How to Become a Chartered Accountant in Ghana in Under 2 Years
Most ICAG students expect the qualification to take three to four years. Some take five or more. Only a handful complete it in under two.
It is possible. It has been done. The founder of MSL Business School, Michael Siaw Larbi, completed all his ICAG papers — 16 papers under the previous syllabus — in under two years as a full-time university student, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at age 21. That personal record shaped the institution MSL became: disciplined preparation, examiner focus, and measurable performance.
Under the current 2024–2029 ICAG syllabus, the qualification consists of 14 papers across three levels. With three exam sittings per year — March, July and November — a student who sits papers strategically across every available sitting can complete all 14 examinations in as few as six sittings: approximately 18 months from the first sitting to the last.
This guide documents exactly how. The sitting plan, the rules that govern progression, the preparation standard required, and the honest distinction between completing your papers and achieving full CA membership. Nothing is oversimplified. This is what it actually takes.
Under 2 years to complete all ICAG papers is achievable. It is not the norm — but it is a documented reality at MSL Business School.
1. The Honest Distinction: Papers vs. Membership
Before anything else, one clarification that is often glossed over.
Completing all 14 ICAG examination papers in under two years is achievable with the right strategy and preparation. Becoming a Full Member of ICAG — and the right to call yourself a Chartered Accountant — requires both passing all papers and completing a minimum of three years of relevant practical experience in an approved training environment.
These two things happen in parallel, not in sequence. The practical experience requirement does not begin after you finish your papers — it runs concurrently with your studies and continues after your final examination. A student who begins working in an approved accounting environment at the same time they begin studying can complete both the examinations and the practical experience requirement within a similar timeframe.
What 'under 2 years' refers to in this guide is the completion of all examination papers — which is the academically demanding part of the qualification and the component over which a student has the most direct control. Many candidates are already in employment when they begin studying, which means the practical experience clock starts ticking from day one.
The three years of practical experience must be completed in an approved training environment: an accounting or auditing firm, a public or private organisation under a qualified accountant, or an accredited academic institution. This can run concurrently with studies. Candidates who begin working in accounting roles when they start studying are often already accumulating eligible experience before they sit their first paper.
2. The Mathematics — Why Under 2 Years is Achievable
The ICAG Professional Qualifying Examination is held three times per year: March, July and November. That means a student who registers for every available sitting has six opportunities to sit papers over 18 months, or nine opportunities over 24 months.
With 14 papers across three levels, the minimum number of sittings required — using the Award Hunter approach of sitting all papers at a level simultaneously — is three sittings: all 4 Level 1 papers in one sitting, all 6 Level 2 papers in one sitting, and all 4 Level 3 papers in one sitting.
Realistically, most students who complete in under two years use a slightly more distributed approach — typically 4 to 6 sittings — which balances speed with preparation quality. The approach that has proven most reliable at MSL is the six-sitting plan described in Section 4 of this guide.
3. The ICAG Progression Rules — What Governs Your Speed
Before mapping out a sitting plan, the rules that govern which papers you can sit together must be understood. These are ICAG's own regulations — not MSL's — and they determine the sequencing of your qualification journey.
ICAG Progression Rules (2024–2029 Syllabus)
Rule 1: You must complete Level 1 before you can sit Level 3. A Level 3 paper cannot be written if any Level 1 paper is still outstanding.
Rule 2: You cannot sit a Level 3 paper if you have more than one Level 2 paper remaining. The only exception is a Level 2 student with exactly one paper left — they may sit that paper alongside any number of Level 3 papers.
Rule 3: A Level 1 student with only one paper remaining at Level 1 may add up to four papers from Level 2 in the same sitting.
Rule 4: There is no restriction on how many papers you sit at Level 1 or Level 2, subject to the above. You may sit all 4 Level 1 papers or all 6 Level 2 papers in a single sitting.
Rule 5: Level 3 — all 4 papers can be sat in a single sitting once Level 1 is complete and no more than one Level 2 paper remains.
These rules mean that the fastest possible legal progression is: complete all Level 1 papers → complete at least 5 of 6 Level 2 papers → sit remaining Level 2 paper alongside all Level 3 papers.
In practice, MSL recommends completing all Level 2 papers before moving to Level 3 in a subsequent sitting.
4. The 18-Month Roadmap — Six Sittings to Qualification
The following plan represents the recommended fast-track route through all 14 ICAG papers across six consecutive sittings. Starting in March of Year 1 and completing in November of Year 2 gives a total examination period of 20 months — well under 2 years.
This is not the theoretical minimum. It is the most reliable fast-track path — the approach that balances speed with sufficient preparation time between sittings, respects the ICAG progression rules, and follows the subject combination logic that produces the best results.
This plan begins in March of Year 1 and ends in November of Year 2 — a total of 20 months. Starting in July gives completion by March of Year 2, a 20-month window. Starting in November gives completion by July of Year 2. Every entry point delivers under-2-year completion with this six-sitting structure.
Why this plan works: Each sitting is logically grouped — Numbers papers together, Theory papers together, Core Corporate together, Specialist together, and the two natural Level 3 pairs. Each group shares study techniques and reinforces each other. Preparation is focused, not fragmented. The subject combination rationale is explained in full in MSL's ICAG Subject Combination Strategy guide.
5. For Degree Holders — The Accelerated Route
If you hold an accounting degree or are a Level 300 student at an MOU university, your journey is shorter. Exemptions remove papers from your path entirely — meaning fewer sittings, less cost, and faster completion.
A Master's degree holder who needs only 5 papers — 1 Level 2 paper (Public Sector Accounting & Finance) and all 4 Level 3 papers — can complete all examinations across two sittings. That is under 6 months from first exam to last, making full CA membership achievable in as little as 3 years and 6 months for someone already in the workforce.
6. What 'Fast' Actually Requires — The Preparation Standard
Speed and quality are not in conflict — but they do demand a specific approach. The candidates who complete ICAG in under two years are not doing less work than those who take four years. They are doing the same work, done more deliberately, in a more compressed timeframe.
Examiner alignment — not just syllabus coverage
The ICAG examination does not reward knowledge alone. It rewards structured, mark-earning responses delivered under time pressure. A candidate who knows every topic in the syllabus but cannot organise that knowledge into a well-structured written answer under 3-hour examination conditions will still fail.
Every MSL session is built around examiner alignment: understanding the marking scheme, learning how answers are structured to earn marks, and practising under exam-standard time conditions. This is the preparation approach that produced Ghana's National Overall Best Graduating Student at every ICAG sitting in 2024.
Consistent study across every paper in a sitting
The ICAG award rules make this explicit at the national level, but it applies to every student attempting to pass: consistent performance across all papers in a sitting matters more than exceptional performance in one paper and poor performance in another. A candidate sitting 3 papers who passes 2 and fails 1 has not saved time — they have added at least one sitting to their journey. Fast qualification depends on passing every paper, every time.
No gaps between Level 1 and Level 2
The most common delay in ICAG qualification is the gap between levels — finishing Level 1 in one sitting and not registering for Level 2 until the following year. Every gap of one sitting is four months added to the total. The six-sitting plan above is built on consecutive sitting attendance with no gaps. Every available sitting is used.
The Strategic Case Study requires dedicated preparation
Paper 3.4 Strategic Case Study is unlike any other ICAG paper. It is a simulation of professional practice — a pre-seen business scenario released two weeks before the examination, followed by an in-hall examination that requires integrated strategic, financial, and professional recommendations. Candidates who arrive at the Case Study without dedicated preparation for its unique format are not ready, regardless of how well they performed in earlier papers.
The fast-track candidate treats the Case Study as the culmination of their preparation journey — bringing everything they know across all 13 prior papers to bear on a single realistic business problem. MSL has produced many national award winners in the Strategic Case Study paper, including Abigail Cudjoe, who was also Ghana's National Overall Best Graduating Chartered Accountant at the same sitting.
7. It Has Been Done — The MSL Record
Speed is not theoretical at MSL. The institution's national award record demonstrates what focused, structured preparation delivers in real examination conditions.
The 2024 Clean Sweep
In 2024, ICAG held three examination sittings: March, July and November. MSL Business School produced the National Overall Best Graduating Chartered Accountant at all three. Three different students. Three different sittings. All from the same institution.
Abigail Cudjoe — National Overall Best Graduating Student + Overall Best Female + Overall Best Student, Strategic Case Study (March 2024)
Godson Nkunu — National Overall Best Graduating Student + Overall Best Student, Advanced Taxation + Overall Best Student, Advanced Audit & Assurance (July 2024)
Jesse Blessing Nyarkoh — National Overall Best Graduating Student + Overall Best Student, Advanced Taxation (November 2024)
None of these students spread their Level 3 papers across multiple sittings. Each sat the full Level 3 in a single sitting — and each dominated it. That is the Award Hunter strategy executed at the highest level.
The Founder's Record
Michael Siaw Larbi, Founder of MSL Business School, completed all his ICAG papers — 16 papers under the previous syllabus — in under two years as a full-time university student, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at age 21. Michael was also the National Overall Best Student for all 3 Levels of the ICAG exam, and also graduated in his ICAG exam sitting (May 2015 Exam sitting) as the National Overall Best Graduating Student. He simultaneously holds the CITG Chartered Tax Practitioner designation and the CGMA from CIMA.
That personal record shaped the approach MSL takes with every student: disciplined preparation, examiner focus, measurable performance targets, and the absolute conviction that qualification speed is not constrained by the difficulty of the examination — only by the quality of preparation going into it.
8. Five Things That Determine How Fast You Qualify
1. How many sittings you skip
Every skipped sitting adds one sitting to your total — typically four months. The candidates who qualify fastest are those who sit in every available window without gaps. If you are registered as an ICAG student, the July sitting is not optional — it is four months you cannot recover if you sit it out.
2. Your first-attempt pass rate
A single re-sit at any level adds a minimum of one sitting — four months — to your journey. Two re-sits at Level 2 potentially add eight months. The fastest route to qualification is the one where every paper is passed on the first attempt. Preparation quality is the variable that controls this — not luck, not the examiner, not the difficulty of the syllabus.
3. Whether you use your exemptions intelligently
Exemptions save papers but not always time or money. A Master's degree holder who exempts 9 papers can complete all examinations in 2–3 sittings. But the approximately GHS 8,539 in exemption fees must be weighed against the cost of simply writing those papers. For Level 1 papers in particular — MCQ, relatively straightforward — writing them is often faster and cheaper than exempting them. MSL helps every enrolled student think through which exemptions are genuinely worth taking.
4. When you start building practical experience
Students who begin working in an accounting role before they sit their first paper are accumulating practical experience from day one. By the time they complete their examinations, they may already have 18–24 months of eligible experience behind them — meaning Full CA Membership is within reach within a year of their final paper.
5. The quality of your tuition provider
Examiner-aligned preparation — understanding not just what the syllabus covers, but how ICAG marks answers — is the single most important variable in first-attempt pass rates. A student who spends 12 weeks preparing with MSL Business School is better placed to pass on the first attempt than a student who spends 20 weeks self-studying, because the preparation approach is calibrated to what the examiner rewards, not just what the syllabus contains.
Start Now — Every Sitting Counts
Whether you are starting fresh, or you are already part-way through the qualification — perhaps with Level 1 complete, or with some Level 2 papers passed — the plan adapts to your position. The question is the same regardless of where you are: how many consecutive sittings can you commit to, and are you preparing at the standard required to pass every paper you sit?
MSL Business School is where serious ICAG candidates prepare. 40+ national awards. Ghana's national best graduating student at every ICAG sitting in 2024. Fully online, fully examiner-focused, and built on the personal record of a founder who completed the qualification in under two years and was the national overall best graduating student himself.
To discuss your specific situation — which papers you need, how to plan your sittings, and what MSL preparation involves — contact us on WhatsApp at 053 050 4026.
About MSL Business School: MSL Business School is Ghana's #1 ICAG, CITG and CIMA tuition provider and an ICAG-Approved Partner in Learning. The institution has produced 40+ national academic award winners, including the National Overall Best Graduating Chartered Accountant for all three ICAG sittings in 2024. All tuition is delivered fully online via live sessions and the MSL Business School App.
