As part of your journey to become a Certified Accounting Technician (CAT), you must demonstrate relevant skills and experience within a real work environment. This is what the FPER (Foundations Practical Experience Requirement) is all about
FPER is designed to help you apply and develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours you have learned through the exams. Developing your judgement, improving your performance in the workplace and allowing you to demonstrate the qualify of your work.
What do you need to do?
If you are applying via the FIA route, you will need to:
- achieve 12 months of supervised experience in a relevant accounting or finance role(s)
- complete eight performance objectives (two Essentials and six Technical)
- record your progress online in MyExperience
- have your experience signed off by a qualified practical experience supervisor.
If you are a student gaining admission to CAT designation via the ACCA route you will need to satisfy a greater practical experience requirement:
- 12 months' relevant work experience
- Complete the two Essentials performance objectives
- Complete all performance objectives from Group 1
- Complete all performance objectives from Group 2
- Complete three performance objectives from Group 3
These are essential, fundamental, business skills that accounting technicians need so you must achieve both.
Essentials - complete both
- Ethics and professionalism
- Stakeholder relationship management
There are 22 Technical performance objectives split into three groups. You'll complete six in total.
Group 1 - complete one:
- Verify and record income and receipts from originating documents
- Verify and record purchases and payments from originating documents
- Prepare ledger accounts and an initial trial balance
- Provide basic information on costs and revenues
Group 2 - complete two
- Correct errors and process accounting adjustments in an extended trial balance
- Maintain records relating to capital acquisition and disposal
- Prepare the final accounts of unincorporated entities
- Prepare and complete sales tax/vat returns
- Record and analyse information relating to direct costs
- Record and analyse information relating to indirect costs
- Record and analyse information relating to costs, revenues and profit
- Manage and control cash receipts, payments and balances
Group 3 - complete three
- Draft financial statements for different business sectors
- Interpret financial statements for different business sectors
- Use management accounting techniques to support planning and decision-making
- Measure and evaluate financial performance
- Plan and control financial performance
- Use and evaluate accounting systems and financial control
- Implement internal or external audit procedures
- Prepare personal taxation computations and complete tax returns
- Prepare business taxation computations and complete tax returns
- Grant credit and monitor and control the collection of debt
The CAT qualification - Certified Accounting Technician
Before you can become a Certified Accounting Technician, you must:
- pass or be exempt from the Foundation level exams
- complete the Foundations in Professionalism module (FiP)
- complete the FPER (Foundations Practical Experience Requirement).
Approved Employers - FPER
If you work for an ACCA Approved Employer who holds Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) trainee development approval at Gold or Platinum level, they may allow you to claim a performance objective exemption.
However, it is important to confirm whether they want to allow you to claim the performance objectives exemption and that your employer has the necessary level of approval.
If you qualify for the exemption, you will still need to achieve 12 months' experience and record this in MyExperience.
Progression to the ACCA qualification - PER
Once you have completed FPER you will be able to use the experience you have gained towards completing PER.
You can convert:
- the two equivalent performance objectives - PO1 and PO2*
- 12 months of relevant experience towards the 36 months required for the PER.
*If you've claimed the Approved Employer exemption, you can still claim the two equivalent performance objectives.
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