SOCPA Financial Accounting: Syllabus, Topics and a Study Plan

Financial Accounting is the Fellowship subject that looks most like something you have already passed. An ACCA holder has sat IFRS papers; a CPA holder has sat FAR. That familiarity is the trap, because the subject does not examine IFRS as the IASB publishes it. It examines IFRS as endorsed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the endorsed layer has real content.

In March 2026 SOCPA stood before the IASB's Accounting Standards Advisory Forum to argue about which line of the income statement Zakat belongs on under IFRS 18. The IFRS Interpretations Committee had tentatively said a charge outside IAS 12 cannot sit in the income tax category. SOCPA's own standards board had concluded, while endorsing IFRS 18, that it should. No IFRS textbook printed elsewhere covers that, and it is exactly what a Saudi paper asks.

This guide covers the framework, the standards that carry the marks, where a CPA or ACCA background carries, the language choice, and a ten-week plan.

The exam at a glance

Item	Financial Accounting
Subject	Financial Accounting, one of the six Fellowship subjects
Format	60 multiple-choice questions in 180 minutes, then 4 essay questions in 120 minutes
Length	5 hours, as two papers on one day
Score weighting	75% multiple choice, 25% essays, since the third cycle of 2025
Passing score	60 out of 100, and at least 5 of the 25 essay marks
Sittings	Four cycles a year, every subject in every cycle; 2026: 5 to 8 April, 28 June to 1 July, 27 to 30 September, 20 to 23 December, registration about six weeks before each
Fees	SAR 1,000 first registration (SAR 500 for a later sitting) plus SAR 300 per subject
Language	Arabic or English, the candidate's choice, since the September 2025 cycle
Delivery	Computer-based at test centres in ten Saudi cities, booked through the National Center for Assessment (ETEC) e-services
Credit expiry	A pass lapses four calendar years and thirty days after the sitting date if the Fellowship is not completed by then
Exemption	Holders of AICPA, ICAEW, CICA and Australian qualifications are exempt from this subject; SOCPA names the Australian body CA Australia on its English page and CPA Australia on its Arabic page

SOCPA publishes a minimum and a maximum weight for each topic area of the paper.

Topic area	Weight
The financial reporting conceptual framework and the accounting cycle	5 to 15%
Measurement, presentation and disclosure of the main financial statement elements	45 to 65%
Measurement, presentation and disclosure of events, conditions and transactions that affect financial position and results	25 to 45%

The framework: IFRS plus two Saudi layers

SOCPA adopts accounting standards for the Kingdom, and it adopts IFRS by endorsement: each new standard is translated, then put through technical, Sharia and legal review. The output is full IFRS with two additions.

The first is additional disclosure, added to several standards to reflect Sharia principles or local law. Recognition and measurement are untouched: a lease liability in Riyadh is measured exactly as in London. The second is SOCPA's own pronouncements where IFRS is silent, above all on Zakat. The model is explained in How SOCPA Endorses IFRS: What Differs in Saudi Statements.

Zakat is outside IAS 12, and presented beside it

Zakat is charged on a base linked to equity and funding rather than on profit, so it is outside the scope of IAS 12 and accounted for under SOCPA's Zakat standard. When SOCPA endorsed IFRS 18, its Accounting Standards Board concluded that Zakat should be presented within the income taxes category, under a subtotal labelled "profit before income tax and Zakat", as a line distinct from income tax expense. The IFRS Interpretations Committee read IFRS 18 as issued the other way and finalised an agenda decision to that effect in March 2026, but the IASB deferred deciding whether to object to it. In July 2026 the IASB tentatively decided to propose amending IFRS 18 so that a tax charge imposed by a government as a direct substitute for income tax, where the law makes an entity pay either income tax or that charge, is classified in the income taxes category, and its staff list Saudi Zakat as meeting that test. The decision is tentative, and an exposure draft is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. An exam answer should follow SOCPA's endorsed position and explain why: a mixed-ownership company pays Zakat on one portion and income tax on the other, and users read the two as one statutory burden.

The revaluation model comes with conditions

IAS 16 and IAS 40 let an entity choose revaluation or fair value. The Capital Market Authority did not: listed companies had to stay on the cost model for financial years starting before 2022, and may switch from 2022 only with board approval on the audit committee's recommendation, two valuations from accredited valuers, and the lower of the two. Under published IFRS the choice is an accounting policy. In the Kingdom it is a governance event.

The syllabus, and the standards that carry the marks

SOCPA publishes the syllabus in its annual examination guide, and its Arabic pages are the ones kept current; confirm the edition for your sitting, because the list of endorsed standards moves as the IASB issues new ones. Whichever edition you read, most of the heavy work sits in the areas below.

Standard	What is examined	Character
IAS 1, then IFRS 18 from 2027	Structure of the statements, current and non-current, the new IFRS 18 categories	Presentation. The Zakat line lives here.
IFRS 15	The five-step model, variable consideration, principal versus agent, over time versus point in time	Computational and long-form.
IFRS 16	Single lessee model, right-of-use asset and lease liability, the two exemptions, lessor classification	Computational; the US GAAP trap.
IFRS 9	Classification by business model and cash flows, effective interest, expected credit losses	Conceptual, then computational.
IAS 12, with the Zakat standard	Temporary differences, deferred tax assets and liabilities, mixed-ownership entities paying both	Computational, and Saudi-specific.
IFRS 10, IFRS 3, IAS 28	Control, the acquisition method, goodwill and the non-controlling interest choice, eliminations, associates	Heavy. The long-question favourite.
IAS 16, IAS 36, IAS 38, IAS 40	Cost and revaluation models, recoverable amount, impairment and its reversal, research versus development	Rules with numbers. Where the CMA conditions bite.
IAS 7	Direct and indirect methods, classification of interest and dividends	Mechanical. Cheap marks if practised.
IAS 37	Provisions, contingencies, the probable threshold, onerous contracts	Judgement expressed as rules.
IAS 21	Functional versus presentation currency, remeasurement, translation of foreign operations	Mechanical.

SOCPA publishes weights only for the three topic areas shown at the top of this guide, not for individual standards, so any percentage attached to these rows is someone's estimate. What the syllabus's shape does say is that consolidation, revenue and leases generate the long computational questions, and presentation, provisions and foreign currency the short ones. The table is not the whole syllabus: SOCPA's Fellowship topics document, which its examination guide links to, also lists the conceptual framework and the accounting cycle, inventories, assets held for sale, accounting policies and errors, events after the reporting period, related parties, earnings per share, share-based payment, employee benefits, joint arrangements, interim reporting, operating segments, borrowing costs, fair value measurement, government grants, agriculture, insurance contracts, hyperinflation, IFRS for SMEs and the interpretations SOCPA has endorsed, so revise from that list and not from this table alone.

The topics that decide the result

Revenue under IFRS 15

IFRS 15 and the US standard were written jointly and share the five steps, so CPA FAR preparation transfers almost intact here. The pressure is in steps four and five: allocating the price on relative stand-alone selling prices, and deciding whether control passes over time or at a point. Read Revenue Recognition: The Five-Step Model.

Leases under IFRS 16

IFRS 16 has one lessee model. Every lease beyond the two exemptions, twelve months or less and low-value assets, goes on the balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, with depreciation plus interest as the expense. There is no operating lease for a lessee; lessors keep the split. Operating vs Finance Leases Under ASC 842 explains the US two-class model: read it for the liability mechanics, and note that the classification test has no IFRS 16 lessee equivalent.

Financial instruments under IFRS 9

Classification is two questions: what is the business model, and are the contractual cash flows solely principal and interest. Amortised cost follows from the right answers to both, and it means the effective interest method, the arithmetic in How Bond Premiums and Discounts Work. Expected credit losses are the IFRS-specific addition, with twelve-month versus lifetime as the examinable hinge.

Deferred tax, and the Zakat interaction

IAS 12 recognises deferred tax on temporary differences between carrying amounts and tax bases, at rates enacted or substantively enacted at the reporting date. In the Kingdom that applies to the foreign-owned share of a mixed entity, taxed at 20%, while Zakat applies to the rest, so one set of statements carries both computations. Deferred Tax Assets vs Liabilities sets out the mechanics; the Zakat base itself belongs to the Zakat and Tax subject.

Consolidation and business combinations

IFRS 10 defines control by power, exposure to variable returns and the link between them; IFRS 3 applies the acquisition method. The IFRS-only feature is the non-controlling interest choice: fair value, giving full goodwill, or the proportionate share of net assets, giving partial goodwill. US GAAP allows only the first. The eliminations are the same in every framework; Consolidation Entries Explained works through them.

Cash flows under IAS 7

IAS 7 lets an entity classify interest paid and dividends received as operating or elsewhere, a choice US GAAP does not offer, so read the stated policy before answering. Cash Flow Statement: Direct vs Indirect Method covers the reconciliation.

Where a CPA or ACCA background carries, and where it misleads

An ACCA holder has been examined on IFRS and will find only the Saudi layer new. A CPA holder has been examined on US GAAP, and the two frameworks disagree in exactly the places examiners like.

Topic	US GAAP habit	What IFRS as endorsed requires
Lessee accounting	Classify as operating or finance; operating leases carry a straight-line cost	One lessee model. Depreciation plus interest for every lease beyond the exemptions
Inventory cost formula	LIFO is permitted	IAS 2 allows specific identification, FIFO and weighted average. LIFO is not on the list
Development costs	Expensed as incurred, with software exceptions	IAS 38 expenses research and capitalises development once the criteria are met
Property, plant and equipment	Cost model only	IAS 16 permits revaluation, surplus to other comprehensive income, subject for listed companies to the CMA conditions above
Impairment	Undiscounted screen first; no reversal for assets held and used	IAS 36 uses recoverable amount, the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use, and reverses impairment when conditions change; goodwill impairment is never reversed
Non-controlling interest	Fair value only	Fair value or proportionate share of net assets, chosen per acquisition

Whether you sit the subject at all is a separate question. SOCPA exempts holders of the US CPA, the ICAEW ACA, the Canadian CA and an Australian qualification from three subjects, Financial Accounting, Management and Governmental Accounting, and Auditing; the ACCA is not on that list. SOCPA's current English and Arabic pages and its 2026 guide agree on those three subjects but not on the Australian body, which the English page calls CA Australia and the Arabic page and the guide call CPA Australia, so read SOCPA Exemptions Explained and confirm in writing before you register.

How the paper is built

Each subject is marked out of 100 on its own, with no compensation. The SOCPA Fellowship exam guide gives the pass mark as 60% and the format as multiple choice plus essay questions, with the multiple choice portion carrying the larger share. Since the third cycle of 2025 the multiple choice section carries 75 of the 100 marks and the essays 25, and a pass also needs at least 5 of the 25 essay marks: SOCPA's own example is a candidate on 63, with 60 from multiple choice and 3 from essays, who fails. The 60/40 split still quoted in places is the format before that change. The essay portion is where consolidation and revenue are set at length, so practise writing a full computation to a time limit.

Arabic or English

Since the third sitting of 2025 the Fellowship is offered in English as well as Arabic, chosen at registration. Endorsement begins with translation, so the Arabic standard is the endorsed text, and an English paper examines a framework whose authoritative local wording is Arabic. Sit in the language you would draft financial statements in, and either way learn the Arabic terms for the Saudi layer, because SOCPA's pronouncements and ZATCA's rules are Arabic-first and the English versions have lagged.

A ten-week plan

Ten weeks at twelve to fifteen hours a week is a realistic shape for someone working full time. The order runs from the standards that structure everything to the standards that combine everything, with the Saudi layer revisited once the IFRS beneath it is secure.

Weeks	Focus	Why here
1	The endorsement framework, IAS 1 and IFRS 18, IAS 8, IAS 7	Every later topic lands in a statement. Learn the statements first, with the Zakat presentation point.
2	IAS 16, IAS 38, IAS 40, IAS 36, IAS 2	The asset standards, and the first place US GAAP habits show.
3	IFRS 15	Five steps, then the allocation and timing questions that carry the marks.
4	IFRS 16	Build the lease liability schedule by hand until the single model is reflexive.
5	IFRS 9 and IAS 32	Classification, effective interest, expected credit losses.
6	IAS 12 with the Zakat standard, IAS 37, IAS 21	The mixed-ownership computation is the integration exercise for the first half.
7 to 8	IFRS 3, IFRS 10, IAS 28	The heaviest area. Both non-controlling interest methods, every time.
9	The Saudi layer again, plus mixed practice	Disclosure additions, the CMA conditions and Zakat presentation, with the IFRS beneath them now understood.
10	Full papers under time, essay questions written out in full	The essay portion loses marks to pace more than to knowledge.

How it pairs with the other subjects

Financial Accounting shares a study method with Audit: both reward worked practice over reading, and the statements one produces are what the other assures. That makes them the natural pair for one sitting, and What Order to Sit the SOCPA Fellowship Exams In builds a twelve-month plan around it. It also feeds Zakat and Tax: the base is computed from the balance sheet this subject teaches you to build, presented here and computed there.

Where to practise this

The examinable skill is producing a number under time, and reading does not produce that. Prepito's SOCPA Financial Accounting course covers the endorsed standards with practice questions, timed simulations, full explanations and mistake review, in Arabic and English.

For the qualification as a whole, see the SOCPA Fellowship exam guide or the SOCPA Fellowship programme.

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Sources: IFRS Foundation jurisdiction profile for Saudi Arabia, SOCPA's March 2026 paper to the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum on presentation of Zakat, the IFRS Foundation's standard summaries, SOCPA's announcement on opening the Fellowship worldwide. The endorsed standards, syllabus, exam format and pass mark are set by SOCPA and revised periodically; confirm the current examination guide on SOCPA's Arabic pages before planning a sitting. The IFRS 18 Zakat question is still open: the IASB's July 2026 decision to propose an amendment is tentative, and an exposure draft is expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.