The Accreditation of Prior Learning Scheme is designed to provide formal assessment of understanding of practical Accountancy and Financial Management skills.
The assessment is based on Standards of Competence designed by the Academy. The Standards are expressed as separate Units and are grouped for each Grade of Membership. The Standards will provide the Academy with a method of assessing and identifying competence in the workplace.
Each Unit of Competence is divided into elements which are a statement of what a candidate should be able to do. Each element is expressed as a Learning Outcome.
The Units of Competence at the Licentiate Grade include:
- Cost Analysis and Control
- Managerial Accounting (Management Accounting)
- Cash Management and Credit Control
- Financial Reporting
- Professional Ethics and Business Practice.
The Units of Competence at the Associate Grade include:
- Financial Reporting (Drafting Financial Statements)
- Managerial Accounting
- Project/Investment Appraisal
- Working Capital Management
- Raising Finance.
The Units of Competence at the Fellowship Grade include:
- Strategic Planning
- Dividend Policy
- Advanced Financial Reporting (International Financial Reporting Standards)
- Takeovers
- Business Combinations
- Raising Finance
- Cash Flow Management
- Periodic Reporting to the Board.
- Assessment
Assessment is the process of collecting sufficient evidence of competence in a unit where it can be fully identified and accredited.
This represents the activity of applying skills in differing situations within the workplace.
There are a number of sources of evidence that demonstrate competence and include:
Evidence from Prior Achievement
Evidence that shows the candidate understands and can apply knowledge to a workplace task or activity.
There are a number of methods of assessing such competence and include: Performance of a workplace accounting or financial management task.
Reporting to senior management,
Employee Appraisal.
Management/Board Meetings: Agendas and Minutes.
- Accounting/ Financial Management Portfolio.
Each candidate will maintain a portfolio of evidence. Detailed copies of the Units will be supplied by the Academy Assessor together with forms to be filled in by the candidate in order to match evidence to the learning outcomes.
The portfolio will be in digital form and comprise word documents, pdf files and scanned documents from the workplace observing a strict code of confidentiality.
Pages will include: Candidate name, employer and position. Job description and an organisation chart.
The portfolio will be submitted online.
Once the candidate expresses an interest in the APL scheme and sends the Membership Application form to the Academy with the relevant Assessment Fee an Assessor will contact the candidate by email or telephone.
The Assessor will outline the scheme in depth and send copies of the Units and the relevant forms to the candidate.
The Assessor’s role can be likened to that of Mentor and will guide the candidate every step of the way that will the Academy are sure will be a most worthwhile experience for the candidate.
LICENTIATE GRADE STANDARDS OF COMPETENCE(DOWNLOADS)
ASSOCIATE GRADE STANDARDS OF COMPETENCE(DOWNLOADS)
FELLOW GRADE STANDARDS OF COMPETENCE(DOWNLOADS)
