Yes, the training agreement can be accessed on the following page.

The training agreement stipulates the respective obligations of the Employer and the Employee, in relation to the practical experience obtained by the Employee throughout the period of their employment. The training agreement does not encompass any provisions or obligations pertaining to conventional employee affairs as dictated by the requirements of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of South Africa. These are dealt with separately by the additional Employment contract signed between both parties.

Yes, Approved Employers who hold the Practising Certificate Development Audit (PCDA) stream must register the training agreements with ACCA. Please refer to the following page for the cost of registering the training agreements. 

The Approved Employers who hold the Practising Certificate Development Audit (PCDA) stream must file the training agreements with ACCA within a month of the contract being signed and send them to ACCA by e-mail to AEadmin@accaglobal.com

All employers who want to train individuals towards ACCA’s South Africa Audit Qualification (SA AQ) must register as ACCA Approved Employers under the Practising Certificate Development Audit (PCDA) stream. Organisations can apply for additional streams of approval such as Trainee Development (TD) or Professional Development (PD), however, only individuals that are training for a PCDA registered Approved Employer can count their experience towards the requirements for the achievement of the SA AQ. The ACCA Approved Employer programme enables organisations to obtain formal recognition for the training support provided to ACCA students, affiliates, and members. There is also a regulatory requirement that experience used by ACCA members to obtain the South Africa Audit Qualification is supervised by eligible training principals (also known as training officers in South Africa).

ACCA met all of the IRBA post accreditation deliverables and can therefore award Approved Employer Practising Certificate Development Audit (PCDA) status from 1 April 2024.  Therefore, experience obtained at an Approved Employer holding the PCDA stream will be eligible for the South Africa Audit Qualification (SA AQ) after that date.

The starting date of the PCDA approval is critical as only experience obtained after the approval starting date can count towards the SA AQ requirements. Any experience obtained prior to that date could still count towards ACCA membership, but not towards the SA AQ requirements (unless the ACCA member is utilising the provisions set out in the Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) Policy).

Approved Employers must also register the Training Agreements for each one of their ACCA trainees with ACCA as soon as the Training Agreement is signed and no later than one month of signing the agreement. The earliest starting date that can be included on the Training Agreement is the starting date of the PCDA approval, irrespective of any earlier held Trainee Development or Professional Development approvals. If the ACCA trainee started their employment prior to 1 April 2024, they will still be able to count their experience and time towards the ACCA qualification for membership purposes, but only experience and time achieved after the starting date of the Training Agreement will count towards the SA AQ.

Yes. All training agreements will need to be in place for ACCA trainees despite them being recruited directly or using Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) Policy South Africa.

No, trainees who have completed SAICA or SAIPA articles must follow the guidelines in the Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) Policy South Africa.

Yes, all trainees need to have a training agreement in place as it stipulates the respective obligations of the Employer and the Employee, in relation to the practical experience obtained by the Employee throughout the period of their employment. 

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 locations across the country. 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. 

Approvals under the Practising Certificate Development stream are held on office-by-office location, with each office being allocated a unique Approved Employer reference number. If an ACCA trainee moves from one office to another, the employer will need to notify ACCA of the changes and the respective effective date of those. This allows ACCA to update the relevant training records for regulatory reporting purposes. 

SAICA or SAIPA trainees that wish to transfer to ACCA may use the practical experience they have already obtained. Full evidence of this must be provided to ACCA within the Practical Experience Requirement (PER) (or equivalent) to be eligible. Practical experience obtained and signed off by a suitably qualified Practical Experience Supervisor (PES) will then contribute to the overall Professional Development Programme (PDP) PER specified in Annexure 1, point 1 b of the Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) Policy South Africa. 

All Approved Employers will be contacted by the Licensing Officer to arrange a monitoring review within six months of their provisional approval for the Practising Certificate Development stream. Upon successful completion of the monitoring process, the Approved Employer status will remain valid for three years. At that point you will be asked to take part in another monitoring exercise. This cycle will be repeated for as long as your approval is valid. These monitoring reviews are conducted in accordance with the current ACCA monitoring policy and requirements and require the inspection of a range of documents and policies. A full list of what is required will be provided by the Licensing Officer in advance of the monitoring review. 

The main objective of the monitoring review is to ensure that the firm is meeting the regulatory standards of approval as an ACCA Approved Employer and the relevant Approved Employer (AE) requirements. It also enables the Licensing Officer (LO) to understand the organisation and its operations and offer tailored advice on training to the firm and its staff. The monitoring review covers a wide range of areas. For example, the LO looks at the firm’s client base and services; reporting lines; procedures such as training agreements and appraisals/performance reviews; support for examination training; practical training and CPE/CPD; and completion and review of ACCA. Full list of the required documents will be provided to the firm in advance of its monitoring review. 

There are no fees charged for the Approved Employer monitoring visit. 

Following the monitoring review, the firm receives a detailed report providing advice and recommendations to help firms improve their training procedures. The report confirms the firm’s ACCA Approved Employer status, guidance to maintain its Approved Employer status in the future and useful information for trainees and members. The time it takes to receive the report depends on the size of the organisation being monitored and the number of outstanding points that need to be finalised as part of the monitoring review. 

All AEs must be reviewed at least every three years. Thereafter, a three-year monitoring cycle is maintained, subject to a satisfactory outcome of the monitoring visit. However, ACCA reserves the right to conduct a more frequent monitoring review based on certain risk factors and criteria.

Personas are fictional characters created to represent different user types within a target audience in South Africa. We have developed several personas which represent users with specific needs, characteristics, and goals. The Personas document must be read in conjunction with the Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) policy. This may assist you in the next steps you need to take if you are looking to obtain the South Africa Audit Qualification (SA AQ) based on the RPL policy.  If your circumstances are different and you need further guidance, please contact ACCA’s Authorisation team who will be able to assist.

ACCA members in South Africa or elsewhere who wish to become Registered Auditors in South Africa must first obtain ACCA’s South Africa Audit Qualification. In order to do this, they must have completed: 

1. South African variants of the ACCA Qualification’s Corporate and Business Law examination and the Taxation examination. At the ACCA Strategic Professional level, the Essentials examinations (Strategic Business Leader and Strategic Business Reporting examinations) and the Advanced Audit and Assurance (International) and either Advanced Taxation (South Africa) or Advanced Financial Management examination.  
   
   
2. Meet the ACCA audit training requirements as part of three years practical experience in an ACCA Approved Employer, holding the Practising Certificate Development Audit stream status in South Africa.
   
   They must then access the IRBA Audit Development Programme, which involves a period of work experience under the supervision of a Registered Auditor. Further details can be found on IRBA's website. 

ACCA’s South Africa Audit Qualification (SA AQ) application form and fees applicable with all the related information can be accessed on this page.

ACCA’s Professional Development Programme enables ACCA future members and members to obtain the required practical experience to obtain ACCA’s South Africa Audit Qualification (SA AQ). The SA AQ recognises the wide range of experience and competence that the individual has obtained and allows them to seek further career progression by becoming eligible to register onto South Africa Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors' (IRBA) Audit Development Programme (ADP). Upon successful completion of the ADP programme, the individual could then obtain a Registered Auditor (RA) status in South Africa.  

ACCA’s PDP consists of a set of requirements, which must be met in order to be eligible for the SA AQ. A Summary of these is provided below, however, please refer to Annexure 1 of the Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) policy for the full details.  

• Achieve the minimum required Performance Objectives as part of ACCA’s Practical Experience Requirement (PER).  
• Complete 36 months of experience in one or more accounting or finance-related role, which is verified by a suitably qualified training principal.  
• Demonstrate achievement of the required nine audit competences included in the SA AQ application form.  
• All the above must be documented in ACCA’s approved documents and systems. For the PER, this is documented in the online My Experience record, which can be accessed online via myACCA. For the SA AQ application process, please refer to the full guidance and requirements