ACCA Work Experience: Your Complete Guide to the PER (2026)

The ACCA qualification has three components: exams, the Ethics and Professional Skills module (EPSM), and the Practical Experience Requirement (PER). Many students focus heavily on the exams — but the PER is equally essential to becoming an ACCA member. This guide explains exactly how the PER works, what counts as qualifying experience, and how to manage it alongside your studies.

What Is the ACCA PER?

The Practical Experience Requirement is ACCA's work experience component. To qualify as an ACCA member, you must complete a minimum of 36 months of relevant, supervised work experience. This experience must be signed off by a workplace mentor — an ACCA member, or in some cases another qualified professional approved by ACCA.

Crucially, PER does not have to be completed after your exams — it runs concurrently. Many students start accumulating qualifying experience from their first job in accounting, even before they begin their ACCA papers.

What Counts as Qualifying ACCA Experience?

ACCA requires you to demonstrate competence across nine performance objectives grouped into two sections:

• Essentials (5 objectives — all required): Professionalism, ethics and governance; Stakeholder relationship management; Strategy and innovation; Sustainable management accounting; Integrated critical thinking.
• Options (4 objectives — complete any 4 from 9): These cover specific technical areas including financial accounting, taxation, audit, financial management, treasury, and business analysis.

A wide range of accounting and finance roles generate qualifying experience — from audit trainees and management accountants to financial analysts, tax associates, and finance business partners.

How to Record Your PER

ACCA uses its online platform (My ACCA) to record and track your experience. The process is:

• Log into My ACCA and navigate to the Experience section
• Add each employer and role, with start and end dates
• Record your performance objectives — mapping your day-to-day work to ACCA's competency framework
• Get each objective signed off by your workplace mentor when you believe you have demonstrated it

You do not need to wait until you have 36 months — start recording from your first relevant role and build up the record continuously.

Does the Experience Have to Be in a Finance Role?

The experience must be finance-relevant and supervised, but the specific role type is fairly flexible. Roles that typically generate qualifying experience include:

• Trainee accountant (public practice or industry)
• Management accountant or financial analyst
• Audit associate or internal auditor
• Tax associate or compliance analyst
• Finance business partner or FP&A analyst
• Treasury analyst or credit analyst

Roles that are unlikely to count: purely administrative finance roles with no accounting content, non-finance roles, or self-employment without proper supervision.

What If You Do Not Have a Relevant Job Yet?

If you are studying ACCA without a finance job, it is worth prioritising finding a role that will generate qualifying experience — even a junior bookkeeping or accounts payable position can start your PER clock. The 36 months of PER is a significant commitment, so starting early matters.

Some students complete all their exams before securing relevant work experience. In that case, you become an ACCA affiliate (all exams passed) and then work toward the PER separately. You only become a full ACCA member once both exams and PER are complete.

Tips for Managing the PER Alongside Study

• Start recording from your first relevant role — do not wait until you are close to 36 months
• Map your day-to-day tasks to the performance objectives regularly, not just at review time
• Choose a mentor early and build a good relationship — their sign-off is essential
• Use the My ACCA platform regularly so the record stays current
• Aim for breadth of experience across the performance objectives, not just depth in one area

For support with your ACCA exams alongside your PER, Learnsignal offers online tuition for every ACCA paper. Explore our ACCA courses or view our study packages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I count experience from before I registered with ACCA?

Yes — ACCA allows you to count relevant work experience gained before you registered as a student, as long as it meets the PER criteria. This can significantly reduce the time needed to complete the requirement.

What happens if I cannot find a mentor?

If your employer does not have an ACCA-qualified professional who can act as mentor, ACCA has processes for approving other qualified supervisors. Contact ACCA directly if you are struggling — they will advise on your specific situation.

How long does the full ACCA qualification take?

Most students complete the exams in 3–4 years. The PER of 36 months runs concurrently, so many students become full members 3–4 years after starting if they are in a relevant role throughout.