DECODING THE SUBJECT
Business and Technology is the very first paper of the ACCA course which is designed to teach you how businesses operate effectively, efficiently and ethically and will show the critical role finance professionals play in achieving this. You’ll understand business in the context of its environment, including economic, legal and regulatory influences on aspects like governance, employment, health and safety, data protection and security.
Table Of Contents
ACCA BT SYLLABUS
ACCA BT PAPER PATTERN
ACCA BT EXAM STYLE
ACCA BT PASSING TRENDS
SOURCES OF CONTENT
STUDYING METHODOLOGY
HOW TO PLAN ACCA BT MOCK EXAMS
THINGS TO REMEMBER WHILE WRITING THE EXAM
EXAMINER’S EXPECTATIONS
ACCA BT SYLLABUS
The Syllabus can be broken down into the following categories:
A. The business organisation and its external environment
- The business organization
- Information systems and data analytics
- External analysis – political and legal factors
- External analysis – economic factors
- External analysis – social, environmental, and technological factors
- Competitive factors
B. Organisational structure, culture, governance and sustainability
- Business organization and structure
- Organizational culture in business
- Governance and social responsibility in business
C. Business functions, regulation and technology
- The relationship between accounting and other business functions
- Accounting and finance functions within business organisations
- Regulation and financial crime
- Financial information provided by business
- Financial systems and technology
- Internal controls
- The impact of advances in technology
D. Leadership and management
- Leadership, management, and supervision
- Recruitment and selection of employees
- Individual, group and team behavior
- Motivating individuals and groups
- Learning and training at work
- Review and appraisal of individual performance
E. Personal effectiveness and communication in business
- Personal effectiveness
- Consequences of ineffectiveness at work
- Competence frameworks and personal development
- Sources of conflicts and techniques for conflict resolution
- Communicating in business
F. Professional ethics
- Fundamental principles of ethical behaviour
- The role of regulatory and professional bodies in promoting ethical and professional standards in the accountancy profession
- Corporate codes of ethics
- Ethical conflicts and dilemmas
Hack: Even with a large syllabus, this paper is fairly manageable in a controlled time frame since the syllabus is generic in nature.
You can begin your preparations with Part A: The business organization, its stakeholders, and the external environment understanding the different types of organizations, stakeholders, and the external environment of an organization.
Follow next with Part B: Business organizational structure, functions, and governance and Part F: Professional ethics in accounting and Business, to gain knowledge of the different organizational structures, understanding the importance of having good corporate governance and ethics in the business.
Continue next with Part C: Accounting and reporting systems, compliance, control, technology, and security, this part covers several topics and can therefore be time-consuming.
With this, you can ensure a good chunk of your syllabus is covered, and you can then continue with the two remaining parts.
Part D: Leading and managing individuals and teams and Part E: Personal effectiveness and communication covers basic topics stressing on the importance of having good leadership, good communication, effectiveness at work, motivated workforce, etc.
ACCA BT PAPER PATTERN
The 100-marks ACCA BT exam paper has been designed to ensure that all the different areas of the syllabus are covered adequately.
This is an online, objective style paper, where you are required to choose the correct answer from the given options. You are not expected to deliver answers to any response questions, i.e., long-form of questions are not tested here.
| ACCA Business & Technology (100 Marks) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Section A (76 marks) | Section B (24 marks) | |
| 16 Objective Test Questions (OTQ’s) * 1 mark each | 6 Multi-Task Questions (MTQ’s) * 4 marks each | |
| 30 Objective Test Questions (OTQ’s) * 2 marks each | ||
Please note that there is no negative marking for any wrong answer
You are allotted 2 hours to answer this paper online. On submitting your paper, the result is available immediately.
ACCA BT EXAM STYLE
This is an on-demand-based examination. This means that the exam runs throughout the year and you can choose to appear for it when you are just ready
These exams are conducted at the authorized and approved CBE centers (Computer Based Exam Centers) You can choose the nearest CBE Centre.
You are expected to select a date and time at your convenience and physically appear at the CBE center for the examination. In exceptional circumstances, these exams can also be taken remotely from home.
ACCA BT PASSING TRENDS
You are expected to score 50/100 to pass this examination. This is easily manageable with a clear understanding of the concepts, good practice of the questions, and a positive attitude. The subject matter is purely theoretical and the pass rates of this paper are very promising, averaging 85% across the globe.
SOURCES OF CONTENT
You need to primarily refer to these two content sources for your preparations –
- The Study Text – for conceptual understanding
- The Practice/Exam Kit – for practice questions
There are only two ACCA-approved content providers that you should consider, namely, Kaplan Publishing and BPP Learning Media. Apart from this, you can also refer to the technical articles published by ACCA on different topics. You can use this link to refer to the articles.
Download our curated express notes for ACCA BT here
STUDYING METHODOLOGY
- Commence preparations with the Study Text and understand all the concepts in great detail. Thereafter, attempt all questions from the Practice Kit to get more clarity and a deeper understanding of how to approach each part of the syllabus. The Practice Kit has enough practice questions chapter wise and hence it is always advisable to do both in parallel.
- At the end of your syllabus, do remember to take up the Multitask Questions in the Practice Kit (typically tested in Section B of the paper). These questions cover a variety of topics across the syllabus and hence practicing it well shall prove to be a very valuable exercise.
HOW TO PLAN ACCA BT MOCK EXAMS
Attempting enough mock exams are a must! Going without solving mocks is like a soldier without a weapon.
It is advisable that you practice at least 3 mock exams before you take the final exam. These mock exams will give you a first-hand experience of the exam online environment, the style of questions & how well you are able to attempt them in the given time.
These Practise Mocks (designed by ACCA) need to be purchased and you will be able to access them once purchased via myACCA. You can purchase a single test or a set of three tests.
You can log in to the ACCA ‘Practice Platform’ for solving mocks using the following link.
Hack: One day before the examination, invest all your time in revising what you have studied so far and focus on memorizing all the important concepts. Skim through the study text and practice kit. Do not try to study any new concept or solve any new question.
THINGS TO REMEMBER WHILE WRITING THE EXAM
After months of all the efforts and hard work you would’ve put into the preparation for this exam, it is equally important to ace your exam. Here are some things to remember-
- Time Management: It is important to complete the paper on time. Remember, time management is a key to success! Here is how you can allocate your time-
| PAPER | BT | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|
| Section A | 16 OTQ’s * 1 min 30 OTQ’s * 2 mins |
76 minutes |
| Section B | 6 MTQ’s * 5.67 mins each | 34 minutes |
| Final check | 10 minutes | |
| TOTAL | 120 minutes |
- Do not stress or panic during the exam, stay calm write all you know. If you freak out, it is possible that you mess with other straightforward, manageable, and scoring questions.
- Do not leave any question unattempted
For your OTQ’s there is always a 25% probability to get the answer right, place your bet and mark the option you believe is the closest to the answer. - Be prepared to find different and new styles of questions, with patience and linking to the concepts of your syllabus you should be able to tackle them well.
- Better to start with Section A first, and then Section B, FOLLOW THE ORDER!!! Do not spend too much time finding answers to questions you are not able to crack.
EXAMINER’S EXPECTATIONS
The ACCA publishes an Examiner’s Report for every attempt which gives an insight into the marking process, the common mistakes that students make during the exams, and other useful techniques to do well in your examination. You must go through the Examiner’s Reports to understand what the examiner is expecting from you. It will help you understand how students have failed to tackle different questions and how they could have performed better. It’s like learning from someone else’s mistakes. You can follow through this link to refer to a few of the examiner’s reports published by the ACCA.
All the best 😊
Summary of all links
Technical articles published by ACCA
Examiner’s reports published by the ACCA
