The December 2025 ACCA pass rates have been announced, and it was a mixed bag of results.
PM again stands out at the Applied Skills level for all the wrong reasons, with the December pass rate slipping to 40%. You have to go back to September 2021 to find a lower pass rate (then it was 37%). This result was reflected in the comments in the Open Tuition Instant Poll, where nearly one in five sitters (19%) said PM was a ‘disaster’, and another 36% said it was ‘hard’ exam. Students didn’t like the 20-mark regression analysis question, and some asked why there was no limiting factor, relevant costing or variance analysis questions in the paper.
But the big worry this time around is the low Strategic Professional optional paper pass rates. For some students the new one option paper pass rule being introduced with the new qualification in 2027 can’t come quickly enough.
At this latest sitting, the AAA pass rate of 38% is the worse we have seen for the whole of 2025, and APM had a paper pass rate of just 41%. Even the ATX pass rate was down on the September sitting, although at 50% at least it means half of those sitting this paper are passing it.
The AFM pass rate of 45% is better than expected. Some 34% of PQs who sat the paper said it had been a ‘disaster’ and another 42% said it was ‘hard’. Students admitted struggling with the question on business valuation, with many saying there was just too much data to deal with.
If you excluded the Law paper (with an 82% pass rate), then just four of the 11 December Applied Skills and Strategic papers had pass rates of 50% and above. Some 120,633 PQs entered for the December sitting, which saw 137,609 exams completed.
Alan Hatfield, ACCA executive director – content, quality and innovation, said: “We begin 2026 with a strong set of results from the largest volume of exams taken since December 2021.
“We would like to congratulate 4,852 students who have now completed all their exams and will move to affiliate status. We look forward to welcoming them to membership when they will join over 257,000 talented and committed ACCA members around the world undertaking successful careers and making a positive impact.
“This is an exciting time for ACCA as we focus on delivering our redesigned qualification. The ACCA qualification has always been the gold standard, globally recognised and highly valued by employers. It will remain as rigorous, relevant, and future-focused as ever, with an even sharper focus on employability.
“ACCA has prepared a smooth transition for all students currently on, or about to start, their ACCA journey. Existing achievements will be recognised and there will be no disadvantage in terms of progression and the cost to complete the qualification.”
ACCA 2025 PASS RATES
