Exam guide
ACCA SBR Study Plan: A Week-by-Week Revision Timetable
Last updated 9 September 2026 · Written by the AccountingTutorAI team · Reviewed by a qualified CPA (Canada)
Quick summary
This plan splits the ACCA Strategic Business Reporting (SBR) syllabus into a 12-week timetable (or a compressed 6-week version), maps each week to specific IFRS Accounting Standards with links to our free study guides, and tells you when to switch from learning to question practice and full timed mocks.
Current exam cycle
This plan is aligned with the ACCA examinable documents for the September 2026 to June 2027 exam sessions (September 2026, December 2026, March 2027 and June 2027). ACCA refreshes the examinable documents list once a year, so check the current list on accaglobal.com before you build your timetable around an older resource.
What you are planning for
SBR is a 3-hour-15-minute computer-based exam with four questions — none optional — worth 100 marks in total. Question 1 (30 marks) always examines group accounting and includes a spreadsheet task in which you correct draft group figures. Question 2 (20 marks) asks for both the accounting treatment and the ethical dimensions of events in a business scenario. Questions 3 and 4 (25 marks each) can draw on any part of the syllabus, and one of them always brings in a stakeholder perspective. Four professional skills marks are available: two in Question 2 and two in Question 4. The pass mark is 50%.
That structure should drive your plan. Group accounting and ethics are guaranteed content, so they get dedicated weeks. Everything else can appear anywhere, and the examining team has repeatedly observed that candidates who prepare only for Questions 1 and 2 lose easy marks in the second half of the exam. A credible plan covers the whole syllabus, not just the headline topics. For how to answer on the day, see our SBR exam technique guide.
How to split your study time
A common trap in SBR preparation is spending almost all your time re-reading technical material. SBR rewards application: most marks come from explaining how a standard applies to the specific facts in front of you, so question practice is where the real learning happens. As a rule of thumb:
- Weeks 1–8 (learning phase): roughly 50% learning each standard, 40% practising individual question parts on that topic, 10% reviewing what you got wrong.
- Weeks 9–10 (consolidation phase): flip the ratio — about 30% targeted revision, 60% mixed question practice, 10% reviewing examiner guidance.
- Weeks 11–12 (exam phase): full timed mock exams on the ACCA Practice Platform, plus focused repair work on whatever the mocks expose.
Practising in the real computer-based exam environment matters more in SBR than in earlier exams, because Question 1 requires spreadsheet work in a specific format. Sitting your mocks on the ACCA Practice Platform, rather than on paper, trains the mechanics you will actually use.
The 12-week plan
Each week pairs syllabus topics with our free study guides so you can review the core principles, a worked example and practice questions in one place. The sequence builds deliberately: presentation and framework first (because IFRS 18 vocabulary now runs through everything), then the big transactional standards, then groups, then the narrative and sustainability topics that distinguish SBR from Financial Reporting.
| Week | Focus | Standards and guides |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Framework and presentation | Conceptual Framework; IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements; IAS 8; IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows. IFRS 18 replaced IAS 1 and is a current examiner focus — learn the new statement of profit or loss categories and management-defined performance measures early. |
| 2 | Revenue and inventories | IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (five-step model, variable consideration, agent-versus-principal analysis, up-front fees); IAS 2 Inventories. |
| 3 | Non-current assets | IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment; IAS 23 Borrowing Costs; IAS 38 Intangible Assets; IAS 40 Investment Property (including change-of-use transfers); IFRS 5 Held for Sale; IAS 36 Impairment of Assets. |
| 4 | Leases and fair value | IFRS 16 Leases (lessee model, remeasurements, sale and leaseback, lessor accounting); IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement (hierarchy, highest and best use). |
| 5 | Financial instruments I | IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation (debt vs equity, compound instruments); IFRS 9 Financial Instruments — classification, amortised cost and expected credit losses. |
| 6 | Financial instruments II and consolidation core | IFRS 9 hedge accounting and derecognition; IFRS 3 Business Combinations (goodwill, consideration, fair value adjustments); IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements (control, non-controlling interests). |
| 7 | Groups: the hard parts | Step acquisitions and disposals under IFRS 3/IFRS 10; associates and joint arrangements (IAS 28, IFRS 11); foreign operations under IAS 21; group statements of cash flows. Start weekly spreadsheet drills for Question 1 from this week. |
| 8 | Employment costs, provisions and events | IAS 19 Employee Benefits (defined benefit plans, termination benefits); IFRS 2 Share-based Payment; IAS 37 Provisions; IAS 10 Events after the Reporting Period. |
| 9 | Tax and the breadth topics | IAS 12 Income Taxes (deferred tax, including on business combinations); then a breadth sweep of IAS 20, IAS 24, IAS 33, IAS 34, IAS 41, IFRS 8, IFRS 1, IFRS 19 and the IFRS for SMEs Standard — enough to attempt a question part on any of them. |
| 10 | Sustainability, ethics and current issues | IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 Sustainability Disclosure Standards (scope, core content, greenhouse gas disclosure requirements), the headline contrasts with Europe’s ESRS regime, ethical threats and safeguards, and applying existing standards to newer topics like digital assets and climate-related events. |
| 11 | Mock exam 1 and repair | Full 3h15m timed mock on the ACCA Practice Platform. Mark it against the published answers, read the matching examiner’s report, and spend the rest of the week fixing your two weakest areas. |
| 12 | Mock exam 2 and final polish | Second full timed mock, then targeted review: Question 1 spreadsheet mechanics, ethics answer structure, and one final pass over IFRS 18 and IFRS S1/S2. |
The compressed 6-week plan
If you have six weeks, do not shrink the mock exams — shrink the learning phase. This version doubles up the topic weeks and protects the final fortnight for timed practice. It assumes you finished Financial Reporting reasonably recently, so consolidation mechanics and core standards need refreshing rather than learning from scratch.
| Week | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1 | IFRS 18, IAS 8, IAS 7 and the Conceptual Framework, plus revenue (IFRS 15) and inventories (IAS 2). |
| 2 | Non-current assets (IAS 16, IAS 23, IAS 38, IAS 40, IFRS 5, IAS 36), leases (IFRS 16) and fair value (IFRS 13). |
| 3 | Financial instruments in full (IAS 32, IFRS 9) and consolidation core (IFRS 3, IFRS 10). Begin spreadsheet drills. |
| 4 | Advanced groups (step acquisitions, disposals, associates, foreign operations, group cash flows), IAS 19, IFRS 2, IAS 37, IAS 10 and IAS 12. |
| 5 | Sustainability standards (IFRS S1/S2), ethics, breadth topics sweep, then full timed mock 1 and its post-mortem. |
| 6 | Full timed mock 2, examiner’s report review, and targeted repair of your weakest two topics. |
The final two weeks: what actually moves your mark
- Sit at least two full mocks under real timed conditions. The examining team consistently reports that candidates run out of time on their final question because Question 1 absorbed too much of the exam. You only learn to control that under the clock.
- Convert marks to minutes and rehearse the discipline. With 195 minutes for 100 marks you have just under two minutes per mark. Practise abandoning a requirement when its time is spent — the first marks on the next requirement come faster than the last marks on the current one.
- Drill the Question 1 spreadsheet format. Adjust the draft figures column by column, keep detailed workings beneath them, and never type over the original numbers. Recent examiner’s reports single this out as a recurring differentiator between passing and failing scripts.
- Read the two or three most recent examiner’s reports. They tell you exactly which habits are currently costing candidates marks — recently: weak IFRS 18 knowledge, thin IFRS S2 disclosure knowledge, and rote-learned ethics answers that never engage with the scenario.
- Do not add new material in the last three days. Re-run your mock corrections and your one-page notes per standard instead.
Using our free guides alongside this plan
Each linked guide above is a free, plain-English summary of the standard with a worked example and practice questions — designed for exactly this kind of topic-week revision. You can browse all 23 guides on the study guides index, and see which standards carry the most exam weight in our map of every IFRS standard examinable in SBR.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to prepare for ACCA SBR?
Most candidates need around 10 to 12 weeks of consistent part-time study. Our 12-week plan assumes roughly 8 to 12 hours a week, weighted towards question practice in the second half. If you passed Financial Reporting recently and your consolidation skills are fresh, a disciplined 6-week plan can work.
Can I pass SBR in 6 weeks?
It is possible if you are starting from a strong Financial Reporting base and can commit serious weekly hours. The key is to protect the final two weeks for full timed mock exams rather than using them to finish first-pass learning — SBR is an application exam, and timed practice is what builds the skills it rewards.
What order should I study the SBR syllabus in?
Start with IFRS 18 and the Conceptual Framework, because presentation concepts now run through the whole exam. Then cover the major transactional standards (revenue, non-current assets, leases, financial instruments), then group accounting in depth, and finish with sustainability standards, ethics and the breadth topics. Group accounting is guaranteed in Question 1, so it deserves two full weeks.
When should I start doing full mock exams for SBR?
Schedule your first full 3-hour-15-minute timed mock roughly a fortnight out, and a second one during the final week. Before that, practise individual question parts topic by topic. Use the ACCA Practice Platform so the spreadsheet task in Question 1 feels routine on exam day.
How much of SBR is group accounting?
Question 1 is worth 30 of the 100 marks and always examines group accounting, including a spreadsheet task correcting draft group figures. Group topics can also appear in Section B, so consolidation, associates, step acquisitions and disposals justify a substantial share of your study time.
Do I need to study sustainability reporting for SBR?
Yes. IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 are on the current examinable documents list, and recent sittings have tested IFRS S2 disclosure requirements directly, with examiner reports noting weak candidate knowledge. You also need to know, at a headline level, how the ISSB standards differ from Europe’s ESRS regime.