The Practical Experience Requirement (PER) is a mandatory qualification for ACCA students who want to be members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts (ACCA). Along with passing ACCA exams, you are required to gather work experience for three years to gain practical experience. You must meet nine performance objectives, including 5 essential performance objectives and 4 technical performance objectives.
Gaining Practical Experience Requirement (PER) demonstrates your skills and ability to use accounting knowledge in real-life scenarios while also maintaining work ethics and standards. Also, documenting your work experience and getting approval from your Practical Experience Supervisor is important to complete your PER successfully. In this blog, we explain what ACCA PER is and why it is important for being a member of ACCA qualified professionals. We give information to help you understand ACCA performance objectives along with a step by step guide to complete ACCA PER. Also, the submission Tips for ACCA PER and common reasons for PER rejection are provided.
What is ACCA PER and Why It Matters
The Practical Experience Requirement (PER) is a mandatory qualification for ACCA students who want to be members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts (ACCA). To obtain PER, you are required to pass ACCA exams and have 36 months of supervised accounting or financial positions experience in recorded form. Per assesses trainees’ ability to use theoretical concepts in practical situations by testing their competency through nine performance objectives, which include five essential objectives and four technical performance objectives.
The Practical Experience Requirement (PER) matters, as it is the mandatory component for obtaining professional accounting designations like ACCA. The PER tests your ability to use knowledge from your exams in real-world situations, while exams demonstrate your technical expertise, which helps develop your professional skills from student level to competent professional.
Understanding ACCA Performance Objectives
According to ACCA, candidates are required to qualify 9 performance objectives, which include 5 essential and 4 technical objectives. These performance objectives are benchmarks that evaluate your performance and the types of work activities you must carry out as an intern, volunteer, part-time employee, or any kind of role in an organization.
Essential Performance Objectives
| S.N. | Essential Performance Objective |
| 1 | Ethics and Professionalism |
| 2 | Stakeholder Relationship Management |
| 3 | Strategy, innovation and sustainable value creation |
| 4 | Governance, Risk, and Control |
| 5 | Leadership and Management |
Students or candidates are required to complete all essential performance objectives provided in the table above.
Technical Performance Objectives
| Technical Performance Objective | Objective Name |
| Corporate and business reporting | 6. Record and Process Transactions and Events |
| 7. Prepare External Financial Reports | |
| 8. Analyze and Interpret Financial Reports | |
| Financial Management | 9. Evaluate Investment and Financing Decisions |
| 10. Manage and Control Working Capital | |
| 11. Identify and Manage Financial Risks | |
| Management Accounting | 12. Evaluate Management Accounting Systems |
| 13. Plan and Control Performance | |
| 14. Monitor Performance | |
| Taxation | 15. Tax Computations and Assessments |
| 16. Tax Compliance and Verification | |
| 17. Tax Planning and Advice | |
| Audit and Assurance | 18. Prepare for and Plan the Audit and Assurance Process |
| 19. Collect and Evaluate Evidence for an Audit or Assurance Engagement | |
| 20. Review and Report on the Findings of an Audit or Assurance Engagement | |
| Advisory and consultancy | 21. Business Advisory |
| Data, digital and technology | 22. Data Analysis and Decision Report |
Among 17 technical objectives, candidates are required to choose any 4 objectives as part of performance objective tests.
Step-by-Step Guide to Completing ACCA PER
You require completion of 36 months of relevant work experience, fulfillment of 9 performance objectives, and ethical-professional decision-making skills. We provide a step-by-step guide that you can follow to complete ACCA PER below.
Step 1: Check Your Work Eligibility
The first step to successfully complete ACCA PER criteria is by checking your eligibility. You must have successfully passed your ACCA exams and must have job responsibilities involving finance, audit, tax, or related sectors. Experience in companies like NGOs, banks, or corporate finance can qualify you for ACCA PER.
Step 2: Working with Practical Experience Supervisor
The major objective of PER is to make sure your experience is recorded and supervised. So, you require a practical experience supervisor who can offer necessary information and guidelines over a 36-month assignment.
Step 3: Select the appropriate performance goals
Pick performance goals that match with your subject and job titles. You can make a plan with your Practical Experience Supervisor to meet the objectives.
Step 4: Record Your 36 Months of Experience
You require 36 months of work experience in total in recorded form. Your Practical Experience Supervisor helps you in planning your progress, signing off your PER record, and evaluating your performance objectives.
Submission Tips for ACCA PER
Submitting ACCA PER is important to qualify, along with 36 months of relevant work experience and completion of nine performance objectives. You can follow the top submission tips and best practices for ACCA PER below:
- Recording your experience in relevant job roles from the beginning.
- Update your progress in interval of 3-4 months after major projects
- Use MyExperience ACCA tool to track your progress, set objectives, and store your documents
- Use STAR techniques that involve Situation, Task, Action, result when writing a 200-500 words statement. It is important to describe your contribution instead of describing the team’s contribution.
- Focusing on the impact of your role and avoiding jargon can be helpful.
- Ensure all supervisor details are correct
Common Reason for PER Rejection
Students or candidates often get their PER rejected due to common mistakes and errors during submission. We provide some of the common reasons for PER rejection so that you can avoid it during submission.
- Unclear experience: The PER rejection occurs when you lack relevant experience, have insufficient time in your work role, or your job description is unclear or vague.
- Incomplete document: If your document lacks signatures of supervisors or references or fails to present properly, the chance of PER rejection gets high.
- Failure to meet core requirements: If you are unable to meet your core requirements or your experience is basic and below technical standards, your PER has a higher chance of rejection.
- Language or communication error: In case your writing has numerous communications or language errors, your PER may get rejected.
- Unqualified supervisor: Your supervisor must be an IFAC member or recognized by local law. If your supervisor is unqualified or does not meet qualification criteria, there is a high chance your PER submission will get rejected.
Conclusion
Practical Experience Requirement (PER) is a mandatory qualification for an individual who wants to be a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accounts (ACCA). You are required to have 3 years of experience, 9 performance objectives, and a recording of your experience to get PER approval. Checking your work eligibility, working with your Practical Experience Supervisor, choosing an appropriate performance goal, and properly recording your experience are important to follow before submitting PER. Following proper submission tips helps to minimize the chance of PER rejections that involve issues like unclear experience, incomplete documents, language errors, and many more. For more information and guidance on the submission of PER, visit Seed Financial Academy.
