Why ACCA scrapped remote exams: the cheating cases behind it, and what it means for you

Did ACCA really end remote exams?

Yes, in two steps, and both are set out on ACCA's own page, FAQs on the limited availability of remote exams, which was still live when we read it on 29 October 2026.

1. 4 November 2025. Students stopped being able to buy tokens for remotely invigilated on-demand exams, except in countries where ACCA has no exam centre. Tokens already bought can be used until they expire.
2. March 2026. "All ACCA exams will be held in centres from March 2026, except in countries where we have no exam centre provision."

One qualification is exempt. The Professional Diploma in Sustainability "will continue to be available as a remotely invigilated exam in all countries". Everything else ACCA delivers moved into centres.

ACCA says it runs exam centres in more than 90 countries, and that "the vast majority of students already choose to take their exams in centre". Students who need extra support are accommodated inside centres, which means a disability is not a route back to a home exam. For the foreseeable future, ACCA says, remote exams will only be offered where there is no centre.

There is also a booking rule to know about. ACCA's Exam Regulations now say you may not book or sit a remote exam in a location where ACCA does not offer one, and that a remote exam taken through a VPN will be nullified with no refund. Those rules exist because some people tried.

What ACCA said, and what its chief executive said

Two different explanations circulate, and it is worth keeping them apart.

ACCA's published position. The FAQ never mentions artificial intelligence. Its reason is: "As technology evolves, we have concerns around the ongoing security of remote exams. We want to protect the hard work ACCA students put into earning their qualification and guard against anything that could compromise the integrity of our exams." On misconduct it adds: "Any student who engages in misconduct risks being removed from the student register."

The chief executive's interview. In late December 2025 Helen Brand, ACCA's chief executive, gave an interview to the Financial Times. The Guardian's report on 29 December 2025 quotes her saying: "We're seeing the sophistication of [cheating] systems outpacing what can be put in, [in] terms of safeguards." She said ACCA had worked "intensively" against cheating but that "people who want to do bad things are probably working at a quicker pace", and that technology led by AI tools had pushed the problem to a "tipping point". She also said: "There are very few high-stakes examinations now that are allowing [remote invigilation]."

The Accountant reported on 30 December 2025 that ACCA "remained confident in the robustness of its assessment processes". In the same interview Brand linked the move to ACCA's first qualification redesign in a decade, with new modules that use real-time simulations instead of "a static exam".

So the honest summary is this. ACCA itself cites the security of remote exams. Its chief executive, speaking to a newspaper, named AI-assisted cheating as the force behind it. Neither source gives a number for how much cheating there was. For that, you have to read ACCA's disciplinary files.

Inside the disciplinary files: how students cheated at home

ACCA publishes every decision of its Disciplinary Committee, with a short news release and a longer statement of reasons. We read all the news releases ACCA has posted for hearings in 2025 and 2026. At least 34 of the 2025 decisions concerned students who sat an exam under remote invigilation, and in 29 of those the student was removed from the register. The 2026 list, up to early October, adds at least 37 more remote-exam cases. The exams in question date from November 2020 to March 2025, so a hearing can arrive years after the exam.

We do not name the students here. They are not public figures, and the method is what matters to you. Four cases show the range.

On 3 September 2024 ACCA received a whistleblower complaint about a student's remote Strategic Business Leader exam, taken that day. It came with photographs of the student's check-in, showing his name and exam access code, and a 30-minute video of an exam task. The complaint alleged plug-in software that let third parties see the questions and complete the exam.

The Committee's reasons, from a hearing on 12 August 2025, record what the screenshots showed. ToDesk, a remote access application, was running during the exam. Live exam content was being copied into a messaging app. And ChatGPT was open in a separate window, generating answers that were "copied into the examination answer box". The Committee called it "a sophisticated method of cheating".

It found that the student used ToDesk and ChatGPT, shared live content and had other tabs open. It did not find proved that a third party sat the exam for him, because there was "no clear evidence" of that. The student denied the allegations and said his account had been tampered with. The Committee found his explanations lacked credibility, removed him from the register with immediate effect and ordered £7,951.50 in costs.

Notice how he was caught. The live proctor did not stop it. Someone who saw the footage sent it to ACCA. When you hand your exam to a network of helpers, you also hand them a recording of yourself cheating.

Before a remote exam starts, the student shows the proctor that the phone is out of reach. In this case, heard on 25 June 2025, the student did that and the exam began. But her large glasses reflected her screen. About 31 minutes in, a second, smaller screen appears beneath the computer in the reflection, lights up, and recurs for the rest of the recording. ProctorU, the invigilation company, flagged it after the exam. She was removed from the register and ordered to pay £8,500 in costs.

Here the proctor did step in. The reasons from 11 September 2025 quote the exchange. Asked twice to show his desk, the student had a blue phone in view and told the proctor it was his mouse: "There isn't any phone". A room pan later showed a second, white phone. The proctor rang him and ended the exam. The Committee removed him and ordered £6,800 in costs. He had been an ACCA student since 2016.

In a case decided in January 2025, the proctor's report noted "a shadow" moving on the student's arms and a phone trying to photograph the screen 53 minutes in. The exam was terminated. The student initially admitted that a third party was in the room, took photos of the questions, and that there was "an intention to share the photographs on social media". She was removed and ordered to pay £14,000 in costs, more than three years after the exam.

Across both years, phones and hidden helpers appear far more often than AI. In our reading of the 2025 and 2026 releases, the SBL case above is the only one that names an AI tool or remote access software. AI use may well be under-counted, because most of what gets proved is what a camera can see.

Who sells remote exam cheating, and what the record shows

The case files describe a supply chain more than a lone cheater. In the SBL case, the whistleblower alleged software that gave "third parties" sight of the questions. In the 2021 case, the student admitted photos were meant for social media. ACCA's rules now spell out the methods it has met.

Its exam entry terms and conditions contain a clause headed "Use of Remote Access or Control Software". If ACCA has reasonable grounds to believe that "any form of remote access, remote desktop, screen sharing, or remote control software or service" was present on your device, active or dormant, it can ban you from remote exams for good, revoke your entry without a refund, nullify your result and refer you for discipline. The same terms say ACCA "may use data forensics, plagiarism software and statistical evidence" to find anomalous results after the exam.

What we could not find is a reliable price. No ACCA decision we read, and no regulator or court record, states what these services charge. Social media posts quote numbers, but none is verifiable, so we do not repeat them. What the record does show is what the student pays when it goes wrong:

• Costs orders. £6,800, £7,951.50, £8,500 and £14,000 in the four cases above, on top of the exam fee.
• The exam fee. A Strategic Business Leader entry costs £282 at the standard rate for December 2026, according to ACCA's fees page. A nullified result is not refunded.
• Time. In the FA case, the Committee noted a removed student can normally apply to be readmitted after one year. Every exam, subscription and month of study before the removal is at risk.
• Your name in public. ACCA's regulations require it to publish the Committee's findings as a news release. Each release in our sample names the student and their home town.

The same model shows up outside ACCA. In the 2023 PTE Academic Online case, Ofqual found that other people sat the secure test for candidates, "avoiding the remote invigilation safeguards" Pearson had in place, as set out in our PTE proxy investigation. Leaked questions sold as study material are a different route to the same risk, covered in is ExamTopics legit.

The same problem among qualified accountants

ACCA's students did not invent exam cheating in accountancy. The profession's own staff have been fined for it.

In June 2022 the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined EY $100 million after finding that a significant number of its audit professionals cheated on the ethics part of the CPA exam and on continuing education courses, and that the firm misled the SEC's investigation. The full record, and KPMG's cases, are in EY's $100 million exam cheating fine.

In the UK, the Guardian reported on 21 December 2022 that a letter from the Financial Reporting Council had found instances of cheating at audit firms and professional bodies, including some tier-one auditors. The FRC wrote that the issues "remain live" and that "the profession therefore needs to be vigilant". The same report noted that the PCAOB had fined KPMG's UK arm $2 million that month after finding that questions were shared before exams. KPMG's chief executive said the firm "took the appropriate disciplinary action with all those involved".

That context matters for you. Employers in audit already know how exam cheating looks, and regulators expect them to check. A removal from the ACCA register is the kind of record that follows you into a Big Four background check.

What happens to you if you are caught

ACCA's Exam Regulations set the ladder. Regulation 20 says that if ACCA suspects irregular conduct or finds anomalous results, before, during or after the exam, it can:

• nullify your result;
• keep your exam fee;
• withhold your results;
• permanently suspend you from remote exams after a nullified result;
• suspend you from all ACCA exams.

On top of that sits the Disciplinary Committee. In the 2025 decisions we read, the usual outcome for proven cheating in a remote exam was removal from the student register, with costs in the thousands of pounds. A handful ended in a severe reprimand instead.

Two rules catch people who think they are only helping someone else. Regulation 13 bars you from copying or sharing exam content "to any person including other ACCA registered candidates". Regulation 14 says you must report it to ACCA if you become aware that anyone has had access to exam content. Buying "recent questions" from a group chat puts you inside both rules.

The checks do not stop when the exams end. Many of the 2025 decisions concern people excluded from membership over the practical experience records in their membership applications.

Can you still sit an ACCA exam at home?

Only if you live in a country where ACCA has no exam centre, or you are taking the Professional Diploma in Sustainability. ACCA's remote session exams page says: "If you're based in a country which has no exam centre provision then you may be able to take a remote session exam." Use ACCA's exam availability and booking page to check your own country, because the list changes.

Business and Accountancy Daily reported on 8 January 2026 that key markets including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, the UAE, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have in-person centres. It also said some countries, including Thailand, Israel and Morocco, still had only online exams. Treat that as a January 2026 snapshot and confirm with ACCA before you book.

If you are in a centre country, the practical changes are simple. Book early, because centre seats fill. Check the centre's own fee for on-demand exams, since ACCA says centres set those themselves. And plan travel time into your study plan. None of it is as costly as a nullified result.

Red flags: offers ACCA students should refuse

Each of these comes straight from a rule ACCA has written or a case it has decided:

1. "Install this so I can help you during the exam." Remote access tools such as ToDesk, AnyDesk or a screen share are named in ACCA's terms. Even a dormant install can cost you your remote exam rights.
2. "Book it as if you live in another country." Booking a remote exam where ACCA does not offer one, or sitting through a VPN, means a nullified result and no refund under Regulations 22 to 25.
3. "Send me your check-in photo and access code." That is how the SBL case was proved. Anyone who asks for them can also send them to ACCA.
4. "We have this session's questions." Either it is false and you have paid for nothing, or it is real and you are now handling leaked content you must report under Regulation 14.
5. "Someone will sit with you, off camera." ACCA's rules require you to be alone. In the 2021 case the helper's shadow was enough.
6. "Keep your phone on the desk, the proctor won't notice." The FA case was caught in a reflection, after the exam, from the recording.

A legitimate tutor gives you practice questions, marking and feedback before the exam. Nothing a real tutor offers involves being present, physically or digitally, while you sit it.

The honest route through ACCA's hardest papers

The pass rates explain the temptation. In ACCA's June 2026 results, 51% passed Strategic Business Leader, 41% passed Performance Management and 39% passed Advanced Audit and Assurance. 119,662 students entered that session. More than half fail some papers. That is why shortcuts get sold, and it is also why one fail tells you very little about the next attempt.

What works is boring and reliable. Work through past exam papers under timed conditions on ACCA's CBE practice platform, so that the software on the day feels like the software at home. Mark your answers against the examiner's own approach, because the professional papers reward structure as much as knowledge. And book the centre early enough that the date fixes your plan.

Our ACCA guide sets out the structure of the qualification and how students usually spread the 13 exams. The study plan tool on this page works back from your exam date and the hours you have each week. If you are weighing ACCA against the US route, the CPA guide covers that exam, and EY's $100 million fine shows how the US regulator treats cheating there. If you want more structure, ExamTips Pro for ACCA adds a week by week plan, the topics that carry the most marks and practice questions, for a one-time fee. It prepares you to sit the paper yourself, in the centre, which is the only way ACCA now lets most students sit it.