How Much Work Experience Do You Need to Complete Your ACCA Degree?

In recent years, the ACCA course has gained immense popularity worldwide because of its all-inclusive and modern approach to educating people on accounting and finances. Being a prominent accounting organisation, ACCA pass-outs are welcomed by numerous multinational corporations. ACCA members are seen as highly qualified and proficient professionals with the ability and knowledge to make better corporate financial decisions.

Hence, their demand is significantly higher compared to people that passed out with other miscellaneous degrees. However, clearing the ACCA examination is no piece of the cake. Apart from clearing 13 arduous exams, the candidates must also obtain a practical work experience of at least 36 months to acquire their ACCA degree successfully.

So let us discover more about practical experience requirements in ACCA and how to get it.

What is the Required Work Experience to Obtain an ACCA Degree?

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The candidates pursuing an ACCA degree are considered qualified only after completion of their exams as well as practical experience requirement (PER).

The PER needed for ACCA is based on the PER of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) International Education Standard 5.

It promotes higher growth for the candidates. ACCA’s PER develops the knowledge and values of candidates with real-world training and makes them qualified for professional accountancy.

ACCA’s PER consists of three essential components:

1. The candidates have to achieve five essentials and four technical performance objectives in their work experience, which the practical experience supervisor signs off.

2. The candidates have to complete 36 months of experience in at least one or more accounting roles that the practical experience supervisor verifies.

3. The candidates have to regularly record their PER progress in their ‘My Experience Record’ section in the myACCA online portal.

Why is Work Experience for ACCA Degrees Important?

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Work experience is crucial for an ACCA degree because it prepares the candidates to perform their job more effectively. Other than that, there are other reasons for having a PER module in the ACCA course, such as

• It Opens Higher Job Prospects

Completing your PER gives you a better understanding of how organisations work in real time. This allows you to tune yourself with the best skills for high-paying jobs.

• It Aids You with Knowledge and Skills

You learn various new skills, techniques, and methods while gaining work experience in different companies. Apart from that, you get to apply the knowledge gained from the ACCA course to real work processes and learn more about the financial world.

• You Get to Learn the Process in Real Time

The best part about gaining experience is you get to work in the companies in real-time. This means you are eye witnessing how the processes are built and function, significantly improving your employability skills.

• It Improves Your Skills and Helps Build Right Work Behaviour

Being involved in real-life work situations and observing the nature of the company’s work, you get to develop professional skills, behaviour, and the right attitude towards work.

• You Get to Deliver High-Performance Work

The practical experience you gain in this period helps build your judgement and encourages you to reflect on the quality of work to provide better performance.

Specifications for ACCA’s Practical Experience Requirements (PER)

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ACCA is a prominent global qualification accepted in over 180 countries. The ACCA Global Institute has made it compulsory for the candidates to earn 36 months of Practical Experience Requirement (PER) to become ACCA-qualified.

Having PER ensures that the candidates are prepared for all kinds of global accounting challenges. Here are a few constraints to know about while acquiring PER:

• The candidates can only gain experience in a relevant accounting or finance field.

• The candidates can work in any type of organisation, from small-scale companies to large enterprises.

• The ACCA work experience of the candidate must match the course’s performance objectives.

• There would be a total of nine objectives, 5 Performance Based and Four Technical.

• The candidates can claim an experience of six months in case only 50% of their time is spent doing finance & accounting activities.

• To become an official ACCA member, it is essential to record ‘My Experience’ in the myACCA platform in the percentage form.

Types of Work Experience that Can Be Included in ACCA Work Experience?

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Completing your ACCA’s practical experience requirement is extremely easy. All your need to do is to gain experience from a company relevant to the field. Here are a few ways in which you can obtain your work experience:

Working with an Employer

The best and most prevalent way to complete your PER is by acquiring a real job in a company. This way, you get to learn about the industry and complete your experience requirement for ACCA completion.

Work Experience Outside Paid Work

There are multiple non-profit organisations, and government-aided institutes that keep financial students as interns. You can learn works related to finances in such organisations and show them in your experience. However, many such organisations pay extremely low or no wages.

Secondments

Any organisation consists of different departments and job roles. Secondment is a great way to vary your experience by opting for a different job role that you have been doing in the past. It allows you to understand the dynamics of organisations more clearly and make better decisions for your future prospects.

Project Work

It is another way of picking up a new experience for your ACCA’s PER. It involves participation in inter-departmental projects, which may include negotiating, planning, writing reports, hosting meetings, and coordinating activities. It hugely boosts your personal effectiveness skills, which is necessary for practical experience requirements.

Shadowing

It is, again, a good method to learn valuable insights into the industry in which you are building your career. Shadowing includes observing a more experienced colleague and their working practices to understand how work can be done effectively. It is a good method to gain experience and learn the system’s intricacies.

What are the Essential Skills Required for Practical Essential Requirements (PER)?

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As mentioned before, the candidates must obtain five essentials and four technical performance objectives to complete PER. These objectives are closely related to the ACCA course structure and help students develop relevant skills and techniques to use in their workplace.

Here are the 5 Essential performance objectives that a student needs to obtain:

1. Ethics and professionalism
2. Stakeholder relationship management
3. Strategy and innovation
4. Governance, risk and control
5. Leadership and management

 
Apart from it, the students also need to obtain four technical performance objectives. The candidates can choose any four objectives they are interested in from the given 17 choices. The 17 objectives from which you need to pick any 4 are as follows:

Corporate and Business Reporting

1. Record and process transactions and events
2. Prepare external financial reports
3. Analyse and interpret financial reports

 
Taxation

4. Tax computations and assessments
5. Tax compliance and verification
6. Tax planning and advice

 
Financial Management

7. Evaluate investment and financing decisions
8. Manage and control working capital
9. Identify and manage financial risk

 
Management Accounting

10. Evaluate management accounting systems
11. Plan and control performance
12. Monitor performance

 
Advisory and Consultancy

13. Business advisory

 
Data, Digital and Technology

14. Data analysis and Decision Support

 
Audit and Assurance

15. Prepare and plan the audit and assurance process.
16. Collect and evaluate evidence for an audit.
17. Review and report the findings of an audit.

How to Study for ACCA?

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If you are interested in pursuing the ACCA course to clear your ACCA exams, you can follow the given process:

1. Choosing a Suitable ACCA Partner

The foremost thing to do is find a good and reliable ACCA partner that trains you suitably for the ACCA subjects. To do so, firstly, research and enlist all appropriate and available ACCA partners.

2. Review the Course

Secondly, review the course they are offering and how it is different from the course provided by the other partner. You must thoroughly research this step to distinguish between okayish and good ACCA partners.

3. Know About the Subjects

Next, make sure to gain knowledge about the subjects you will study in the course. The structure and subjects for the ACCA exam remain the same, whatever partner you may choose. However, which institute focuses more on which subjects is a question you need to find the answer to.

4. Check their Student Testimony

Do not fail to check the testimonial and recommendations from alimonies of the institute. They are the ones that can actually guide you to make the right decision for yourself.

5. Enrol for the Course

Lastly, when you are done with your research and have spoken to different ACCA partners, you must choose the best partner and enrol in their ACCA course.

Here are a few reasons to Choose an ACCA Course for a Profitable Career. 

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Ready to Start Off Your ACCA Course?

The practical experience requirement for ACCA is an essential component to know about. It can help you gain immense knowledge about the industry and its working methods. However, gaining work experience for ACCA is a far-off thing for you. Right now, you need to focus on choosing the right partner for your ACCA course.
IMS ProSchool is a great option for your ACCA studies as it has been providing education to students for years now. In addition, it fully understands how different students with different capabilities can be made to clear ACCA exams. So do not miss the opportunity to get a seat in IMS ProSchool ACCA Course. You can talk to our team for any further details.