SOCPA Fellowship Managerial and Governmental Accounting Study Plan: Six Weeks, Three Weeks and How Many Answers You Need

Last verified: 31 October 2026. Check the Fellowship exam page on the SOCPA website before you start, because dates and weights can change. This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), the Ministry of Finance or any government body.

The managerial and governmental accounting subject is mostly calculation: about 26 of the 36 questions are cost and management accounting, and the two essay questions are solved step by step. So this plan is built on practising problems, not on reading. It starts today, 31 October 2026, and ends at the Wednesday 23 December 2026 sitting, in two versions: six weeks and three weeks. The topics are explained in the exam content guide.

Registration comes first. Registration for the 23 December sitting opens on 5 November and closes on 14 November 2026, only ten days. If you have not registered in that window you cannot sit this one, and the six-week plan starts on 11 November, three days before it closes. Register on the first day it opens. Details are in the registration guide.

Numbers to build your plan on

How many multiple-choice answers do you need?

Multiple choice is 75 marks spread over 36 questions (about 2.08 per question). The number of correct answers you need depends on your essay score, because the total has to reach 60. Since the essay floor is 5 of 25, in the worst case you need 55 marks from multiple choice, which is 27 questions:

The practical reading: do not count on a high essay score. If you can secure 27 of 36 (75%), you pass even with only the minimum on the essays. If you can secure only 22, you need 15 of 25 on the essays. And even with every multiple-choice question right, scoring below 5 of 25 on the essays fails you, so do not neglect that part.

Where to put your time

SOCPA publishes a percentage range for each topic, and the table shows the approximate number of questions out of 36:

Cost and management accounting together are 26 questions, close to what you need in the worst essay case (about 27), and the two essay questions in the published sample come from them too. Give them about three quarters of your time, and book one session a week for essay problems.

What this site gives your plan

• 10 free questions with no sign-up, covering the four topics and ending with your score and your weakest topic. Start with them today, because they tell you where to begin.
• The practice area: practise topic by topic, every calculation is worked step by step, go back over your mistakes in the mistake notebook, and try a mock exam with the Part 1 specification: 36 questions in 108 minutes.
• The free questions cover the four topics. The rest of the question bank and the mock exam need a pass for this subject.
• The question bank is multiple choice only. For the essay part use the essay questions guide and solve its problems against the clock.

Step one: test yourself today

Before you study anything, solve the ten free questions once with no review and no book. You will know your score today and your weakest topic. Write the result down, and compare it in the last week. If your weakest topic is cost or management accounting, add half an hour a day to them; if it is government accounting, make week 5 two weeks.

Six-week plan to 23 December 2026

Choose this plan if you can start on Wednesday 11 November. Every week: calculation problems daily, one timed essay session (two questions in 72 minutes), and one rest day.

Three-week plan to 23 December 2026

If you start late (Wednesday 2 December), keep the most frequent problems and leave the margins. Registration will have closed on 14 November, so make sure you are registered before you begin.

How to practise the calculations

In the real exam SOCPA provides the calculator, so get used to a simple one from day one. After every problem write the steps in a fixed order, because the essay asks for the steps and not only the final number. A quick example of the order for process costing by weighted average: 8,000 units completed, 2,000 units in ending work in process 40% complete for conversion, materials added at the start, materials cost SAR 150,000 and conversion SAR 88,000.

1. Equivalent units: materials 8,000 + 2,000 = 10,000. Conversion 8,000 + (2,000 × 40%) = 8,800.
2. Cost per equivalent unit: materials 150,000 ÷ 10,000 = 15. Conversion 88,000 ÷ 8,800 = 10.
3. Units completed: 8,000 × (15 + 10) = 200,000.
4. Ending work in process: materials 2,000 × 15 = 30,000, conversion 800 × 10 = 8,000, total 38,000.
5. Check: 200,000 + 38,000 = 238,000 = 150,000 + 88,000.

The last step (the check) takes half a minute and catches most mistakes. Use it in every problem where costs are allocated and added up.

Government accounting by standard number

The subject relies on the Public Sector Accounting Concepts and Standards Manual (4th edition, Ministry of Finance, 2025), which keeps the IPSAS numbers. Study them in this order, with the standard number and its subject on one card:

Then study the government cash-basis accounting procedures (appropriation and payment orders, custody accounts, and what is recorded when a warehouse shortage is found), because the practice questions SOCPA publishes include questions on them. For non-profit organisations learn the three net asset classes: unrestricted, restricted and endowment (waqf), the three statements: financial position, activities and cash flows, and when restricted funds are released to unrestricted.

The official practice test

SOCPA publishes practice questions for this subject with answers: 21 multiple-choice questions and two essay questions. The essays in it are multi-step calculation problems with an answer key. Solve it against the clock in the second-to-last week, then compare your steps with the key, which is the closest thing to showing how your solution is expected to be written. Do not memorise its numbers, because the real exam comes with new ones.

Common traps

1. Two conditions, not one. A total of 60 is not enough if you score under 5 of 25 on the essays.
2. Weighted average versus FIFO. Weighted average combines opening cost with the period's cost, while FIFO keeps them apart. Read the required method in the first line.
3. Variance direction. Favourable and unfavourable: check with one question, is the actual cost lower or higher than the standard?
4. Profit difference between the two methods. It equals the change in inventory units multiplied by the fixed cost per unit. If inventory grows, absorption costing shows more profit.
5. Standard 21 and standard 26. The first is for non-cash-generating assets and the second for cash-generating assets.
6. Cash basis and accrual basis. See which basis the question asks for before you record the entry.
7. Restricted funds. When the restriction ends they move from restricted to unrestricted, while an endowment keeps its principal.
8. Time. Three minutes a question. If you do not see the solution within two minutes, flag it and move on.

If your sitting is in 2027

If you will sit on 24 March 2027 (registration 4 to 13 February) you have more than twenty weeks: go through the six-week plan twice, once for understanding and once for timed problems, and add a full mock exam every two weeks in the last month. And remember that a subject you pass lapses after four calendar years and thirty days if you do not complete the other Fellowship subjects.

The day before the exam

• Check your entry time and ID. The exam runs from 8:30 to 11:30 am, and SOCPA provides the calculator.
• Split your time: 108 minutes for multiple choice and 72 minutes for the essays. Do not leave an essay question blank, because the floor is 5 marks.
• Start with what you know, flag the long problems and come back to them.

This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), the Ministry of Finance or any government body.