- ABA has two parts: Part I (Financial Accounting) and Part II (Business Consulting, Taxation, Business Law, Ethics).
- Each part is 100 questions in three hours; passing requires a 70 on each part separately.
- Full registration costs $400 for both parts or $250 for one, plus a $50 activation fee.
- Skipped or submitted questions can't be revisited, and domain timers run at 1.8 minutes per question.
What ABA Stands For and Who Grants It
Accredited Business Accountant/Advisor (ABA) is a credential issued by the Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation (ACAT). It's built for practitioners who handle accounting, tax, and small-business consulting work rather than the pure audit track. If you're still sorting out the basics of the designation, the primer at What Is ABA? and the plain-language breakdown in ABA Meaning are good starting points before you dive into this cheat sheet.
This page is meant to sit on your desk (or browser tab) during the final weeks before your test date - a single-page reference for the numbers, deadlines, and domain names that are easy to blur together under exam stress. For a deeper walkthrough of preparation strategy, pair this with the ABA Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt.
Exam Format at a Glance
ABA is really two separate examinations, and ACAT's own materials describe them that way - the "Exam" line item aggregates to 200 questions and six hours across the two sittings, but you don't have to take them together.
- Part I - Financial Accounting: 100 multiple-choice questions, three hours.
- Part II - Business Consulting, Taxation, Business Law, and Ethics: 100 multiple-choice questions, three hours.
Both parts are delivered on ACAT's own browser-based testing platform, not a third-party testing center network. A few operational details matter more than they seem:
- Once you submit or skip a question, you cannot go back and revisit it.
- A skipped question is scored as incorrect - there's no partial credit for leaving it blank to return later.
- Domain timers allocate 1.8 minutes per question, so pacing has to be domain-aware, not just exam-aware.
- Breaks are available between domains, which is useful given Part II covers four distinct content areas back to back.
The Five Domains in One Pass
ABA content splits cleanly between the two parts. Financial Accounting stands alone as Part I; the other four domains share Part II. For a full content breakdown of each area, see the ABA Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 5 Content Areas.
Domain 1: Financial Accounting (Part I)
The entirety of Part I. Candidates need fluency with financial statement preparation, recognition and measurement issues, and the mechanics behind the numbers small and mid-size businesses report.
- Treat this as its own standalone exam - it carries the full 100-question weight of Part I
Domain 2: Business Consulting (Part II)
Advisory-style content that reflects the "advisor" half of the credential name - practical guidance a practitioner gives a business client outside of pure compliance work.
- Expect scenario-based questions rather than pure recall
Domain 3: Taxation (Part II)
Tax practice questions are labeled with the applicable tax year, so read every stem carefully for the year it references before applying rules.
- Don't assume the most recent tax year applies by default - check the label
Domain 4: Business Law (Part II)
Legal fundamentals relevant to business formation, contracts, and the regulatory environment practitioners operate in.
- Pairs conceptually with consulting content since legal structure often drives advisory recommendations
Domain 5: Ethics (Part II)
The smallest domain by footprint but a mandatory one - ethics also shows up separately in the annual CPE requirement, underscoring how central it is to the credential.
- Review ACAT's standards of conduct alongside general professional ethics topics
Fees, Registration & Deadlines
Money and timing questions cause more last-minute stress than content questions do. Here's the exact structure, also covered in detail at ABA Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Both parts (Part I + Part II) | $400 |
| Single part | $250 |
| Credential activation | $50 |
| Registration extension | $50 |
After you register, you have a 60-day registration period to complete your purchased exam(s). If you pass one part but need more time on the other, a passed part stays on the books as conditioned credit for 18 months - plenty of runway to schedule the second part without starting over. If you need more time than the initial window allows, the $50 registration extension fee applies. Scheduling logistics and testing windows are covered separately in ABA Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Key Takeaway
If your budget or study time is limited, register for one part at $250 rather than committing to both at $400 - the 18-month conditioned credit window gives you room to sit the second part later.
Passing Score & Conditioned Credit
The passing standard is simple to state and easy to misjudge in practice: you need a 70 on each part, independently. A strong Part I score does not offset a weak Part II score, and vice versa - there's no combined average across the two exams. Full scoring mechanics and how the 70 threshold is calculated are broken down in ABA Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass.
Because skipped and submitted items can't be revisited, your effective score is locked in as you move through the exam - there's no "leave it and come back with fresh eyes" safety net during a single sitting. If you're weighing whether the exam's difficulty matches your background, How Hard Is the ABA Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 lays out the format-driven challenges in more depth, and ABA Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows covers what's publicly known about outcomes.
Eligibility Snapshot
Before you can use the ABA designation, ACAT requires candidates to meet age and experience thresholds:
- Minimum age of 18.
- Either three years of professional experience, or
- two years of college-level accounting education plus one professional year.
Note that this experience requirement is about using the designation, not necessarily about sitting the exam itself - so plan your timeline accordingly. Full detail on documentation and verification lives in ABA Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Domain-by-Domain Scheduling
A generic weekly study template doesn't map well onto a two-part exam with five named domains. Instead, sequence your review around the exam's own structure: front-load Financial Accounting since it's the entirety of Part I, then work through Part II's four domains in the order they're weighted operationally.
Financial Accounting (Part I)
- Drill statement preparation and recognition rules until the 1.8-minute-per-question pace feels comfortable
- Take timed practice sets on the main practice test site to simulate the no-revisit format
Business Consulting & Business Law
- Work through advisory scenarios and pair them with legal-structure questions since the two domains often overlap in real practice
Taxation
- Confirm which tax year each practice question is labeled for and study current-year rules deliberately
Ethics & Full Review
- Finish with ethics since it's compact but non-negotiable, then run a full-length Part II simulation
If you want a more granular week-by-week breakdown that also covers pacing drills and review cycles, the ABA Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt extends this schedule further.
Renewal & CPE Numbers to Memorize
Passing the exam is only half the commitment - annual renewal and continuing education keep the designation active.
- Annual renewal for one credential: $150 total ($100 base membership + $50 for the first credential), due June 30.
- Each additional credential beyond the first adds $50.
- Annual CPE requirement: 40 hours per calendar year, including at least 8 accounting-related hours, 8 taxation hours, and 2 ethics hours.
- First-year CPE is prorated for newly credentialed holders.
Who Hires ABA Holders
ABA is aimed at practitioners already working in accounting, tax preparation, and small-business advisory settings - often independent practitioners, tax firms, and small accounting practices that value a credential spanning financial accounting, consulting, tax, business law, and ethics in one package. If you're weighing whether the credential fits your career plans or want a broader sense of career paths and typical roles, see ABA Jobs, ABA Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis, and the broader analysis in Is the ABA Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026.
Whatever your entry point, running timed practice sets that mirror the real interface - 100 questions, three-hour blocks, no revisiting skipped items - is the most direct way to convert this cheat sheet into an actual passing score. That's exactly what the main practice test platform is built to simulate.
Each part contains 100 multiple-choice questions. Since there are two parts, the full exam totals 200 questions across both sittings.
A 70 on each part, scored independently. There is no combined or averaged score between Part I and Part II.
Yes. You can register for and complete one part at a time, and a passed part remains conditioned credit for 18 months while you prepare for the other.
$400 covers both parts, or $250 for a single part. There's also a $50 credential activation fee and an optional $50 registration extension fee if you need more time.
Skipped questions are scored as incorrect and cannot be revisited once you move past them, so pacing decisions need to happen in the moment.