ACCA Approved Employer programme

How is the ACCA Approved Employer programme structured?

The Approved Employer Programme provides a clear framework for supporting ACCA students and members within your organisation.

About the programme

Organisations of any size can be accepted to become an ACCA Approved Employer. Approved Employer status marks out your company as one that provides the highest level of support and assistance for the ACCA members and students it employs. And it's also completely free.

Choose the right stream

The Approved Employer programme has three different streams, designed to support ACCA students, members, and members working in public practice. The criteria for joining each of these streams can be found in the Approved Employer assessment matrix

Approval scope

Approvals under the Trainee Development and Professional Development streams can apply to a range of locations. Your approval could cover a single office, or it could cover all of your organisation’s offices in a range of countries across the world.

All we need to know is that you use the same learning and development policies and processes for ACCA trainees and members in all of the locations you want your approval to cover.

More information is available in our approval types and scope section.

The different approval levels

Trainee development
Professional development
Practising certificate development
Audit qualification development
Sustainability assurance

This stream helps you support ACCA students in your organisation.

As an approved employer, you have the option to allow your ACCA students exemption from completion of the nine Performance Objectives required for membership. This gives them more time to concentrate on their work and helps them achieve ACCA membership more quickly and easily.

Learn more about Performance Objectives by downloading the Practical Experience Requirements guide (PDF, 170Kb)

Gold and platinum approval

The level of approval awarded - Gold or Platinum - reflects the support your organisation provides to trainees. Organisations approved at Gold level can work towards Platinum by improving the study support and practical experience offered. ACCA will review your processes and help you do this.

This stream helps you support ACCA members in their continuing professional development (CPD).

ACCA members who are employed by an Approved Employer under the professional development stream are automatically exempt from having to follow ACCA's CPD Unit Scheme route.

Investors in People UK

If your organisation is based in the UK or Ireland and is recognised by IIP, you can apply directly for Approved Employer status (professional development stream) by contacting us on PQApprovals@accaglobal.com

Your Approved Employer status will then remain valid for as long as you hold IIP status.

This stream authorises your organisation to train employees for the ACCA practising certificate or their ACCA practicing certificate.

ACCA members must hold this certificate to carry out public practice work or to be partners or directors of a firm which undertakes public practice.

ACCA members who are employed by an Approved Employer under the practicing certificate development stream are automatically exempt from having to complete the full Practising Certificate Experience Forms (PCEF). Instead, a straightforward Approved Employer Practicing Certificate Experience Requirement (PCER) confirmation form is required to be completed.

Approval under the Audit Qualification Development stream means that ACCA recognises the learning opportunities that your company offers to trainees and members training towards the ACCA Audit Qualification.

Holders of an ACCA practising certificate and audit qualification, who have also obtained Responsible Individual status may undertake work specifically reserved for auditors.

Firms wishing to hold the Audit Qualification Development must also hold the Practising Certificate Development stream. Previously, there were two separate approvals known as Practising Certificate Development (General) and Practising Certificate Development (Audit). Following the recent changes and the de-coupling of the ACCA practising certificate from the ACCA audit qualification, these approvals are now known as Practising Certificate Development (PCD), which replaces the previous PCD (General) and Audit Qualification Development (AQD), which replaces the previous PCD (Audit). Previous PCD (General) holders have been transferred to PCD, and previous PCD (Audit) holders now have both PCD and AQD approval.

Approval under the Sustainability Assurance stream is where your firm is recognised for providing individuals with the opportunity to undertake activities that meet the sustainability assurance licensing requirements.

Firms wishing to hold the Sustainability Assurance stream must also hold the Practising Certificate and Audit Qualification Development streams.

The Sustainability Assurance approval is currently only available to ACCA registered firms in the Republic of Ireland.

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