The ILFM offers exemptions to students who have studied relevant qualifications prior to starting the ILFM's qualifications. This means that you may not have to take all of the exams at the ILFM Diploma or Associate Level. We want you to start your studies at the right level.*
You can check your Exemptions below, and contact us for further information:
The exemption fee is £90 (per exemption). You will be issued with an Exemption Certificate.
Qualifications considered for exemption (From 16th January 2016, policy cannot be back dated):
1) ILFM Diploma Legal Bookkeeping Certificate:
- ACCA F3 and above (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)
- CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
- AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) Level 2 and above.
- ICAS (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland)
- Some relevant university degrees in Accounting or Finance
- ICAEW
NB. There are no exemptions for Diploma Level Legal Professionals and the Accounts Rules Certificate (LPAR)
2) ILFM Associate – Accounting Certificate and Financial Management Certificate
- ACCA F7 and above
- CIMA
- ICAEW
- AAT Level 4
- ICAS
- Some relevant university degrees in Accounting or Finance
NB. There are no exemptions for Associate Level Legal Practice Management Certificate.
* Contact the ILFM Office for full details, terms and conditions.
Exemptions we have gained with other qualification providers that recognise your ILFM Qualifications and may exempt you from certain levels or exams.
Diploma Level
The ILFM Certificate in Legal Bookkeeping (Diploma level) = one unit exemption from AAT Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Bookkeeping and/or AAT Level 3 Advanced Diploma. Unit exempt from is ‘Advanced Bookkeeping’.
Associate Level
ILFM Certificate in Accounting & Financial Management (Associate Level) = one unit exemption from AAT Advanced Certificate in Bookkeeping and/or AAT Level 3 Advanced Diploma. Unit they would be exempt from is ‘Advanced Bookkeeping’.
Also the following AAT unit exemptions from Level 4 Professional Diploma:
‘Financial Statements of Limited Companies’ & ‘External Auditing’
Further information about the AAT qualifications and the syllabus can be found on the AAT’s website. https://www.aat.org.uk/find-a-course
Full Associate ILFM (AILFM) members who have successfully completed the Diploma, Associate Accounting, Financial Management and Legal Practice Management are eligible for exemptions from the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. This equates to five exemptions and allows you to progress to the CIMA Professional Qualification straight away.
CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting modules
C01 Fundamentals of Management Accounting
C02 Fundamentals of Financial Accounting
C03 Fundamentals of Business Mathematics
C04 Fundamentals of Business Economics
C05 Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Law
As part of the accreditation process the ILFM syllabus has been mapped to the CIMA syllabus to ensure the content matches a sufficient amount of the syllabus to award the exemptions. Material covered within the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting is later built on within the professional level syllabus. Therefore, those wanting to take up exemptions from C01, C03 and C04 in particular may wish to further research these areas to make sure they are familiar with the material covered. Or alternatively they may wish to sit the papers.
The ILFM have released additional topics for the ILFM Fellowship qualification to allow students to prepare their thesis and presentation on some of the areas not covered in the CIMA papers for which exemptions are allowed. These topics include ethics, financial governance and management accounting.
Further information on the ILFM route to CIMA can be found at: www.cimaglobal/ilfm
Details of the exemptions awarded to the ILFM can be found at: https://www.cimaglobal.com/Starting-CIMA/Starting-CIMA/Exemptions/Exemption-Search/Institute-of-Legal-Finance--Management-ILFM-12315/?qualification=1-N9V08X
Richard Hill, ILFM chair shares his own story about continuing onto the CIMA route after completing the ILFM Diploma and Associate levels.
You can read his case study at: www.cimaglobal.com/Our-locations/UK/find-out-about-joining-us/Im-already-working/ILFM-members/Richard-Hill-ACMA-CGMA-Stepien-Lake/
ILFM members who gain the Diploma, Associate Accounting and Financial Management qualifications between January 2014 through to December 2018 will be eligible for the following exemptions:
| ACCA Qualifications | ILFM Qualifications eligible for exemption |
| F2 - Management Accounting | requires the ILFM Accounting and Financial Management to be completed between January 2014 to December 2018 |
| F3 – Financial Accounting | requires the ILFM Diploma, Accounting and Financial Management to be completed between the period of January 2014 to December 2018 |
As part of the accreditation process the ILFM syllabus has been mapped to the ACCA syllabus to ensure there is approximately 80% comparable syllabus coverage and comparable examination methods.
Further information about the ACCA qualifications and the syllabus can be found at ACCA’s website www.accaglobal.com
Other Accounting bodies
The ILFM are currently working with other accounting bodies to obtain accreditation for exemptions from other qualifications.