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Practical Experience Requirement (PER) FAQs
Practical experience requirement (PER)
- What effect would it have on my qualification if I don't complete my practical experience requirement?
- I have completed my PER. Do I still have to submit a PER annual return?
- Can I use work experience that I gained prior to becoming an ACCA student to meet my PER? If so, how many years can I go back?
- Can lecturing experience count towards my PER?
- I am studying full-time. Is it possible to use a work placement towards ACCA's PER?
- Can I use experience gained in a part-time or temporary position towards ACCA's PER?
- Is it better to get your relevant work experience in a small or large organisation?
- Can I gain my practical experience from different countries?
- How can I achieve all the performance objectives without changing roles or company?
- Do I have to work for an organisation that has been approved by ACCA?
- After completion of my studies, do I have to work in every employment sector i.e. industry, government and public practice in order to gain the necessary practical work experience?
- I am self employed, how can I achieve my PER?
The Trainee Development matrix (TDM)
- Do trainees in ACCA Gold and ACCA Platinum Approved Employers need to use the TDM and complete a PER annual return?
- After my workplace mentor has signed off my performance objectives, do I need to print them and send by mail to ACCA?
- How often should I update my TDM?
- How do workplace mentors sign off performance objectives?
- Is there an alternative to the online TDM?
Workplace mentors
- Who should be my workplace mentor - my manager or the company's internal auditor?
- How do I find a workplace mentor?
- Have more questions about PER?
Practical experience requirement (PER)
1. What effect would it have on my qualification if I don't complete my practical experience requirement?
- If you do not complete the PER you cannot become a member of ACCA and enjoy the benefits associated with the status of a professional accountant.
- In order to perform effectively as an ACCA-qualified accountant, and to help you meet future career challenges, you need to develop your skills in the workplace as well as passing the exams. The PER helps you to:
- apply in practice the knowledge and techniques gained through your studies towards the ACCA exams
- observe and be involved in real-life work situations that help you to develop the skills, attitudes and behaviours that a qualified accountant needs
- develop your judgement, encouraging you to reflect on the quality of your work and how you may improve your work performance in the future.
- Employers expect ACCA members to show high levels of knowledge and ability in the workplace, and to behave ethically. PER enables you to confirm your effective and sustained high-quality workplace performance, making you a more valuable employee.
2. I have completed my PER. Do I still have to submit a PER annual return?
- Yes. You must continue to submit a PER annual return until you apply for membership.
- You can apply for membership when have completed all the exams, and achieved 13 performance objectives, and 36 months relevant experience, and completed the ethics module.
3. Can I use work experience that I gained prior to becoming an ACCA student to meet my PER? If so, how many years can I go back?
- Yes. You can use experience from previous roles (before or after registering as an ACCA student) to help you claim a performance objective, including experience gained before registering with ACCA.
- There is no specific time limit. However;
- a workplace mentor must be available to review and sign off the answers to your challenge questions
- the profession continually evolves, so consider carefully if experience gained more than 5 years ago is still relevant.
4. Can lecturing experience count towards my PER?
Yes. Up to 12 months' lecturing experience can count towards the PER for membership. The lecturing experience must be at a level equivalent to the Fundamentals level of the ACCA Qualification and cover basic accounting, business studies and finance-related subjects.
5. I am studying full-time. Is it possible to use a work placement towards ACCA's PER?
Yes. If your placement is in a relevant role then you may use this experience towards your PER provided that the work experience is of sufficient breadth and depth to contribute towards achieving performance objectives and is properly supervised.
6. Can I use experience gained in a part-time or temporary position towards ACCA's PER?
Yes, provided that the work experience is of sufficient breadth and depth to contribute towards achieving performance objectives and is properly supervised. However, you may find that experience gained in a part-time or temporary position does not allow you to achieve many performance objectives and may not provide sufficient opportunities for career development.
Also, work experience gained on a part-time basis can only count towards the PER for membership on a pro-rata basis. Therefore, wherever possible, it is advisable to obtain full-time work experience* that is relevant, supervised and meets the PER.
*As a guideline, ACCA considers full-time work experience to be 140 hours per month. 1540 hours of part-time work equates to 12 months of full-time work experience. This discounts annual leave etc.
7. Is it better to get your relevant work experience in a small or large organisation?
ACCA PER can be achieved in all sizes of organisation or sector. The first thing you need to do is find a workplace mentor you can work with to achieve your PER. This is a joint activity, the workplace mentor is there to help you.
8. Can I gain my practical experience from different countries?
- Absolutely, you could start your qualification in one country and complete it somewhere entirely different - many of our trainees do. PER is completely transferable - across organisations, sectors and geographical locations.
- To support trainees around the world we have a network of national offices providing support and information for trainees, including in many cases, national websites.
9. How can I achieve all the performance objectives without changing roles or company?
- ACCA trainees work in every sector and size of organisation. Wherever you work, it is important to look for the opportunities to help you meet your PER and to obtain 36 months' experience in a relevant role, or roles. Ideally, you should have a job where most of your time is spent on activities and tasks related to accounting, finance, audit and assurance, or in other related technical areas such as taxation, insolvency, and forensic accounting.
- If your role or organisation does not offer sufficient opportunity to achieve your performance objectives you have a number of options:
- You can use experience from previous roles to help you claim a performance objective, including experience gained before registering with ACCA. (The person who supervised your work at that time must be able to review and sign off the answers to your challenge questions).
- You may start in a junior role where your exposure to different work activities is limited but you should aim to gain more responsibility and accountability over time. Examples include when:
- you are promoted
- your job changes in some way
- or you may consider moving to a different organisation to allow you to take on increasing levels of responsibility and accountability.
- You can achieve performance objectives outside of your employment. For example, you may act in a voluntary capacity as treasurer to a club or society
- To make progress, you should actively plan your career, setting yourself goals, which should include the types of jobs you would like to do.
10. Do I have to work for an organisation that has been approved by ACCA?
No. You do not have to obtain your practical experience in an organisation which has been approved by ACCA.
11. After completion of my studies, do I have to work in every employment sector i.e. industry, government and public practice in order to gain the necessary practical work experience?
No. ACCA trainees can chose to work in any business sector or combination of sectors to gain their PER, providing they work in a relevant role and are able to get a range of experience.
12. I am self employed, how can I achieve my PER?
- In terms of self-employed work experience, ACCA students are limited to performing permitted activities as defined in Members Regulations 8 (2) in the ACCA Rulebook 2008. If your self employed activities are outside these parameters it is not permitted and cannot count towards PER.
- If it is permitted they will need to find a workplace mentor.
The Trainee Development matrix (TDM)
1. Do trainees in ACCA Gold and ACCA Platinum Approved Employers need to use the TDM and complete a PER annual return?
- If your employer is a gold or platinum ACCA Approved Employer – trainee development stream, you may be exempt from using the TDM to record and report achievement of your performance objectives. This is because ACCA recognises that your employer already has a robust training and development programme in place. It is important to confirm that your employer has this level of approval and whether they want you to claim the TDM exemption.
- Please note that it is your employer – not you – who decides whether you can claim exemption from using the TDM for recording the achievement of performance objectives.
- And even if your employer agrees you can claim TDM exemption, all trainees still need to submit the PER annual return.
2. After my workplace mentor has signed off my performance objectives, do I need to print them and send by mail to ACCA?
- No. If your workplace mentor is using the online TDM there is no need to print or send anything.
- If your workplace mentor does not have online access or chooses not to use the online TDM to sign-off performance objectives you can ask them to sign your printed answers. They should then return it to you. When you complete your next PER return (either online or paper version on the back of your annual subscription form) you should mark the relevant performance objectives on the form as 'achieved'. Keep the signed hard copy answers, in case you are selected for PER Audit. But it should not be sent to ACCA unless requested for audit purposes.
3. How often should I update my TDM?
ACCA recommends that you keep all your TDM information up to date. One of the difficulties trainees often experience when they come to apply for membership is that they find they are missing vital information, such as employer details, or have failed to gain sign-off for performance objectives achieved with a previous employer.
4. How do workplace mentors sign off performance objectives?
- Once you have found someone who agrees to act as your workplace mentor you should enter their details, including email address, into the online TDM, which you can access via myACCA.
- When you submit your challenge question answers the workplace mentor will be sent an email. They will be asked to agree to act as your workplace mentor and will be given access to review your challenge questions and sign off your performance objective(s) via the online TDM. Please note: the mentor can review your challenge questions but cannot see or change anything in your online TDM.
- Please note: your workplace mentor only receives an email when you submit challenge question answers to them for review. So, if it is a long time between asking the person to be a workplace mentor and submitting your challenge question answers, it a good idea to explain that there will be an email coming from ACCA.
5. Is there an alternative to the online TDM?
- The best way to achieve your PER is by using the online TDM. This is a permanent record, which you are able to update at any time, of your progress through the PER. The online TDM also helps you select relevant performance objectives and makes the sign-off process simple and efficient.
- A paper TDM is available for trainees without online access, however paper documents are at a higher risk of being lost, and it will need to be kept safe for several years while completing the PER. The paper TDM is available from Connect.
Workplace mentors
1. Who should be my workplace mentor - my manager or the company's internal auditor?
- Either would be fine. The workplace mentor:
- should ideally be a qualified accountant recognised by law in your country and/or a member of an IFAC body
- must have knowledge of your work.
- Your workplace mentor should be someone with whom you work closely, who knows the type of work you are doing now, and who also knows the quality of your work. Ideally this will be your line manager, or the person to whom you report on particular projects or activities.
- If your workplace mentor is not qualified you will need to find a training supervisor to countersign performance objectives who is qualified.
2. How do I find a workplace mentor?
- Make sure you are able to explain – to both your employer and your potential workplace mentor – the numerous benefits that will result as you achieve your performance objectives. For example, you will develop personal effectiveness skills in areas such as communication and time management. There are also personal benefits for your workplace mentor, because the mentoring role may contribute to the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements of his or her own professional body.
- It is also good idea to tell your employer how to save time by combining some of your PER activities with the firm's human resources (HR) systems and practices. Doing this will benefit your employer, as ACCA's PER is designed to fit in with organisational target setting, review, and appraisal processes.
- ACCA has produced a brief guide that trainees can download and give to potential workplace mentors, explaining the reasons for taking on the role. Download a copy of 'Becoming a workplace mentor' from www.accaglobal.com
3. Have more questions about PER?
Watch the Student Engage video to see Catherine Edwards, head of qualifications, ACCA and Paula Quinton-Jones, graduate resourcing and development manager, Standard Chartered Bank answer questions and provide guidance and advice around gaining practical experience.
Go to Student engage 2008