Evaluation skills – Assess vs Appraise

‘Appraise’ does not seem to appear in any ACCA articles about answering questions and to my mind the terms ‘assess’ and ‘appraise’ are so close as not to make any difference to an answer.

ACCA mentions ‘assess’ and ‘evaluate’ and on these verbs the ACCA says:

Assess:To judge the worth, importance, evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance’ Key tips Determine the strengths/weaknesses/importance/ significance/ability to contribute

Evaluate: Determine the scenario in the light of the arguments for and against
Key tips Mention evidence/case/point/issue to support evaluation

An ACCA article also says: To ‘evaluate’ means to judge or determine the value, worth or quality of an object. If that object is the performance of a company, then the answer can be expected to be descriptive but based on numerical measures (such as profit, present value or EVA). But if that object is a performance system, or a costing method, or a remuneration package, or a performance management model, then a candidate is expected to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of that method – possibly in comparison to other appropriate ways of doing things. It should also be noted that weighing up the advantages and disadvantages means more than simply listing them – it requires a final application of judgment as to what is appropriate in the given scenario. NOTE: (When the verb ‘assess’ is used, it is a very similar exercise in most circumstances).

So, again not much difference. Pros/cons and a numerical value if that seems possible given the information available.