The remote practical experience supervisor programme (RPES) has been developed to help ACCA affiliates who don’t have access to an appropriately qualified supervisor, complete their practical experience requirement (PER). Affiliates will be matched with an ACCA member who can verify their work experience in conjunction with their employer, and sign off their performance objectives – once they are satisfied that the trainee has achieved the correct standard.

ACCA members, including lifetime members who have transferred to the retired register, who are in good standing and are fully up to date with their subscriptions and CPD submissions, are eligible to register as an RPES.

The practical experience requirement is a key part of what makes ACCA’s members globally recognised as trusted professionals. By supporting an affiliate at this crucial stage of their training, you’ll be ensuring that the next generation of finance professionals continue to uphold the same rigorous technical and ethical standards as you’ve built over your career. You’ll also be helping them on their journey to membership – which otherwise they might not be able to achieve. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to develop your own coaching and supervisory skills as well as learning what drives our future members.

If you are not currently eligible to register for the RPES programme, please ensure that any outstanding payments, CPD declarations or CPD reviews are complete. If you believe you have met this criteria however remain unable to register, send details of this to RPES@accaglobal.com to request assistance.

You will work with an ACCA trainee and their line manager to review their work and achievement of the practical experience requirement. You will verify the trainee’s work experience and confirm that the details and examples that they have included within their performance objectives are true and accurate reflections of their work.

ACCA has developed a training module which explains the remote supervisor role, how to manage a relationship with a trainee and to review their experience remotely. We will also be running a series of webinars exclusively for remote supervisors where you can ask questions and see demonstrations.

The amount of time required will vary between each person. Some trainees may wish to discuss all nine performance objectives at once while others may wish to work on these individually. You may be available for one hour per week, or one hour per month. We would suggest that both you and your trainee discuss this in advance ensuring that everyone’s time constraints and needs are considered.

Undertaking the required training module which explains the remote supervisor role will count as CPD as it is designed to equip you with the skills to perform this role. As with our current CPD guidance, if you have learned something new from the experience of being a remote supervisor that you can use in your role or career development, this can count towards your CPD requirements.

Being a remote supervisor is a voluntary role. Therefore, you should not accept any payment for acting as a supervisor nor request any reimbursement.

Currently, we would not expect you to supervise more than one trainee at any time. If your situation allows you to supervise more than this, please contact RPES@accaglobal.com to discuss.

As with our face-to-face supervisor guidance, you cannot act as their supervisor if you do not have a business connection to their employer. And depending on your relationship with the trainee, this could be a conflict of interest. You can, however, encourage them to join the RPES programme if they are eligible and they will be matched with the most appropriate supervisor based on their circumstances and experience. If you believe you would be the most suitable remote supervisor for this person, please contact RPES@accaglobal.com to request assistance.

If you are a current, active member of ACCA in good standing, you can be an RPES. Being a remote supervisor is an excellent addition to your CV and could demonstrate a number of skills to a future employer.

Yes – being a lifetime member of ACCA gives you a great opportunity to use your years of experience to help future members achieve their goals.

If you are having any difficulties or issues, send details of this to RPES@accaglobal.com to request assistance.

We expect that it will take around three months to establish a relationship with your trainee and their manager, and to build up an understanding of your trainee’s competence before you feel ready to review and sign off their performance objectives. You will need to have meetings with your trainee to plan their training and review their progress towards achieving the PER. However, timescales will be dependent on your availability and the individual trainee’s circumstances. Your trainee may have already achieved the experience required for the performance objective and therefore prefer to have more frequent meetings with you over a shorter timescale, so you can review their existing experience.

Both supervisors and trainees will complete a short questionnaire regarding their work experience before they are entered into the programme. Your answers to these questions will be used to calculate a match. Any trainee and RPES who have a 50% match or more will be eligible to link up.

Yes – if there is any reason why you are unable to accept a request then you can decline it.

Yes certainly! We know there are certain times when you will be busy therefore you can update your profile to show yourself as ‘available’ or ‘unavailable’ for matching.

While you are free to promote your participation in the RPES programme externally, any matching to a trainee must be done via the programme and matching tool to ensure that ACCA is aware of the relationship, that suitable matches are made and that the rigour of the ACCA qualification is maintained.