Your practical experience supervisor is vital to your journey through the Practical Experience Requirement (PER). They guide your development, review your performance in the workplace, and formally sign off on your achievements
Who qualifies as a supervisor?
A practical experience supervisor should be more senior than you and have a clear view of your day-to-day work. Commonly, this will be:
- Your line manager
- The project lead or team head you report to
To sign off on your performance objectives, your supervisor must:
- Be an IFAC qualified accountant and/or recognised by law in your country.
- Works closely with you and knows your work.
Confirming your supervisor’s credentials
It is your responsibility as the trainee to ensure that your chosen supervisor is IFAC qualified; therefore, this must be confirmed with them.
When the chosen supervisor registers with ACCA, they must confirm:
- The name of the body of which they are a member.
- A membership number.
- Any supporting evidence.
Approving your time
Your line manager can approve the time you’ve spent in a relevant role—even if they are not IFAC-qualified. If your line manager is unavailable, a suitable representative (for example, a department head or HR manager) may approve your time claim.
Approving your performance objectives
You'll need to nominate an IFAC-qualified supervisor to sign off on your
objectives.
They must have a business connection to you as well as the knowledge and experience to support you, as they're responsible for verifying you've met the practical experience requirement - so it's essential they have the expertise to do this.
If your supervisor is external to your organisation, they can only approve performance objectives. They cannot approve your time.
Avoiding conflicts of interest
Your supervisor cannot be a friend or network acquaintance.
Where possible, you should not have a relative as your practical experience supervisor to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. Where this is not possible, you must disclose the relationship to ACCA when you are applying for admission to membership.