to get ACCA: six steps from registration to results

1. Check your exemptions. Run your degree through the ACCA exemption calculator (details below) and note which papers you can skip.
2. Register as an ACCA student. Fill in the online application on ACCA’s site and upload scans: your higher-education diploma with its supplement, an ID page and, if you have them, certificates such as DipIFR or a professional accountant attestation. Translations need the translator’s signature and the agency stamp; notarisation and apostille are not required. The documents sent electronically are reviewed within 7 working days, and ACCA asks you to apply at least 10 working days before the exam-entry deadline. The one-off fee is £89.
3. Choose how you will study. ACCA does not oblige anyone to attend a provider. Many candidates use an accredited centre; STEK estimates 2–2.5 months of preparation per exam.
4. Enter the exam in the standard window. Late entry costs more than double and some sessions have none. Changes and cancellations are possible only until standard entry closes.
5. Sit the exam in a centre.
6. Collect results and keep going. Results arrive about six weeks after the session. After the exams come the ethics module and 36 months of practical experience for ACCA membership.

You can register and pay fees yourself, or ask STEK to do it. STEK notes that cards from Russian banks currently do not work for ACCA payments in myACCA, which is why it offers to include ACCA fees in the tuition invoice.

ACCA exam: requirements, format, deadlines and costs

Entry requirements

ACCA’s minimum entry for the ACCA Qualification is the equivalent of two A-levels and three GCSEs in five subjects, including English and maths. For Russian-speaking candidates STEK states a practical rule: higher education, or senior-year student status, is the main requirement for the ACCA Qualification and for ACCA Rus. Candidates who do not meet the minimum can start with Foundations in Accountancy, which has no entry requirements.

Format and length

Table 2. ACCA exam format

Within a level you may sit papers in any order and up to four papers in one session. Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills carry no time limit as long as the annual subscription is paid. March and September sessions offer limited variants of Applied Skills and Strategic Professional exams; June and December offer all variants.

Deadlines: the December 2026 session as an example

ACCA’s Russian-language dates page shows how one session is laid out. For December 2026 entry opened on 4 August 2026, standard entry closes on 2 November 2026 and late entry on 9 November 2026. Exams run from 7 to 11 December and results are sent on 18 January 2027. The exam attendance docket, with your seat and centre address, appears in myACCA about three weeks after standard entry closes. Check ACCA’s “Important dates” page for the session you plan, because the windows move every year.

How much ACCA exams cost

Table 3. ACCA fees (GBP)

ACCA’s total bill depends on how many exemptions you receive, whether you pass at the first attempt and how many years you need, so two candidates rarely pay the same. Budget the exam fees together with tuition when you compare providers.

ACCA exemption calculator: skip papers you have already covered

ACCA publishes a free exemption calculator on its site. You enter your institution, country, course name and graduation year, and it lists the Applied Knowledge and Applied Skills papers your degree may exempt you from. ACCA awards a maximum of nine exemptions and none from Strategic Professional, charges a fee for each, and confirms exemptions in myACCA. If your institution is missing from the list, ACCA support (“Help” section of your MyACCA) can advise on your documents.

For ACCA Rus the logic is similar: a relevant degree removes the introductory exam, and DipIFR or DipTX covers Financial Reporting and Taxation. Run the calculator before you pay for any course, since an exemption can save one exam fee and a full study cycle.

Prize winners ACCA: what the title actually means

ACCA names prize winners among candidates who achieve the highest marks on their first attempt. Cash prizes go to the highest mark worldwide in each Applied Skills exam (except LW) and Strategic Professional exam, and medals go to the highest total average in the Strategic Professional exams for students who reach affiliate status. Countries where ACCA has offices, student societies or joint examination schemes add local prizes, and prize winners are normally notified about three weeks after the results. ACCA does not publish rankings or top marks to anyone except the prize winners. A paper attempted on demand before the official first session does not qualify, and a missed first session counts as the first attempt.

Accredited ACCA providers: Silver, Gold and Platinum

ACCA recognises tuition providers through its Approved Learning Partner (ALP) programme, which has three tiers. Silver suits providers that are new or cannot yet demonstrate ACCA’s performance targets. Gold means the provider meets those targets. Platinum is open only to Gold partners that also meet the higher Platinum targets. ACCA also accredits publishers of study materials and licenses CBE centres for computer-based exams, so the same organisation can hold several roles.

Four questions help to compare providers: which ALP tier it holds and since when, how its pass rates compare with ACCA’s published world figures, who teaches (ACCA members with industry experience are a good sign) and whether its study materials are accredited. Ask for a marked mock exam as well, because feedback on a written answer is the part you cannot get from videos alone.

ACCA courses in Russia: what STEK offers

STEK Training Centre has been an ACCA Approved Learning Partner at Gold level since 2008. It is also an ACCA computer-based exam (CBE) centre, a Pearson VUE authorised test centre for ACCA Qualification and CIMA (Rus), and a publisher of ACCA-accredited study materials; STEK is the only provider of accredited DipIFR (Rus) materials in Russian.

On results, STEK reports that 74% of its candidates passed ACCA exams in June 2026 against a world average of 42%, with 43% of successful STEK candidates scoring above 70. For DipIFR, 63% of STEK candidates passed in December 2025 against ACCA’s published world figure of 46%. These are STEK’s figures; the world pass rates are on ACCA’s site.

How the courses are organised

STEK’s two catalogue pages, ACCA Qualification and ACCA courses, show the full range. ACCA Qualification papers are taught online in live Zoom sessions by teachers who are ACCA members, among them FCCA holders with experience at PwC, KPMG and Baker Tilly. Students get a personal account with lecture recordings, tests and mock exams, and a teacher-marked mock exam is part of the ACCA Rus offer.

Every course page offers up to three price levels: tuition with materials, tuition plus exam registration, and tuition plus ACCA student registration and exam registration. STEK helps first-time candidates create an ACCA account and number and can pay ACCA fees on their behalf. Its quality guarantee offers free repeat training under published conditions; for DipIFR these are attendance, a written mock exam and at least 30 out of 100 in the main exam, usable once within two years.

Table 4. STEK courses for the ACCA Qualification (prices in RUB, October 2026)

Table 5. STEK courses for ACCA Rus and DipIFR (Rus) (prices in RUB, October 2026)

Which route fits which candidate

If you work in Russian and your English is basic, start with ACCA Rus or DipIFR and move to the English Strategic Professional papers afterwards; Zhanna Fominykh and Alyona Zhikhareva, whose stories follow, took that path. If you already use English at work, as Natalia Lorentson does, you can enter the ACCA Qualification directly. If IFRS is your daily work, DipIFR is the shortest road to an international credential. Courses prepare you for the exams but do not sit them for you: you still travel abroad for each paper, and the result depends on the weeks of study you put in.

Four STEK graduates on what ACCA took and gave

The stories below come from interviews published on the STEK site. They describe individual results and say nothing about what any other candidate will score.

Zhanna Fominykh: from ACCA Rus to the best APM result in Kazakhstan

Zhanna Fominykh, deputy general director for economics and finance at TAIF-NK AZS, started with the Russian-language diploma, preparing for five of its subjects at STEK, and then moved to the ACCA Qualification. In the March 2026 session she was best in Kazakhstan on Advanced Performance Management, her first Strategic Professional exam and her first exam in English. She calls the hardest part keeping a steady pace from the first week, because lost homework is almost impossible to recover at the end. Her practical advice: write mock exams both at STEK and on ACCA’s site, and learn touch typing in Latin letters before you start, since 30–40 minutes a day for 3–4 weeks is enough and Strategic Professional papers leave little time for the amount you have to write.

ACCA is a hard marathon, but you grow professionally and enjoy it.

Zhanna Fominykh

translated from the Russian original. Interview, 3 June 2026

Natalia Lorentson: three exams, a prize and English at work

Natalia Lorentson earned her second degree at the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation and had worked for years in finance. She chose the ACCA Qualification and sat all exams in English from the start. She still took STEK’s Financial English and English for ACCA courses and says they made her more confident in the exam room. The lecture recordings in the personal account and the regular homework with feedback from Irina Khlebnikova on Audit and Assurance stood out for her. Performance Management was the most interesting and hardest paper, and she uses its management accounting, internal control and balanced scorecard ideas in her tax department.

She calls ACCA Qualification “the most effective path” to a broad business skill set. Interview, 18 April 2025

Natalia Korneyuk: a nine-year break and a new job at Samolet

Natalia Korneyuk began her career at KPMG, where ACCA was compulsory for auditors, and passed nine papers before moving to the tourism sector. After COVID hit that industry she decided to change fields and finish the ACCA Qualification. She returned after a nine-year pause, restarted with DipIFR and sat SBR on her own. She prepared for AAA, SBL and AFM at STEK and passed all three at the first attempt. After two exams she was promoted from group financial controller to head of budgeting and management reporting, and in mid-October 2023, with the qualification complete, she became financial business partner at the Samolet group. She advises candidates without regular financial English to take a course first, so they can study without a dictionary.

She describes ACCA in a time of sanctions as “a very valuable and rare asset”. Interview, 15 November 2023

Alyona Zhikhareva: a final ACCA Rus paper and first place in her country

Alyona Zhikhareva, lead auditor at Audit-Arbitrazh, chose ACCA Rus because it is the broadest of the international qualifications she compared and can be sat in Russian. At STEK she prepared for Financial Management and Business Performance Management; in June 2024 she took first place in her country on the second of these, which was also her last paper for the diploma. She credits three months of systematic study, her teacher Violetta Aksu, lectures posted quickly in the portal and its bank of tests. ACCA granted her an exemption from Taxation, so she did not sit it. She sat the exam in Almaty and advises arriving early to find the entrance.

The main factor was definitely good preparation.

Alyona Zhikhareva,

translated from the Russian original. Interview, 17 September 2024

ACCA in 2027: should you wait for the new structure?

ACCA’s official timeline gives three dates. June 2027 is the final sitting of the current Applied Skills and Strategic Professional exams. In July 2027 the new Foundations and Knowledge exams become available on demand. In September 2027 the first Expertise and Strategic Professional exams of the redesigned qualification are held.

STEK’s advice is to keep sitting current exams, because, according ACCA has confirmed that passed papers will carry over into the new scheme, and because study materials for the current exams are already mature. Whatever you decide, check ACCA’s future-qualification pages for the mapping of your own passed papers.

Frequently asked questions

Next step: pick your first exam

Pick the one exam that fits your language and experience: DipIFR if IFRS is your daily work, an ACCA Rus paper if you want to start in Russian, or FA, PM or AA if you plan the full ACCA Qualification in English. Run your degree through the ACCA exemption calculator, then look at the nearest group on STEK’s ACCA Qualification schedule and send a request, so a manager can confirm your documents and your exam session.

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