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Afternoon All
I have been thinking about becoming a sole trader after I finish my ACCA qualification, however, the more reading I have been doing about it on ACCA website the more I start to think that I will have very little use of ACCA membership…
To put things into perspective, I have been working in Finance for around 5 years. I have worked in Accountancy Practice and the last 2 years have been working as a Finance Manager. After I qualify and become ACCA member, I will need to achieve the following;
1) three years of supervised experience with an ACCA approved employer – practising certificate development (general) stream – or an employer that would be eligible to register. You can contact ACCA Connect for details of Approved Employers or alternatively access the ACCA Approved Employer Directory
2) two years of post-membership experience. Only experience gained after admission to membership can count towards a practising certificate
3) Experience must be supervised by an appropriately qualified individual. The definition of this is set out in Appendix 1 of the PCEF Part 1.
4) the competences contained in the Approved Employer PCER confirmation form or PCEF. A member training towards the practising certificate must complete the PCEF part 1 and part 2.
My question is, what benefits do I actually gain from being ACCA member? Can I simply not become a member after I finish my studies and then start up my self-employed business? I am aware that I wouldn’t be able to sign off the accounts, or use ACCA anywhere within the paperwork.
HMRC provide an excellent AML service therefore I wouldn’t even need ACCA for that…
Also, can I still call myself Chartered Accountant if I do not have a membership? i.e. if I am applying for jobs can I say I have completed ACCA studies?
Many thanks
Norvydas
Hello again!
You will need a practicing certificate to be “in public practice” – e.g. preparing accounts/tax returns – not only to sign auditor’s reports.
To call yourself “Chartered” and use the designation “ACCA” you have to me a member – CPD is a requirement of membership and therefore it is in the public interest that those who use the services of someone held out to be Chartered/ACCA meets current professional, ethical and technical requirements.
You can call yourself an affiliate until you are admitted as a member. For membership you need to complete 3 years PER and EPSM https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/affiliates.html
Do see this webpage – you can be completing PER now (you may have already achieved some – you just have to write it up! See here in the FAQs https://www.accaglobal.com/pk/en/help/student-faqs-practical-experience-requirements.html, relevant work experience can count even before starting the ACCA qualification.You don’t need a practicing certificate to be employed in a firm of accountants/auditors – you should appreciate that of the huge number of ACCA members worldwide (more than 230k), only 25% are in practice and of those, only a small proportion are “Statutory auditors/Responsible individuals” who sign reports on behalf of their firms/practices.
Hi Kim
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly, it is much appreciated.
I have already completed & had my PER signed off, as well as the experience and the EPSM.
I am awaiting results for my last exam, if I pass then I should qualify as a member as all other requirements have been completed and appropriately signed off.
Does this mean that Step 1 and 3 of PC is completed? So I would only need to wait 2 years and complete PCEF Part 1 and 2?
My apologies for all these questions, I have contacted ACCA helpdesk but their answers are very vague..
Many thanks
Norvy
It isn’t a process that I have been through, so all I “know” is publicly available information from ACCA’s website.
Changes have been introduced from 2022:
https://www.accaglobal.com/an/en/member/sectors/smp/practising-certificates-and-licences/apply-for-an-acca-practising-certificate.htmlAll the guidance I can possibly give can be found on the above web page, for example, you will only have completed 1 if your PER has been obtained through training with an approved employer https://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/technical-activities/uk-tech/in-practice/2021/December/changes-practising-certificate-requirements.html
Hi there, I have just noticed that there is thing unusual and very vague wording on the Am I In Public Practice Facesheet.
“ACCA STUDENTS AND AFFILIATES
An ACCA student or affiliate is not permitted to undertake such work and engage in public practice.
An exception applies to students who fall within the categories set out in regulation 8(2)(i) of the MRs. If you fall within one of these categories, you are permitted to engage in public practice provided that you describe yourself only as a member of the professional body to which you belong (if any) and not as a student of ACCA.”After reading this, I went onto the members regulations pdf where I could not find the categories. All it says for section 8 (2) (i) is that you cannot disclose yourself as a member.
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