Frequently asked questions

Any organisation can become an Authorised Training Employer as long as it can meet the ICAEW training standards before and during a training agreement.  

• Find out more about becoming authorised to train
• Read the training standards

By applying to become an Authorised Training Employer, you are providing your organisation with Authorised Training Employer status, and you will need to nominate a qualified person responsible for training who will be responsible for the delivery of ACA training and the main point of contact with ICAEW.  

By applying to become an Authorised Training Principal, you are authorising yourself to offer ACA training within your organisation and you will be responsible for the delivery of ACA training and the main point of contact with ICAEW. 

Most organisations training ACA students are Authorised Training Employers. You should apply to become an Authorised Training Employer if your organisation is planning to support your students by covering their training fees, funding their tuition or providing study leave, as well as mentoring them through the ACA requirements (such as Professional Development, Practical Work Experience and Ethics). Please note, you must provide financial support to apprentices.

Authorised Training Principals act in a supervisory role. You should apply to become an Authorised Training Principal in the event that you wish to mentor students through the ACA but do not wish to financially assist them during their training.

It is a free of charge.

If you would like another office within your organisation to become authorised to offer ACA training, you will need to register to become a Training Office Group by completing the form and returning it to ateaccess@icaew.com.

• Download the form

To remain as an Authorised Training Employer or Principal, you must ensure you are constantly meeting and following our training standards. You will receive a visit from our training managers on a cyclical basis (at least once every three years) where we will review and monitor your compliance. 

• View ICAEW’s training standards 
• More information on what happens during a review visit 

The QPRT must hold a position of responsibility and have decision-making power in relation to training and development. They must: 

• be a member of an IFAC full membership body, or other equivalent recognised body at the discretion of ICAEW;  
• be a partner, director or equivalent in your organisation; and
• have at least two years membership within their professional body.  

• See an overview of the role of a QPRT 

Yes. If you are unable to nominate an ICAEW member within your organisation to act as the adviser to the QPRT, one of our training managers will be able to appoint you one during the authorisation visit.

The PRT must be: 

• be a member of an IFAC full membership body, or other equivalent recognised body at the discretion of ICAEW;
• an experienced individual, preferably of partner or director status; and
• based at a subsidiary office. 
  
  

• See an overview of the role of a PRT 

To become a PRT, please complete the application form and return it to ATEaccess@icaew.com.

• Download the form

To become a counsellor, please complete the application form and return it to ATEaccess@icaew.com.

• Download the form

To become an ACA student manager, please complete the application form and return it to ATEaccess@icaew.com.

• Download the form

No. In most countries, employment law requires your organisation to provide your employees with an employment contract. This is a different document and is separate to the training agreement. 

• Read more about training agreements

Yes. Extensions can sometimes be required if, for example, a student is switching to a part-time contract or requires more time to meeting their training requirements. Agreements can be extended for up to a total of 60 months. However, please note, you do not need to extend a student’s training agreement for them to complete exams – exams are independent of the minimum three-year training agreement period. 

Extensions up to three months can be made by the student via their online training file. 

Extensions beyond three months require the employer to update the training agreement and advise us accordingly by completing the amendments to a training agreement form. 

• Download the form

All exam dates and deadlines can be found on the exam applications page.

• View exam dates and deadlines. 

Exams can be taken in any order, except for the Case Study exam which must be completed last and in the final year of a training agreement. If you would like some support on tailoring the order your students sit their exams to your organisation, please contact us. 

If your student feels their exam performance may be hindered due to a health condition, disability, or specific learning difficulty (SpLD), we may be able to put access arrangements in place to support them during their exams.

• Find out more about access arrangements

If something goes wrong during an exam, your student can submit an exam disruption appeal.

• View the exam disruption appeal policy

You must provide your trainee with at least 450 days practical work experience unless: 

• Your student is eligible for a two-year period of training. Find out if this applies to you.
• You are based in a country where a Memorandum of Understanding (otherwise known as an MoU) exists between your local institute and ICAEW. Find out if this applies to you. 

A ‘day’ is 7 hours long. 

No. Audit experience is not a requirement of ACA training. 

Unless your organisation’s internal professional development programme has been formally accredited by us, your student must complete the ICAEW professional development ladders during their training agreement. To get your professional development scheme accredited, please contact us. 

Some students will naturally develop more quickly in certain areas than others, but a student should realistically be able to cover 15-20 skills in year 1, a further 15-20 skills in year 2 and the remainder in their final years. 

Your students will need to achieve at least 70% to pass the assessment. They must pass the assessment within the first 12 months of their training so that they can start applying what they have learned as soon as possible. 

There is no limit on the number of times a student can attempt the assessment, however you are allowed to limit the number of attempts within your organisation if you wish.  

Yes. The six-monthly reviews are an integral part of ACA training. They allow you to assess the development and progress of your students and help to ensure each student is engaged and on track with receiving the knowledge, skills and experience they need to become an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. 

It is your student’s responsibility to arrange a suitable time with you for each review. However, you should do everything you can to facilitate these meetings at regular intervals and facilitate a process for the reviews.

You need to review and discuss all thee elements of ACA training at each review. This includes: 

• Ethics and professional scepticism - you will need to discuss your students' ethical development, their progress through the Ethics Learning Programme and discuss at least one ICAEW Practising Ethics scenario and real-life ethical situation.  
• Practical work experience – you need to review your student’s practical work experience within the last six months and agree the number of days completed. 
• Professional development - review your student's progress through each of the seven ladders and confirm that you are happy that the examples provided adequately demonstrate the required skills. If you have an accredited professional development system in place, you will use your own appraisal records instead. 
• Exams - review and discuss their progress and results so far, any re-sit plans and what elements they have found most relevant or interesting. 

You may also want to use this time to discuss the areas your student would like to develop.  

• Read the six monthly review guide 

Around 1 hour. 

You can cancel a training agreement via the online training file. Follow the steps to cancel a training agreement. 

Please make sure that your student’s work experience days (and, where relevant, Audit Qualification days) are fully up to date and signed off before you cancel the training agreement.

1. Access the training file 
2. Select the student you wish to sign off by clicking on their name 
3. Review each pane within the training file 
4. If you are happy that each element of the ACA has been met, and that your student is fit and proper for ICAEW membership, select ‘I wish to sign off’. This will sign off your students training file and it will be sent to ICAEW to verify.  

If, after reviewing your students training file, you decide your student has not met the criteria for final sign off, you will need to select ‘I wish to return to student’.  

You can watch our video on how to sign off and submit a student's training file. 

If you are offering a training agreement to a student who is already part-way through training, they must:

• cancelled their training agreement with their previous employer; and
• ensure that their practical work experience days (and, where relevant, Audit Qualification days) are fully up to date and signed off before they leave their previous employer. 

Both you and the student will then need to complete the re-registration form and send it to applications@icaew.com within one month of the start date of their new training agreement with you. 

The student must gain a minimum of 65 days practical work experience with you (a three-month minimum registration period), or for a period where the student will have trained for at least 450 days – whichever is greater.  

You are allowed to ask the student to register with you for longer than this, even if this would exceed the student’s practical work experience requirement of 450 days in total. We recommend a minimum of six months for you to be able to assess their ethics and professional development properly prior to final sign off.  

Yes. Your student will need to re-evidence the professional development using examples from their time with you, and you will need to provide feedback. It is important that you don’t place reliance on skills examples from their previous employer. 

To form an appropriate assessment of the student's ethics understanding before final sign off, we strongly recommend that the qualified person responsible for training (QPRT) or counsellor has a minimum of three ethics reviews with the student including discussions on the Ethics in Practice scenarios. These should be adequately spaced out and ideally at least one month apart. 

No. All exam attempts will move with your student. 

No. Providing the student has ensured their training file is up to date before leaving their previous employer, any work experience gained (including, where relevant, Audit Qualification days) will move with them. 

No. Audit work experience is not a mandatory element of the ACA.  

However, if you are a firm of registered auditors, it would be in your student's interest to record any audit experience they gain with you, as holding the Audit Qualification may help them in their future career. 

A counsellor can sign off each six-month period of audit experience.  

The qualified person responsible for training (QPRT) or person responsible for training (PRT) will be able to provide a final approval of a student's audit experience and sign off their completed online training file at the end of the students training agreement period. Authorised Training Principals can also provide a final sign off. 

All approvers must hold a UK Audit Qualification and be registered in a training role. Within the training file only appropriately qualified and authorised people will appear in the drop down box as an option for sign off. 

Full information on the Audit Qualification is available at icaew.com/aq

Currently, ICAEW apprenticeships are only available for organisations in England. 

Setting up an ICAEW apprenticeship is a simple process: 

• Create an apprenticeship service account on gov.uk to set up and approve apprenticeships, access and manage funding, approve training costs and more. 
• Select a tuition provider. 
• Recruit your apprentice. 
  
  

• View our guide on setting up apprenticeships 
• Contact us for support

All organisations in England, regardless of size or sector, can access government funding for apprenticeships.

• Levy paying employers (organisations with a wage bill of more than £3m) can access their own levy funds to offer our apprenticeship training programmes.
• Employers who do not pay into the apprenticeship levy can access funding via a government-employer co-investment. Non-levy paying employers make a 5% contribution and the government will pay the remaining 95% up to the funding cap. If you are a non-levy paying employer, with 50 employees or less, and the apprentice you are employing is age 16-21, the government will pay 100% of the cost of the apprenticeship.
  
  

The funding cap is £8,000 for the Level 4 apprenticeship and £21,000 for the Level 7 Apprenticeship.  

Training fees, learning materials and the end-point assessment are all covered under apprenticeship funding. 

• Find out more about the funding options available for our apprenticeships

Our apprenticeships are open to all individuals aged over 16 in England (including graduates and existing employees who want to retrain) as long as the apprenticeship is deemed as new learning. Your training provider will check the eligibility of your employees for funding.

Yes. Employers have the flexibility to choose whichever qualification they think is most suitable for their students. For example, the traditional route which requires students to study both qualifications individually is likely to suit students who have not yet made the decision to specialise in tax, or perhaps work in a firm where there is limited time available to study and sit exams. 

The joint programme is popular with students who are either already working in a tax role or have ambitions to become a tax professional. 

No, the CTA exams can be completed after an ACA training agreement has ended.  

Students can apply for ICAEW membership once all elements of the ACA are completed, and then apply for membership of CIOT once all parts of the CTA qualification are completed. 

Students must already be registered as ACA students before they can apply for the ACA CTA Joint Programme. 

They will be asked to submit a copy of their ACA student registration confirmation email, with evidence of their student number, to CIOT. 

Providing they meet these entry criteria, CIOT will then register them on to the programme.

The traditional route would see a student complete all of the components of the ACA to become an ICAEW Chartered Accountant, before registering as a CTA student, completing the CTA qualification and applying for membership with the CIOT. 

The ACA CTA Joint Programme enables students to study the ACA and CTA qualifications simultaneously, allowing employers to design training programmes according to their organisation’s needs. 

The flexibility of the programme also enables students to progress and qualify more quickly than they would be able to traditionally.

The programme may take between three to four years for a student to complete. This is dependent on workloads, scheduling of courses, hours of study and exam results. 

To gain both the ACA and CTA qualifications leading to membership of ICAEW and CIOT, students must complete the requirements of both institutes. 

Students can attempt ACA exams until they reach the maximum of four attempts. Students have no limit on the number of attempts on the CTA examinations. 

A CTA exam credit for passing remains valid for the next seven sittings following the sitting at which the credit was obtained. Professional Responsibilities & Ethics passes will remain valid for the next nine sittings. 

Yes. Both institutes provide guidance and resources for their respective students. 

ICAEW (ACA): Past papers, sample questions, skills webinars and exam resources for ACA students can be found on the ACA student website at icaew.com/examresources 

CIOT (CTA): Past papers, suggested answers and Examiners’ reports for previous CTA examinations can be accessed from the CIOT website at https://www.tax.org.uk/adit/past-papers 

Exemptions are available for up to 11 of the ACA exams. Find more information about the credits available for the ACA exams. 

A CTA exam credit for passing remains valid for the next seven sittings following the sitting at which the credit was obtained. Professional Responsibilities & Ethics passes will remain valid for the next nine sittings.

If a student has received credit for prior learning (CPL) / exam exemption for ICAEW’s Business Planning: Taxation exam as a result of passing the relevant CTA exam, are they able to complete the ACA qualification if they do not pass the remaining CTA exams? 

Yes, a student can complete the ACA qualification as the CTA exam has been deemed equivalent to ICAEW’s Business Planning: Taxation. 

Yes. Students will still be eligible to gain both qualifications and use the designatory letters ACA and CTA after their names.  

If a student has already passed (or has sat and failed) the ACA Business Planning: Taxation paper, then they are not eligible to start the ACA CTA Joint Programme.

All ACA CTA Joint Programme students must pay the appropriate ICAEW and CIOT fees for student registration and exams. 

• More information on the costs involved for the ACA qualification
• More information on the costs involved for the CIOT qualification

Students can join the Joint Programme on the first day of their ACA training agreement (without any previous experience or knowledge in tax), or part-way through their ACA training. If a student starts part-way through, it is assumed they will be working in tax, but this is not a requirement. 

Students signing up to the Joint Programme must meet the following conditions: 

• ACA students must not have completed (or attempted and failed) the Professional Level Business Planning: Taxation module; and 
• CTA students must not have completed the two CTA Advisory Papers or the CTA Taxation of Major Corporates Advisory Paper. 

Yes, the ACA CTA Joint Programme can be studied as part of the Level 7 Apprenticeship.  

The Level 7 Accountancy Professional apprenticeship is equivalent to a Master’s degree and takes 36 – 48 months to complete. As well as studying for the ACA and CTA qualifications, students will also develop additional knowledge, skills and behaviours required by the Level 7 apprenticeship standard throughout their apprenticeship. This is gained through a combination of off-the-job training and practical experience in the workplace. 

Firstly, students should register with ICAEW as an ACA Level 7 student. An ACA student number is generated. Students must already be registered as ACA students before they can apply for the ACA CTA Joint Programme. 

They will be asked to submit a copy of their ACA student registration confirmation email, with evidence of their student number, to CIOT. 

Providing they meet these entry criteria, CIOT will then register them on to the programme. 

Funding can be put towards tuition fees, learning materials and fees incurred for the first attempt of the end-point assessment exams. Resits and exemption fees are not covered by the funding. 

As neither the CTA nor the ACA are mandated qualifications for the Level 7 apprenticeship, funding cannot be drawn down for ICAEW or CIOT registration/annual fees, or exam fees for the on-programme assessment.

As part of their end-point assessment, students must demonstrate the skills and behaviours they have acquired throughout their apprenticeship via a Project Report. Students are required to describe situations where they have shown competence in the required skills and behaviours and describe the lessons they have learnt that could be applied in the future. This usually focuses on the last 12 months of the apprenticeship. 

This is any learning that improves students’ professional development and is undertaken outside of the normal day-to-day working environment, but within normal working hours. This could include shadowing a colleague, listening to webinars or attending conferences, for example. 

While funding is only available for the apprenticeship route, there are many similarities between the apprenticeship and ‘traditional’ ACA-CTA training. However, there are some additional requirements for completion of the apprenticeship including off-the-job training and an end-point assessment.

The funding cap for the Level 7 apprenticeship is £21,000. This means that:  

• For levy-paying employers - this is the maximum amount that you can claim back from your levy pot per apprentice.  
• For non-levy paying employers - the government will fund 90% of the apprenticeship costs so all you will have to pay is the remaining 10% (£2,100). Any costs more than £21,000 are payable by the employer. 

Level 7 Apprenticeship students are first required to complete an on-programme assessment.  

For Level 7 apprentices on the Joint Programme, this comprises of 13 of the 15 ACA exams (not the Business Planning: Taxation or Case Study exams), and one of the three CTA specialist papers.  

They must also complete all other standard training requirements involved in the ACA CTA programme. For the ACA, this includes complete ICAEW’s online Ethics Learning Programme, professional development ladders and 450 days of practical work experience and in order to qualify as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. For the CTA, students are required to demonstrate three years of relevant work experience. 

Apprentices are then required to complete an end-point assessment. Level 7 students will follow ICAEW’s end-point assessment for the Joint Programme. This consists of the final ACA exam, the Case Study, and a Project Report. 

They will also need to spend at least 6 hours a week on off-the-job training during the apprenticeship. 

Once all elements of the apprenticeship have been successfully completed, the apprentice qualifies as an Accountancy Professional. Then, once all ACA requirements have been completed as well, the apprentice will become a fully qualified ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Once the CTA requirements have been successfully completed (which are a second CTA tax paper and a one-hour exam in Professional Responsibilities & Ethics, which are not part of the ICAEW Level 7 Apprenticeship) the fully qualified Chartered Tax Adviser designation can be attained. 

Apprenticeships are open to all (including graduates and existing staff who may want to retrain) as long as the apprenticeship is deemed as new learning.  

There are no set entry requirements for the apprenticeship, however minimum entry requirements do apply for the ACA / ACA CTA Joint Programme: 

• Be working in tax 
• ACA students must not have completed (or attempted and failed) the Professional Level Business Planning: Taxation module; and 
• CTA students must not have completed the two CTA Advisory Papers or the CTA Taxation of Major Corporates Advisory Paper. 

Additionally, the apprentice must have a Level 2 (GCSE pass) in English and Maths before they attempt the end-point assessment.  

Employers may wish to set additional entry criteria to suit their organisation.