ACCA K3 Business Law: ENG vs GLO & New All-OTQ Exam
ACCA 2027 Series · New Syllabus Deep Dive
ACCA K3 Business Law Syllabus: K3 vs LW, the New All-OTQ Exam — and How to Choose ENG or GLO
Business Law drops a level, gains intellectual property and cybercrime, loses its multi-task questions entirely — and still comes in two variants. Here is the full comparison, plus the chooser most guides skip.
The short answer: from July 2027, Corporate and Business Law (LW) moves down from Applied Skills to become K3 Business Law at the Knowledge level, available on-demand in England (ENG) and Global (GLO) variants. The exam format changes materially: LW mixes 45 objective test questions with five 6-mark multi-task questions; K3 is a clean 50 two-mark OT questions over two hours, pass mark 50%. Both K3 variants add intellectual property law and computer misuse & cybercrime; the GLO variant drops LW-GLO’s arbitration/ADR and international payment-law content. An LW pass in either variant earns automatic K3 credit — and LW stays available on-demand until July 2027. Full redesign context is in the ACCA Syllabus Changes 2027 complete guide.
Your situation at a glance
| You are… | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Already passed LW (ENG or GLO) | Nothing to do — your pass converts to K3 credit automatically at transition |
| At Applied Knowledge or Applied Skills without LW | Sit LW on-demand before July 2027 — it clears the K3 gate on your future Expertise entries |
| Starting after July 2027 | You will sit K3 — pick your variant by the jurisdiction you expect to work in |
| Torn between ENG and GLO | ENG = English contract & employment law; GLO = international trade law (CISG, Incoterms). The company-law core is shared |
Is K3 the same exam as LW?
The company-law core is the same, but K3 sits a level lower, adds IP law and cybercrime, and changes format completely: 50 two-mark OT questions with no multi-task questions.
ENG or GLO — which should I take?
Choose by jurisdiction. ENG examines the English legal system, contract law and employment law; GLO examines international legal systems, the CISG sale-of-goods convention and Incoterms. Both share the full company-law, insolvency, criminal-law and IP sections.
Does an LW pass earn K3 credit?
Yes — either variant. LW remains available on-demand until July 2027, and a pass converts to full K3 credit at transition.
What K3 is and how the exam changes
K3 is the third exam of the redesigned Knowledge level — the first time business law has sat this early in the qualification. It exists because LW moves down a level in the 2027 restructure, which is also why unpassed LW creates a progression gate: students without it at transition must enter K3 before or at the same time as any Expertise exam (covered in depth in our Applied Skills transition guide).
The format change is the practical headline. Today’s LW exam is two hours with 25 two-mark and 20 one-mark OT questions plus five 6-mark multi-task questions worth 30% of the marks — short scenario tasks that demand applied answers. K3 removes the MTQs entirely: 50 two-mark objective test questions, all compulsory, two hours, pass mark 50%. Every mark is now a discrete question, which changes preparation: breadth of recall across the whole syllabus beats depth on scenario technique. Note that K3 still assesses skills as well as knowledge — the study guide tags most company-law outcomes at the skills level — but it tests them one question at a time.
Here is the LW-to-K3 relationship in one picture:
What changes inside the syllabus
Added in both variants: a full intellectual property law section — copyright, patents, trademarks, designs, the law of passing off, controls over company names, and remedies for unlawful use — and computer misuse and cybercrime within the criminal-law section. Both variants also newly define small-sized companies and groups and their implications. The rest of the criminal-law block (insider dealing and market abuse, money laundering controls, bribery, failure to prevent tax evasion and fraud, fraudulent and wrongful trading) carries over intact, as do agency and partnerships, corporations and legal personality, company formation and constitution, capital and financing, management and administration, and insolvency.
Dropped from the Global variant: LW-GLO’s alternative dispute resolution content goes entirely — the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, arbitral tribunals and awards. So does most of the international payments block: bank transfers, the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Credit Transfer and the UN Convention on International Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes (bills of lading and letters of credit/comfort survive). Company promoters and pre-incorporation contracts, the termination of a partnership, and the procedure for calling company meetings also fall away. The CISG sale-of-goods convention and Incoterms remain the international core of K3 GLO.
ENG vs GLO: the variant chooser
| Aspect | K3 ENG | K3 GLO |
|---|---|---|
| Legal system | English legal system: courts, precedent, legislation | Comparative systems (common law, civil law, Sharia) + international trade regulators (UNCITRAL, ICC, UNIDROIT) |
| Contract law | English contract law: offer, acceptance, consideration, terms, breach and remedies | Contracts under the CISG: formation, seller/buyer obligations, damages, passing of risk |
| Employment law | Yes: contract of employment, dismissal types, redundancy | Not examined |
| International trade | Not examined | Incoterms, bills of lading, letters of credit and comfort |
| Shared core | ||
| Best fit | Careers anchored in the UK or English-law jurisdictions; students pairing with UK-variant tax later | International careers — India, the GCC and most markets where English domestic law is not the working framework |
The choice mirrors today’s LW-ENG vs LW-GLO decision, and neither variant restricts your onward ACCA journey — both earn the same K3 pass. Pick the law you are most likely to meet at work.
The Eduyush take: for anyone already in the qualification, the play is unchanged from our transition guides — sit LW on-demand before July 2027. It earns identical K3 credit, it clears the K3-before-Expertise gate, and for Applied Skills students it is one of the six papers standing between you and the 100-hour Digital Tech module exemption. For students who will sit K3 itself, two preparation notes. First, the all-OTQ format rewards breadth: with 50 equal-weight questions and no scenario MTQs, an obscure corner of the syllabus is worth the same marks as directors’ duties, so cover everything — including the brand-new IP and cybercrime sections, which older LW materials do not contain at all. Second, GLO students inheriting second-hand LW-GLO texts should know the arbitration and international-payments chapters are now dead weight. Updated K3 editions will close both gaps; until then, treat legacy materials as a company-law core, not full coverage.
Key dates
K3 Business Law FAQs
Is K3 easier than LW?
It is examined differently rather than diluted. The company-law content keeps its skills-level tagging, but the five 6-mark multi-task questions disappear — K3 is 50 equal-weight OT questions, which removes scenario-writing technique and rewards broad, precise recall instead. The syllabus also adds IP law and cybercrime.
Does my LW pass earn K3 credit — even if I sat a different variant?
Yes. The transition credit table awards K3 credit for the LW Corporate and Business Law exam, and both the ENG and GLO variants qualify. LW stays available on-demand until July 2027.
Should I choose K3 ENG or K3 GLO?
Choose by working jurisdiction. ENG examines the English legal system, contract law and employment law; GLO examines comparative legal systems, the CISG and international trade terms. The company-law, insolvency, criminal-law and IP core is identical, and both variants earn the same pass.
What is new in K3 compared with LW?
Both variants add a full intellectual property law section (copyright, patents, trademarks, designs, passing off and remedies), computer misuse and cybercrime, and the definition of small-sized companies and groups.
What did the GLO variant drop?
Arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (including the UNCITRAL Model Law on arbitration), the international payments block (bank transfers, the UNCITRAL credit-transfer Model Law and the UN bills-of-exchange convention), company promoters and pre-incorporation contracts, partnership termination and the procedure for calling meetings.
Who has to sit K3?
New students entering the Knowledge level from July 2027, and any existing student who reaches the September 2027 transition without an LW pass — the progression rules require them to enter K3 before or at the same time as any Expertise exam.
Can I use old LW study materials for K3?
Partially. The company-law, capital, insolvency and criminal-law core overlaps heavily, but legacy texts contain nothing on IP law or cybercrime — and GLO texts carry arbitration and payment-law chapters K3 no longer examines. Updated K3 materials will align fully; until then, supplement rather than rely.
Will employers treat the pre-2027 and post-2027 qualification differently?
No. Both routes lead to the same ACCA membership. Employers do not distinguish between students who qualified under the current structure and those who qualify under the redesigned one.
More in the ACCA 2027 series: start with the complete 2027 syllabus changes guide, see why LW jumps the queue in the Applied Skills transition guide, and compare the sister papers in the K1 syllabus guide and K2 syllabus guide.
Sitting LW before the July 2027 cutoff? Get BPP study texts and revision kits for LW-ENG and LW-GLO from Eduyush, an ACCA Registered Learning Partner — and lock in your K3 credit early.
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