The practical experience supervisor is a vital role that supports and develops trainees through the ACCA Practical Experience Requirement (PER) and on to membership.
Become a practical experience supervisor
As a practical experience supervisor, you will be joining a network of ACCA members all around the world who use their knowledge, experience and expertise to develop the next generation of accountants. Being a a practical experience supervisor includes a great deal of mentoring and is an essential way of developing the profession. ACCA believes in so strongly in this that we have formalised the role in our approach to PER for trainees.
The pages in this section include ACCA support and resources to help you with the practicalities of being a a practical experience supervisor including useful case studies and guidance sheets.
A practical experience supervisor oversees trainees’ achievement of performance objectives. Their role is central to a trainee completing their practical experience requirement and achieving their qualifications in accountancy.
A practical experience supervisor should provide guidance and support to the trainee by:
- helping identify which performance objectives the trainee should aim to achieve
- setting timescales and targets for performance
- providing access to appropriate work experience and other development opportunities
- evaluating and reviewing their progress on a regular basis
- signing off their experience.
As an employer of ACCA students, you play an important role in ensuring those working towards ACCA or CAT qualifications gain suitable work experience. You also want to get the very best out of your trainees and the role of the practical experience supervisor is vital to trainees realising their potential within your organisation.
Trainees will need to have their performance objectives and time in a relevant role signed off.
To sign-off performance objectives you must be a qualified accountant or auditor. However, if you are a trainee's line manager, but you are not a qualified accountant, you can still sign-off the time they have completed in a relevant role. The trainee can nominate a second qualified supervisor to work with you to sign-off the performance objectives.
Find out more
To find out about becoming a practical experience supervisor and how it can benefit you, download the documents from the 'Related documents' section.
