What Is the ACCA Ethics Module (EPSM)?
The ACCA Ethics and Professional Skills Module (EPSM) is a compulsory online learning programme that every ACCA student must complete before applying for ACCA membership. ACCA strongly recommends that you finish it before attempting any of the Strategic Professional exams, because the skills and judgement it builds feed directly into papers such as SBL and AAA. It sits alongside your exams and your Practical Experience Requirement (PER) as one of the three pillars of ACCA membership.
Introduced to replace the earlier Professional Ethics Module (PEM), the EPSM goes beyond a basic awareness of ethical rules. It is designed to develop the professional skills, ethical judgement, and commercial awareness that employers actually expect from finance professionals in the real world. The module is delivered entirely online through the ACCA website, is taken at your own pace, and concludes with a Final Assessment that you must pass.
Understanding the ACCA ethics module is important because students sometimes underestimate how involved it is. While it is self-paced and online, it requires genuine engagement with realistic business scenarios, reflective work, and decision-making exercises rather than rote memorisation — and the Final Assessment at the end is a real, scored test.
Module Structure and Content
The EPSM is structured into ten units in total — seven core learning units, a major integrated case study, a support unit linking the module to your Strategic Professional papers, and a Final Assessment. Taken together, they cover the full spectrum of what it means to behave and perform as a qualified accounting professional.
Unit 1: Ethics and Professionalism
This unit lays the conceptual foundation. It introduces the ethical and professional values that underpin the behaviour expected of a qualified accountant, including the ACCA Code of Ethics and Conduct and the five fundamental ethical principles (integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour). You will work through scenarios where these principles come into tension and practise applying ethical frameworks to resolve them.
Unit 2: Personal Effectiveness
This unit focuses on how you can work efficiently as an individual professional — prioritising, organising and managing your time. It contains sections on how to run successful meetings and how to make the best use of technology, including spreadsheets, in your day-to-day work.
Unit 3: Communication and Interpersonal Skills
Here the focus shifts to how you communicate in a business environment — with clients, customers, colleagues, and external authorities. Topics include adapting your style to the audience, written and verbal communication, and presenting financial information to non-financial stakeholders.
Unit 4: Commercial Awareness
This unit develops your ability to view situations from a commercial or business perspective. You will examine how organisations create value, how they are influenced by their environment, and how a finance professional uses commercial awareness when advising the business.
Unit 5: Leadership and Team Working
This unit addresses how professionals influence, motivate, and manage others. It covers different leadership approaches, building and managing effective teams, conflict, delegation, and leading through change. ACCA recognises that most qualified accountants will eventually move into leadership roles, and this unit builds the mindset required for that transition.
Unit 6: Innovation and Scepticism
This unit focuses on innovation in business and on the questioning mindset that is essential in audit, advisory, and financial reporting work. You will learn to identify red flags, challenge assumptions, and apply critical thinking when reviewing financial information or evaluating management representations, alongside understanding how innovation drives business value.
Unit 7: Data Analytics
This unit gives you an appreciation of the importance and usefulness of data analytics in business. It explains how to use commercial awareness to articulate the right business questions, and then identify, manipulate, and analyse relevant data using appropriate techniques and tools.
Unit 8: Integrated Case Study
This is where the professional skills developed in the previous units are tested through a single, extended scenario. You take on the position of a qualified accountant applying for a senior accounting role and work through a realistic business case that requires you to apply ethics, communication, commercial awareness, scepticism, and leadership judgement together.
Unit 9: Strategic Professional Support
A support unit that draws explicit links between the EPSM and the Strategic Professional exams — particularly SBL (Strategic Business Leader) and AAA (Advanced Audit and Assurance) — showing you how the skills practised in the module map directly onto what those exams reward.
Unit 10: Final Assessment
The module concludes with a Final Assessment delivered through a dynamic question bank — typically a set of objective-test questions drawn from the seven learning units, with a 50% pass mark. There are no resit fees if you need to retake the assessment.
Each unit contains a mix of interactive scenarios, video content, reflective exercises, and knowledge checks. The seven learning units (1–7) consolidate the underlying skills; Unit 8 brings them together in a single integrated case study; Unit 9 maps the module onto your Strategic Professional papers; and Unit 10 is the Final Assessment — a dynamic question bank drawing on Units 1–7, with a 50% pass mark and no resit fee if you need to retake it.
How Long Does the ACCA Ethics Module Take?
ACCA officially states that the EPSM takes approximately 20 hours of guided learning to complete across the seven learning units, with additional time for the integrated case study and Final Assessment. In practice, the time you actually spend will depend on how thoroughly you engage with the reflective elements and how comfortable you are with scenario-based learning.
Here is a realistic breakdown of how students at different levels of engagement typically experience the module:
| Engagement Level | Typical Time Spent | Quality of Learning |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum (click-through) | ~15 hours | Low — misses reflective depth |
| Standard (balanced) | ~20 hours | Good — matches ACCA's guideline |
| Deep engagement | 25–30 hours | Excellent — builds genuine skills |
Because the module is entirely self-paced, you can spread it across several weeks or complete it in a concentrated burst. Most students spread it across four to eight weeks, completing one or two units per week alongside exam preparation or work commitments. ACCA does not impose a hard deadline, but it strongly recommends you complete the EPSM before attempting Strategic Professional exams, and you must complete it before you can apply for membership.
One important point: the module can be started as soon as you register as an ACCA student. You do not need to wait until you have passed your Applied Skills exams. Many students benefit from starting early because the ethical frameworks and business awareness content genuinely support exam performance, particularly in Strategic Professional papers such as SBL and AAA.
Step-by-Step Guide to Completing the ACCA Ethics Module
The EPSM is accessed entirely through your ACCA online account. Below is a clear walkthrough of the process from start to finish.
Step 1: Log In to Your MyACCA Account
Go to the ACCA website and log in using your student registration number and password. Navigate to the "My Studies" section. You should see the Ethics and Professional Skills Module listed alongside your other qualification requirements. If you do not see it immediately, look under "Qualification Tracker" or "My Learning".
Step 2: Launch the Module
Click on the EPSM link to be taken to the dedicated learning platform. The first time you launch it, you will be given a brief orientation explaining how the module is structured and what is expected of you. Read this orientation carefully — it will save you confusion later.
Step 3: Work Through Unit 1 — Ethics and Professionalism
Begin with the first unit. Work through the reading content, watch any embedded videos, and complete the interactive scenarios. When a scenario asks you to make a decision or write a reflective response, take it seriously. These exercises are where the actual learning happens. Note down any frameworks or models that you find useful — you will encounter them again in later units and in your professional life.
Step 4: Complete the Remaining Learning Units in Order
Move through Units 2 to 7 sequentially — Personal Effectiveness, Communication, Commercial Awareness, Leadership and Team Working, Innovation and Scepticism, and Data Analytics. While there is some flexibility within units, it is generally best to follow the order ACCA has designed, as later content often builds on earlier concepts. Do not rush through units simply to tick them off — the reflective activities require genuine thought.
Step 5: Work Through the Integrated Case Study (Unit 8)
Unit 8 puts the seven learning units to work in a single, extended business scenario. You take on the role of a qualified accountant moving into a senior accounting position and need to apply ethics, communication, scepticism, leadership, and commercial awareness together. Treat this as serious revision rather than a click-through — it consolidates everything that comes before and is excellent preparation for the Final Assessment.
Step 6: Review the Strategic Professional Support Unit (Unit 9)
Unit 9 explicitly links the EPSM to the Strategic Professional exams — particularly SBL and AAA. Even though it is a support unit rather than core learning, walking through it makes the exam-relevance of the module much clearer and gives you a useful bridge into your Strategic Professional preparation.
Step 7: Sit the Final Assessment (Unit 10)
The EPSM concludes with a scored Final Assessment delivered through a dynamic question bank, with a 50% pass mark. If you do not pass on the first attempt, you can retake the assessment with no additional fee. Once you pass, your ACCA record is updated automatically — there is nothing extra to submit.
Step 8: Verify Completion in Your Qualification Tracker
Log back into MyACCA and check your Qualification Tracker. The EPSM should now appear as completed. Screenshot or save this confirmation for your records. You will need all three elements — exams, PER, and EPSM — marked as complete before you can apply for membership.
Tips to Complete the ACCA Ethics Module Efficiently
The EPSM rewards students who approach it with the right mindset. Below are practical strategies that help you complete the module effectively without cutting corners that would undermine its purpose.
1. Schedule Fixed Weekly Sessions
Treat the EPSM like any other commitment in your study plan. Block out two to three hours per week specifically for the module. Students who try to complete it in a single intensive weekend often find the reflective sections difficult to engage with meaningfully when rushed. Spreading it out allows the concepts to settle and connect to your real-world experience.
2. Draw on Your Work Experience
The scenarios in the EPSM are deliberately realistic. If you are working in finance, accounting, or audit, you almost certainly have real experiences that mirror what the module presents. Bring those experiences into your reflective responses. ACCA tutors who have reviewed EPSM submissions consistently report that students who connect module content to genuine professional experience produce far stronger reflective writing.
3. Take Notes as You Go
The ethical frameworks, professional skills models, and leadership concepts in the EPSM reappear in Strategic Professional papers — particularly SBL (Strategic Business Leader) and AAA (Advanced Audit and Assurance). Building a personal reference document as you complete the module gives you a revision resource for exams at no additional cost in time.
4. Do Not Skip the Reflection Activities
There is a temptation, especially when under pressure from exam preparation, to click through reflection activities quickly. Resist this. The EPSM has been designed with enough structure that shallow engagement produces thin responses which do not satisfy the completion criteria properly. Give each reflection the five to ten minutes it deserves.
5. Use a Desktop or Laptop, Not a Mobile Device
While the EPSM is technically accessible on mobile devices, the interactive scenarios and video content are significantly better experienced on a desktop or laptop browser. Some interactive elements do not render correctly on smaller screens, which can cause frustration and lost progress.
6. Check Your Progress Regularly
Log into your MyACCA account every couple of weeks to verify that your unit completions have been correctly recorded. Technical issues occasionally result in progress not being saved. Catching this early means you can re-complete a short section rather than discovering a problem when you are trying to apply for membership.
7. Start Before You Finish Your Exams
As mentioned earlier, there is no requirement to finish your exams before starting the EPSM. Beginning Unit 1 while you are still working through Applied Skills creates a virtuous cycle: the ethics and business awareness content enhances your understanding of exam topics, while your exam study gives you context that makes the module scenarios more meaningful.
Common Mistakes Students Make with the ACCA Ethics Module
Awareness of common pitfalls can save you time and frustration.
Leaving it until the last minute. Students who complete all their exams and PER and then realise they have not started the EPSM face an unnecessary delay to membership. The module cannot be rushed without compromising quality, and there have been cases of students waiting weeks longer than necessary for membership because of this.
Not saving progress frequently. The EPSM platform does auto-save periodically, but browser crashes or session timeouts can occasionally cause issues. Use the manual save or "mark as complete" buttons within each section rather than relying entirely on auto-save.
Treating it as a box-ticking exercise. The ACCA ethics module exists because the profession recognises that ethical failures in finance cause real harm. Students who approach the module with genuine curiosity and professional seriousness not only complete it more effectively but emerge better prepared for the ethical dilemmas that characterise real finance careers.
Confusing the old PEM with the current EPSM. The Professional Ethics Module was replaced by the Ethics and Professional Skills Module some years ago. If you are reading older forum posts or advice from ACCA students who qualified several years back, make sure the guidance refers to the current EPSM format, which is more comprehensive and scenario-driven than its predecessor.
Frequently Asked Questions: ACCA Ethics Module
It is not a traditional written exam, but it does include a scored Final Assessment that you have to pass. The seven learning units and the integrated case study (Units 1–8) are completed by working through the activities and reflections within each unit. The Final Assessment (Unit 10) is a dynamic objective-test question bank with a 50% pass mark, drawn from the seven learning units. If you do not pass on the first attempt, you can resit it at no additional cost. Once you pass, your ACCA record is updated automatically.
You can start the EPSM as soon as you register as an ACCA student — there is no minimum number of exams you need to pass first. The recommended approach is to begin during the Applied Skills stage of your studies. Starting early means the module content can reinforce your exam preparation, and you will not face a delay to membership after finishing your exams and PER.
ACCA estimates approximately 20 hours of guided learning across the seven learning units, plus additional time for the integrated case study (Unit 8) and the Final Assessment (Unit 10). In practice, students typically spread the work over four to eight weeks, dedicating two to three hours per week. The actual time varies depending on how deeply you engage with the reflective exercises and how familiar you are with the business and professional skills concepts covered.
Yes — the EPSM has its own one-off fee, separate from your annual subscription and exam fees. The fee covers full access to all units, the integrated case study, and the Final Assessment, and importantly there are no resit fees if you need to retake the Final Assessment. Exact fees vary by region and ACCA reviews them periodically, so always check the current published rate on the ACCA fees page before you pay.
Yes. The EPSM can be completed at any stage of your ACCA journey, regardless of whether you have completed your Practical Experience Requirement. Many students complete the module while still studying full-time without work experience. The reflective exercises invite you to draw on any professional or academic experience you have, but they do not require formal workplace experience as a prerequisite. Students without direct work experience can draw on internships, part-time work, or academic projects for their reflective responses.
ACCA will not grant membership until all three requirements are met: exams, PER, and EPSM. If you have completed your exams and PER but not the EPSM, your membership application will simply be held pending until the module is finished. ACCA does not penalise you, but you will not be able to use the ACCA designation professionally until all requirements are complete. This is why leaving the module until last can result in a frustrating and avoidable delay.
Yes, particularly for Strategic Professional papers. The SBL (Strategic Business Leader) paper assesses many of the same professional skills that the EPSM develops, including ethical reasoning, business awareness, communication, and leadership judgement. The AAA (Advanced Audit and Assurance) paper also tests professional scepticism and ethical decision-making in audit contexts. Students who complete the EPSM thoughtfully often report that it deepens their understanding of these papers in ways that revision alone does not achieve.
No. The Ethics and Professional Skills Module (EPSM) replaced the older Professional Ethics Module (PEM) and is substantially more comprehensive. The PEM was a shorter module focused primarily on ethical rules and the ACCA Code. The EPSM expands the scope significantly to include professional skills, commercial awareness, leadership, communication, and professional scepticism. If you registered as a student some years ago and completed the old PEM, you should check your MyACCA account to confirm whether you are required to complete the EPSM instead — requirements vary by registration date and cohort.