ACCA AA December 2026: Why Your Control Recommendation Only Scores Half a Mark (SD25 Examiner Report)
The examiner's words: recommendations phrased as "ensure that…" are unlikely to gain much credit. The 18-mark controls question in AA is the most generous question on the paper — and most candidates hand back a third of it by writing objectives instead of actions.
How the 18 marks actually split
In the September/December 2025 exam, Quirky Quadbikes Co asked for SIX deficiencies, a control recommendation for each, and a test of control for each. The mark allocation is fixed and it is worth memorising: ½ mark to identify the deficiency, ½ mark to explain the implication to the company, 1 mark for the recommendation, 1 mark for the test of control. Three marks per deficiency, six deficiencies, 18 marks.
Notice where the money is. The two full marks sit in the recommendation and the test of control — the two parts candidates rush at the end. If you write six brilliant deficiencies and six lazy recommendations, you cap yourself at about 9 out of 18.
Mistake 1: copying the fact instead of naming the deficiency
The examiner gave a precise example. A candidate who wrote "on receipt of goods, the quantities received are checked by a warehouse assistant against the supplier's delivery note" scored nothing. That isn't a deficiency — checking quantities to a delivery note is a control. The deficiency is that quality is not checked and the delivery is not compared to the purchase order.
The CBE copy-and-paste function is the enemy here. Pasting the scenario sentence feels productive and earns zero.
Mistake 2: "this could result in fraud and error"
The examiner is blunt: this is not sufficient, because every deficiency can lead to fraud and error. The implication must be specific to that deficiency and must show the impact on the business.
Even "the company may receive goods not ordered" failed, because it doesn't explain the consequence. What scored was: "this could result in the company receiving poor quality goods, or those not required, leading to a waste of company resources."
Mistake 3: the recommendation is just the deficiency reversed
This is the single biggest leak. Three examples straight from the SD25 report:
Wrong (½ mark): "Joiner forms should be completed for all employees."
Right (1 mark): "Joiner forms should be completed by the HR department for all employees, including temporary staff, before they are added to the payroll."
Wrong (½ mark): "The credit controller should chase outstanding debts."
Right (1 mark): "The credit controller should review the aged receivables listing each month and chase all balances overdue by more than 30 days."
Wrong (0 marks): "There should be an equal number of executive and non-executive directors." (corporate governance part (d))
Right (1 mark): "Recruit at least one new independent non-executive director."
The pattern is always the same: who does it, how often, and using which document. If your recommendation is missing one of those three, it is half a mark.
Mistake 4: tests of control that test nothing
A test of control is something the auditor does, not something management should do. The examiner flagged candidates writing management actions here.
Start your test with "inspect" or "enquire", not "check". "Check" gives no detail on how the auditor obtains evidence. And name the document and the purpose: for the deficiency "requisition forms do not show current inventory levels", the credited test was "inspect requisition forms for the inclusion of inventory levels."
Observation was credited only once in the whole SD25 diet — for inventory movements during the count. Everywhere else, inspection or enquiry produced more reliable evidence, so observation scored badly.
What to do before December
1. Drill the four-column layout. Deficiency | Implication | Recommendation | Test of control. Build it as a table in the CBE spreadsheet so you physically cannot skip a column.
2. Recommendation test: does it name a person and a document? Read each recommendation back. If it starts "ensure that", rewrite it with a job title and a source document.
3. Do six, not nine. The scenario always contains more deficiencies than asked for. Marks are awarded for the best six only — extra points cost you time you need for the recommendations.
AA passed 47% in June 2026, up from 43% in March. The gap between those two figures is exam technique, not knowledge. The controls question is the most predictable 18 marks on any Applied Skills paper — the examiner has printed the mark scheme structure in every report for five sittings running.
Stop telling the examiner what the problem is. Tell them who fixes it, how, and which document proves it happened.