SOCPA Fellowship Exam: Entry Rules, Papers and Fees | Hespah LLC [Skip to main content](#main-content)[![Hespah LLC](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/home_logolight_file2png.webp)](/en)Search More [Home](/en) [Learning Hub](/en/courses) [About us](https://hespah.com/who-we-are) [Blog](/en/blog) [Contact Us](/en/contact) Login[New Account](/en/register) 1. [Home](/en) / 2. [Blog](/en/blog) / 3. SOCPA Fellowship Exam: Entry Rules, Papers and Fees SOCPA Fellowship Exam: Entry Rules, Papers and Fees =================================================== 2026-10-22 / 4 days ago SOCPA opens registration for the fourth sitting of the SOCPA fellowship exam on 5 November 2026 and closes it on 14 November. That leaves ten days for anyone planning to sit in December, because the next window falls in 2027. What is the SOCPA fellowship? ----------------------------- The SOCPA fellowship is the certificate the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants awards to candidates who pass six subjects: financial accounting, managerial and government accounting, auditing, zakat and tax, laws, and the business environment. The pass mark is 60% out of 100 per subject, and the exam runs in Arabic and English over four sittings a year. The 2026 professional exams guideline states the purpose plainly: it measures the candidate's grasp of theoretical knowledge, the skill to apply it, and the awareness of the professional responsibilities and behavioural qualities a chartered accountant must hold. Therefore the laws paper and the business environment paper sit in the SOCPA fellowship timetable next to the technical subjects. Entry rules for the SOCPA fellowship exam ----------------------------------------- Entry turns on an academic qualification, not on years of experience. Firstly, a bachelor's degree or higher in one of the accounting disciplines admits you. Secondly, a bachelor's degree or higher in economic, financial or administrative sciences admits you as well, provided you have completed fifteen hours in accounting, or what SOCPA treats as equivalent. The degree must come from a recognised university or college, while the exams committee holds the authority to approve the list of accepted disciplines and update it. Watch the hours figure, since that is where applications fail. SOCPA widened the accepted qualification categories in October 2026 for [four professional exams](https://hespah.com/en/blog/socpa-professional-exams-eligibility), although the fellowship stayed outside that expansion. Its bar is fifteen accounting hours, whereas the other exams ask for six. SOCPA fellowship subjects: six subjects, eight sessions ------------------------------------------------------- Six subjects, and eight sessions spread over four consecutive days, because two of those subjects split into two papers each. The guideline separates the two counts in one sentence: the number of exam papers means the number of sessions a candidate must attend before being counted as having sat the exam. Subject Paper Questions Time Financial accounting Paper one 60 multiple-choice questions 3 hours Financial accounting Paper two 4 essay questions Two hours Zakat and tax Single paper 70 multiple-choice and 3 essay questions 4 hours Laws Single paper 50 multiple-choice questions Two hours Auditing Paper one 90 multiple-choice questions 3 hours Auditing Paper two 4 essay questions Two hours Managerial and government accounting Single paper 36 multiple-choice and 2 essay questions 3 hours Business environment Single paper 50 multiple-choice questions Two hours That totals 356 multiple-choice questions and 13 essay questions across 21 exam hours. The heaviest paper is the first auditing paper: 90 questions in three hours, which works out at two minutes a question. Zakat and tax alone runs four unbroken hours because it combines both question types in one paper, and it is the subject that assumes working familiarity with [the differences between zakat, income tax and corporate tax](https://hespah.com/en/blog/zakat-vs-income-tax-saudi). ![Question count per SOCPA fellowship subject, with the first auditing paper heaviest](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/uploads/emils/17926900550.jpeg) SOCPA fellowship fees and how the amount builds up -------------------------------------------------- The first-time fee for the SOCPA fellowship is 1,000 riyals, plus 300 riyals for every subject. A candidate who registers all six subjects at once therefore pays 2,800 riyals. For later sittings the entry fee drops to 500 riyals, while the per-subject fee stays at 300 riyals. No payment goes through until SOCPA reviews the application and confirms that the entry conditions are met; hence the candidate pays by mada or by credit card after that review. The three-subject exemption and who earns it -------------------------------------------- Holders of a fellowship from four international institutes drop three subjects: financial accounting, managerial and government accounting, and auditing. The institutes are the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), CPA Canada, and CPA Australia. The guideline also requires that the candidate earned the international fellowship by sitting and passing the prescribed professional exams. One detail in the same guideline escapes most readers. The table of accepted qualifications marks a cross against the fellowship on the row for international institute fellowships, so an international certificate removes subjects without opening the door to the SOCPA fellowship on its own, since the academic degree remains the entry condition. Likewise ACCA does not appear among the four exempting institutes, despite appearing in the accepted qualifications table for the other professional exams. The exemption also carries an expiry, as the guideline requires the candidate to complete every fellowship requirement within four calendar years and thirty days. That period runs from the date of passing the last exam or the date the professional certificate was issued, whichever comes later, and the exemption lapses once it expires. The rule that cancels what you already passed --------------------------------------------- Likewise the same period governs the subjects you pass. SOCPA cancels the result of any subject once four calendar years and thirty days pass without the candidate completing the remaining SOCPA fellowship subjects, and that subject goes back on the list. The detail that changes the arithmetic: the clock starts on the date you sat the paper, not on the date the result appears. A full month can separate the two; for example a candidate in the fourth sitting writes on 20 December 2026 and receives a result on 21 January 2027. Anyone spreading the subjects across distant sittings therefore needs a schedule that tracks an expiry date per subject, not one date for the whole set. Deferral and resits ------------------- A candidate may defer the whole exam, or any single subject, for two consecutive sittings, provided SOCPA receives notice at least 25 days before the sitting starts. Consequently anyone who misses that date loses the deferral option. A failed subject may be resat, and the guideline sets no cap on attempts, but the four-year clock keeps running on the SOCPA fellowship subjects already passed. SOCPA fellowship sittings in 2026 and where the exam runs --------------------------------------------------------- Sitting Exam days Registration window Results First 5 to 8 April 2026 19 to 28 February 2026 7 May 2026 Second 28 June to 1 July 2026 14 to 23 May 2026 30 July 2026 Third 27 to 30 September 2026 13 to 22 August 2026 29 October 2026 Fourth 20 to 23 December 2026 5 to 14 November 2026 21 January 2027 The order inside the four days holds across every sitting: financial accounting on day one, then zakat and tax with laws, then auditing, and finally managerial and government accounting with the business environment. Similarly the venue list stays at ten cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, Madinah, Qassim, Al-Ahsa, Tabuk, Abha and Al-Majmaah, where the Al-Majmaah centre serves men only. ![The four SOCPA fellowship sittings in 2026 with registration windows and result dates](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/uploads/emils/17926900551.jpeg) How to register for the SOCPA fellowship ---------------------------------------- Registration for the SOCPA fellowship runs through the e-services portal. A first-time candidate creates a new user account, fills in the personal data, then uploads the following: 1. The exam application, filed inside the published registration window. 2. A copy of the academic qualification, together with the equivalency decision from the Ministry of Education for degrees issued outside the Kingdom. 3. A declaration and authorisation form that lets SOCPA verify the qualification. 4. A copy of the passport for non-Saudis. 5. A personal photograph, optional for women. 6. Evidence of the accounting hours, for candidates the hours condition applies to. 7. Payment of the fees after SOCPA reviews the application, by direct payment through mada or a credit card. At Hespah Academy we run a [VAT specialist course](https://hespah.com/course/SOCPA-VAT-Specialist) for candidates targeting that exam specifically, and readers who want the wider map will find it in our [guide to professional certifications for accountants in Saudi Arabia](https://hespah.com/en/blog/professional-certifications-saudi). Frequently asked questions -------------------------- ### Does the SOCPA fellowship require work experience? The 2026 guideline sets no experience condition for entering the exam. The condition is academic: a bachelor's degree or higher in accounting, or in economic, financial or administrative sciences with fifteen accounting hours. Nevertheless, practising the profession falls under separate rules outside the exams guideline. ### What do all six subjects cost at once? 2,800 riyals on a first SOCPA fellowship application: 1,000 riyals as the exam fee and 300 riyals for each of the six subjects. In contrast the entry fee for later sittings is 500 riyals, with 300 riyals for every subject the candidate writes. ### Can I sit the exam in English? Yes. The fellowship exam runs in Arabic and English, and the candidate picks the language. ### I passed three subjects and then stopped. What happens? Each subject stays valid for four calendar years and thirty days from the date you sat it. As a result the pass falls away once that period ends before the six subjects are complete, and you resit the subject at the same fee. ### Does an ACCA qualification exempt me from fellowship subjects? The guideline names four institutes in the exemption: AICPA, ICAEW, CPA Canada and CPA Australia. ACCA is not among them, so an ACCA holder cannot rely on this clause when asking for an exemption. Sources ------- - Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants · [Professional Exams Guideline 2026, second edition](https://socpa.org.sa/SOCPA/files/c8/c8d32b84-e13b-48be-9607-079c5a3de213.pdf) - Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants · [Fellowship exam application page](https://socpa.org.sa/Sites/E-Services/Ex/9.aspx?t=content) - [The SOCPA e-services portal](https://eservice.socpa.org.sa) This article is for general information only and does not replace the official sources or professional advice before taking any action. Articles you might like ----------------------- [![Management Discussion in the Board Report: the CMA Draft](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/249/conversions/cover-sm.webp)2026-10-24 ### Management Discussion in the Board Report: the CMA Draft The CMA draft requires a separate management discussion section in listed companies' annual Board report. Consultation c](/en/blog/cma-mdna-disclosure-draft)[![CMA Certification for a Saudi Accountant: Rules and Fees](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/246/conversions/cover-sm.webp)2026-10-24 ### CMA Certification for a Saudi Accountant: Rules and Fees CMA certification for Saudi accountants: membership, degree and experience rules, the fees, case-based questions from Se](/en/blog/cma-certification-saudi-accountant)[![CMA Auditor Rules Amended: What Changed](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/224/conversions/cover-sm.webp)2026-10-24 ### CMA Auditor Rules Amended: What Changed Umm Al-Qura published the amended CMA auditor rules on 23 October 2026: who is covered, registration conditions, ongoing](/en/blog/cma-auditor-rules-2026)[![CMA Registered Functions: Which Exam Does Each Need](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/202/conversions/cover-sm.webp)2026-10-20 ### CMA Registered Functions: Which Exam Does Each Need A guide to the registered functions at the Saudi CMA: the five roles that require registration, the exams each one needs](/en/blog/cma-registered-functions-exams)[![SOCPA Amends Professional Exam Eligibility: Students In](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/200/conversions/cover-sm.webp)2026-10-20 ### SOCPA Amends Professional Exam Eligibility: Students In SOCPA amended the SOCPA professional exams eligibility rules on 18 October 2026: accounting students can sit four certif](/en/blog/socpa-professional-exams-eligibility) [![Hespah LLC](https://centralcdn.hespah.com/home_logolight_file2png.webp)](/en)Tax and Accounting Professional Training [Hespah ](/en)[Courses](/en/courses)[Blog](/en/blog)[Contact us](/en/contact)[Partners & Discounts](https://hespah.com/partners) [Policies ](https://hespah.com/privacy-policy)[Privacy Policy](https://hespah.com/privacy-policy)[Usage and Refund Policy](https://hespah.com/refund-policy) ### Contact us New Castle, DE, 19720 US ### Follow us [](https://www.facebook.com/HespahCo)[](https://www.instagram.com/hespahco)[](https://www.linkedin.com/company/hespahco/)[](https://x.com/hespahco)[](https://www.tiktok.com/@hespahco) ### Payment methods Visa Mastercard Apple Pay All Rights Reserved Hespah LLC © 2026 , Developed by [10 - Ashara](https://10ashara.com)