What ACCA Corporate and Business Law actually tests
Corporate and Business Law is 11% of the curriculum (Applied Skills level, English Law variant):
| Area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Law of Contract | Offer and acceptance, consideration, terms, breach, remedies |
| Law of Tort | Negligence, duty of care, vicarious liability |
| Employment Law | Wrongful/unfair dismissal, redundancy, discrimination |
| Law of Agency | Creation of authority, duties and rights of agents |
| Company Law | Formation, constitution, promoters, pre-incorporation contracts |
| Shares & Debentures | Types of shares, loan capital, fixed/floating charges |
| Company Administration | Directors' duties (CA 2006), meetings, resolutions |
| Insolvency | Administration, liquidation, fraudulent/wrongful trading |
Why contract formation is the foundation of this paper
Nearly every other area — employment, agency, company contracts — assumes you already know what makes an agreement legally binding in the first place. Getting the four essential elements automatic (rather than half-remembered) pays off across the whole paper, not just contract-law questions specifically.
Sample question: Contract Formation
Under English contract law, which of the following is NOT one of the essential elements required to form a valid contract?
Most contracts under English law can be formed orally or by conduct — writing is only mandatory for specific contract types (e.g., land sales, certain guarantees), not as a general rule. A valid contract genuinely needs offer and acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations, and capacity — but not, by default, a written document.
The LW syllabus, section by section
Pinnacle runs on a syllabus graph — named sections with explicit prerequisites, each one mapped against ACCA's official Syllabus and Study Guide for Corporate and Business Law (LW). It is the same map the free diagnostic reasons over, not a marketing summary of it. These are the six confirmed LW sections, and what each one covers:
Essential Elements of the Legal System
Types of law, the structure and operation of the courts, and the sources of law: case law and precedent, legislation and delegated legislation, the rules and presumptions of statutory interpretation, and the concept and impact of human rights law.
Law of Obligations
Contract from formation to remedy — offer versus invitation to treat, acceptance, consideration, privity, terms versus representations, exclusion clauses, breach, damages and equitable remedies — plus the law of torts: negligence with its duty of care, breach, causation and defences, vicarious liability, passing off, and the duty of care of accountants and auditors.
Employment Law
Employees versus the self-employed, the contract of employment with its common law and statutory duties, and the ways employment ends: termination by notice, summary versus constructive dismissal, wrongful and unfair dismissal, and redundancy.
Company Formation & Constitution
Forming a company: constitutional documents and articles of association, private versus public and limited forms, registration including the streamlined route, statutory books and returns, model articles and their alteration, promoters, and pre-incorporation contracts.
Company Management & Capital
Directors — types, appointment, disqualification, powers to bind the company, and duties including the statutory controls over loans; other officers: the company secretary and the auditor; meetings and resolutions; share capital from classes of shares to rights and bonus issues; loan capital, debentures and charges; and capital maintenance with the dividend rules.
Insolvency & Corporate Fraud
Members' and creditors' voluntary liquidation, compulsory liquidation and the order in which company debts are paid, administration as the alternative, and corporate wrongdoing: insider dealing, market abuse, money laundering controls, bribery, failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion, failure to prevent fraud, and fraudulent and wrongful trading.
One dated fact worth planning around: June 2027 is the final sitting of this exam structure. ACCA's four-level redesign replaces it, with first sittings from July 2027 and no overlap period.
Every practice question in the bank is tagged to one of these syllabus sections — which is how the diagnostic can name the specific concept underneath a wrong answer, not just the section it sat in.
Section names follow ACCA's published Syllabus and Study Guide for LW, referenced for accuracy. Pinnacle is an independent adaptive learning platform. ACCA® is a registered trademark of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Pinnacle is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to that organisation.