ACA Notes is not just a set of study notes. It is a structured exam system for CAI FAE and CAP2 students.
What Sets These Apart
How these notes are different
ACA Notes used to be distilled syllabus notes. The product now combines that syllabus
distillation with examiner-report analysis and exam-ready execution tools, so students are
not left to work out the real exam pattern by themselves.
Built from syllabus coverage and examiner-report intelligence
The foundation is still syllabus-complete, distilled technical material. But the new ACA Notes
system goes further: it is built by examining the official examiner reports across the last
five years of exam cycles and extracting the patterns that matter for students.
Focused on how examiners actually think
Examiner reports show how requirements are interpreted, what strong students do well, and where
weak answers repeatedly lose marks. ACA Notes turns that into practical study intelligence:
the judgement routes, answer habits, calculation patterns, and recurring traps students need
to recognise before exam day.
Three parts, each doing a different job
Each subject is now built as Part C, Part B, and Part A. Part C teaches the subject properly.
Part B converts that knowledge into competency and examiner-report language. Part A gives
students ready-to-use exam-desk tools for the questions, calculations, decisions, and traps
that appear again and again.
Exam-ready packs, not passive reading material
The aim is to give students a straight path from learning the topic to performing in the exam.
The packs are built around the verbs and behaviours that score: advise, evaluate, recommend,
calculate, justify, conclude, and apply the facts. That is the real product: structured notes,
examiner intelligence, and exam execution in one system.
Behind the Notes
Who's behind ACA Notes
ACA Notes was created by a team of chartered accountants with direct experience of the
FAE examination process. The team identified the gap between the study resources available
and what the exams actually test, and built the notes they wished had existed.
The notes have been refined through feedback from students across multiple exam sittings,
and updated to reflect current syllabus requirements and examination approaches. ACA Notes
is a professional, team-built offering — not a side project.
What Students Say
Student outcomes
Trusted by over 900 CAI students across FAE and CAP2.
Rikki T.
FAE Core · Summer 2025
I honestly found FAE Core so hard to get my head around at the start because it covers such a mix of topics. These notes made it all feel a lot more manageable. They helped me tie together strategy, leadership, risk, sustainability and the data side of things in a way that actually stuck.
Shauna C.
FAE Auditing & Assurance · Summer 2025
I always found Audit hard to revise because it feels like one of those subjects where the detail can bury you. These notes helped me cut through that. Once I had everything laid out properly, that was half the battle won.
Connor D.
FAE Taxation (ROI) · Summer 2025
Tax was probably the subject I dreaded most because there is just so much in it and it is easy to get overwhelmed fast. These notes made it feel a lot more manageable. I could actually work through the topics properly instead of constantly feeling like I was behind.
Neil N.
FAE Advisory · Summer 2025
What helped me most was that the notes pushed me to think commercially. With Advisory, it is easy to stay too theoretical, but these made me focus more on the business angle and what the recommendation should actually be based on.
Eric A.
FAE Financial Services · Autumn 2025
FS can get overwhelming fast because there is such a wide range of material in it. These notes helped me bring it all together, especially around funds, regulation, lending, credit risk and AML. I stopped feeling like I was revising separate mini-subjects and started seeing how it all fits.
Glen O.
CAP2 Taxation (ROI) · Summer 2025
CAP 2 Tax was one of those subjects where I kept feeling busy without feeling confident. These notes helped fix that. They gave me a much clearer handle on the core areas and made revision feel more productive.
Matty F.
FAE Core · Summer 2025
I used these notes when I was struggling to bring my answers up to FAE standard. They helped me think more commercially and link different parts of the syllabus together instead of treating everything as separate topics. The real world examples were really great too.
Ella N.
FAE Auditing & Assurance · Summer 2025
I was not looking for anything fancy, I just wanted notes that would actually help me answer Audit questions better. These did that. They made it easier to understand what the examiner is really looking for instead of just learning procedures off by heart.
Peter M.
FAE Taxation (ROI) · Summer 2025
I found these especially useful when I was trying to improve how I approached tax scenarios. Before that, I would panic a bit when a question mixed different taxes or brought in planning points. The notes helped me think in a much clearer and more organised way.
Aoife C.
FAE Advisory · Summer 2025
I actually enjoyed Advisory, but I found it hard to know what a strong answer was supposed to look like. These notes helped a lot with that. They made topics like strategy, investment decisions, expansion and performance measurement feel more practical and easier to apply.
Andrew P.
FAE Financial Services · Summer 2025
I found these really helpful because they made a specialist elective feel far more approachable. The topics can sound very dense at first, but the notes explained them in a way that felt clear and relevant.
Eoin B.
CAP2 Taxation (ROI) · Summer 2024
I found the notes really helpful because they explained things in a straightforward way. With tax, once you start confusing one rule with another, it can unravel quickly. These helped me keep the different taxes separate in my head and build up confidence properly.
James B M.
FAE Core · Summer 2025
What I liked most was that the notes did not feel overly academic or dragged out. FAE Core can get overwhelming quickly, especially when you are trying to cover things like governance, risk, AI and business strategy all at once. These notes made it much easier to manage.
Robert J.
FAE Auditing & Assurance · Summer 2024
I used these notes mainly because I needed something that would help me write better answers, not just read theory. They were really useful for that. I felt much clearer on how to approach audit issues in context.
Trevor C.
FAE Taxation (ROI) · Autumn 2025
What I liked about these notes was that they helped me slow the subject down in a good way. FAE Tax can get very heavy once you are into groups, reorganisations, VAT and international issues, but the notes made it easier to follow the logic instead of just memorising rules.
Leanne W.
FAE Advisory · Summer 2024
I liked these because they matched the way Advisory works as a paper. It is not just about knowing a topic, it is about using judgment. The notes really helped me get better at pulling together the financial, strategic and operational sides of a scenario.
Sheehan A.
FAE Financial Services · Summer 2025
For me, the value was that the notes made the subject feel more real. They were not just giving definitions, they helped me understand the environment the industry operates in and why certain issues matter.
Ciara L.
CAP2 Taxation (ROI) · Summer 2025
For me, the biggest help was having everything in one place. I was using too many different sources before and it was making Tax feel harder than it needed to be. These notes simplified things without making them feel oversimplified.
Oisin R.
FAE Core · Summer 2024
There is a lot on the FAE Core syllabus, and I was getting lost jumping between different sources. These notes pulled everything together in one place and explained it in a way that felt practical rather than overwhelming.
Printed notes, ACA Notes Reader, and ACA Notes Tutor each have their own refund rules because
they are different products.
For printed study notes, a partial refund of 25% may be available where a student can demonstrate
they failed both the main exam sitting and the resit for the same subject. Supporting
documentation is required.
For ACA Notes Reader, a full refund may be available within 7 days of purchase. If Reader access
was bought as part of a discounted print + digital bundle, the refund is adjusted so the retained
printed notes are not kept at a bundle discount.
For ACA Notes Tutor, a time-based refund applies: 30% within one month of purchase, 10% within
two months.