What is the role of a Pathways sponsor?
A successful Pathways submission must include a signed sponsor form and a Letter of Good Standing from your sponsor, unless your sponsor is an ICAEW Member themselves. The role of the sponsor is an important one and they have several key responsibilities:
| Role of a Pathways sponsor |
| Confirm they know the Pathways candidate. |
| Confirm the candidate is of good character and there is no reason why they should not be admitted to ICAEW membership. |
| Read the complete Pathways submission of the relevant candidate, including their Examination and Experience answers. |
| Verify to the best of their knowledge the information in the Pathways submission, and the answers in the Examination of Experience provided are a true and accurate representation of the work of the candidate. |
Once they have done all this, they will need to complete and sign the sponsor form.
Who can serve as a sponsor?
There are six essential criteria for a sponsor. Each applicant must have one sponsor who meets all of the required sponsor criteria to support their completed application. The sponsor must:
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Know the Pathways candidate
Whilst it's not necessary that the sponsor has worked with the candidate, they do need to be in a position to vouch for them and verify the information on their submission is true. Family members, as well as non-accountants, could act as a sponsor as long as they meet all the required criteria.
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Member of an IFAC recognised professional body
They must hold full and current membership of a body belonging to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) – this body must be a full IFAC member.
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Member by normal education and training route
They need to have gained full membership of an IFAC body through the normal education and training route (as opposed to through any form of reciprocal membership agreements or full or advanced credit or exemption arrangements).
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Be CPD compliant
They need to be compliant with the CPD (continuing professional development) requirements of their IFAC member body.
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Be of good standing
This includes having a good disciplinary record with no outstanding complaints against them.
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Provide a letter of good standing
This needs to come from their professional body, it must be issued and dated within the three months immediately before the Pathways deadline date the candidate intends to submit.
This letter from their professional body must confirm:
- That they are a member of that body.
- The date and year they were admitted into membership.
- That membership has been gained by the normal education and training route (they may need to ask them for transcripts to evidence this).
- That they have a good disciplinary record with no outstanding complaints against them, or advise us of the details of any disciplinary record or outstanding complaint(s).
- That they are fully compliant with the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements of that body.
- All sponsors must provide a letter of good standing. This must be included with the applicant’s application.
The only exception is where a sponsor is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. An ICAEW Chartered Accountant does not need to provide a letter of good standing because we can check their membership status, disciplinary record, CPD compliance on our systems as part of the application process.
Penalties for sponsors
Anyone acting as a sponsor who is found to have testified in an inappropriate manner will be liable to investigation and will be reported to their professional body.
Sponsors should also be aware that applicants are not permitted to plagiarise work (ie, incorporate any published or unpublished work in whatever format or medium) from other people or from the ICAEW illustrative answers. Failure to comply is considered to be misconduct. Where ICAEW believes misconduct may exist, the case will be referred to ICAEW Assessment Committee for investigation and potential disciplinary action, and referral to the candidate’s current professional body.
ICAEW puts applications through anti-plagiarism software as part of the application process.
Download your sponsor form
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Access a copy of our ICAEW Pathways sponsor form to print or save.
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For all Pathways enquiries, please contact the Pathways team.