ACCA Practical Experience Requirement: Rules, Logging, Timing

PER is the work-experience part of becoming an ACCA member. You must show relevant skills in a real workplace: 36 months in a relevant role, the five Essentials plus at least four Technical performance objectives, and a record kept in MyExperience that your practical experience supervisor signs off (ACCA India, Practical experience).

MyExperience is the online tool inside your MyACCA account where you record employers, time and objectives.

36 months of supervised experience

The 36 months must be spent in accounting, finance, audit and assurance, or related technical areas such as tax, insolvency and forensics. It does not need to be one role or one unbroken stretch: you can combine different roles and employers (ACCA India, 36 months' practical experience).

Membership needs more than PER. You also need your exams and the EPSM. Incomplete MyExperience records, fewer than 36 months logged, an unfinished EPSM or a PER audit can all delay your application (ACCA India, membership requirements). Our guide to the EPSM covers that module.

The performance objectives: five Essentials plus at least four Technical

A performance objective is a workplace skill you must evidence with a written statement. The five Essentials are compulsory, and the names on ACCA's page are:

1. Ethics and professionalism
2. Stakeholder relationship management
3. Strategy, innovation and sustainable value creation
4. Governance, risk and control
5. Leadership and management

You then choose at least four Technical objectives that match the work you actually do, from ACCA's performance objectives list. Pick the ones your daily tasks can evidence. A well-evidenced objective beats an impressive-sounding one.

Yes. ACCA PER before exams is allowed: you can gain experience before registering with ACCA, while you study, or after your exams (ACCA India, 36 months' practical experience).

You can also use earlier roles, as long as the person who supervised that work can review and sign off your claims. ACCA also asks you to consider carefully whether experience from more than five years ago is still relevant (ACCA India, student FAQs on the PER).

Our advice: start the record in your first relevant role, not after your last paper. A supervisor who has left the company is far harder to track down than one at the next desk. ACCA makes the same point, advising you to keep your PER record up to date so you are not held back chasing sign-offs from previous roles (ACCA India, Completing your PER). If you are still finding your first role, our ACCA jobs guide is the place to start.

Relevant experience means time spent on accounting, finance, audit and assurance tasks, or related technical work such as tax, insolvency and forensics. Voluntary work for clubs, charities or associations can also count (ACCA India, 36 months' practical experience). What matters is your duties, not your job title.

Part-time and mixed roles (pro rata)

Part-time roles, and roles where only some duties are accounting or finance, count pro rata. At 50% relevant time, 12 months of employment gives 6 months of PER (ACCA India, 36 months' practical experience). ACCA also equates 1,540 hours of part-time work to 12 months of full-time work (ACCA India, student FAQs on the PER). That means 36 months is 4,620 hours (our arithmetic: 1,540 × 3).

Here is a worked example using our own illustrative numbers and ACCA's pro-rata principle:

Forty-two calendar months of work produce 36 months of PER. Write down your relevant share when you start each role, so you can defend the figure later.

Career breaks and lecturing

Extended breaks from work do not count towards the 36 months, because PER is based on time spent gaining relevant experience. When you leave a role, add an end date, and create a new role entry when you return (ACCA India, student FAQs on the PER).

Lecturing can count for up to 12 months, provided you teach accounting or finance subjects at ACCA Applied Skills level or higher (ACCA India, student FAQs on the PER).

ACCA PER for Indian students: roles that count and what doesn't

PER is "completely transferable" across organisations, sectors and locations, so work in India counts on the same terms as anywhere else (ACCA India, student FAQs on the PER). Internships and work placements count if the work was relevant and had enough breadth and depth.

In practice, duties such as recording transactions, preparing financial reports, tax computations or audit evidence work map onto ACCA's Technical objectives. A role that is mostly data entry with no accounting judgement, or time spent on non-finance tasks, will add little. Time on leave or in a break will not add anything.

Your ACCA PER supervisor must be a qualified accountant recognised by law in your country and/or a member of a body that belongs to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and must know your work (ACCA India, practical experience supervisors).

The practical experience supervisor

Your supervisor reviews your claims and signs off your time and objectives. They must be registered on MyExperience first: they cannot sign anything otherwise (ACCA India, Completing your PER). Since 24 August 2023, supervisors must also upload evidence of their IFAC membership (ACCA India, Changes to PER).

Avoid choosing a friend or relative. If you cannot, disclose the relationship when you apply for membership (same ACCA supervisor page).

Can an Indian CA or CMA be your supervisor?

Possibly, yes. ACCA's test is membership of an IFAC member body and/or recognition by law in your country, and IFAC's India profile names the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI) as members (IFAC, India profile). So a CA or CMA who works closely with you and knows your work can meet the qualification test, provided they are a current member and upload their proof. For any other Indian qualification, ask ACCA before you send the invitation.

If your line manager isn't a qualified accountant

Your unqualified line manager can still sign off your time in the role. You then nominate an additional, qualified supervisor to sign off your objectives. That could be another manager in the organisation, a consultant, or the organisation's external accountants or auditors, and they must have a business connection to your employer (ACCA India, practical experience supervisors).

Our recommendation: raise this in your first month. Ask your line manager who in the business or among its external advisers could review your work, and agree how often they will see it. A second supervisor who only meets you once a year will struggle to confirm what you did.

What if nobody at work is qualified?

ACCA runs a Remote Practical Experience Supervisor (RPES) programme in which ACCA members volunteer to review your experience and sign off objectives remotely. It is for affiliates, not students: you must have completed all exams, work in a relevant role and have no IFAC-qualified supervisor at or connected with your employer. It is free, and ACCA says it should not be seen as a quicker route to membership (ACCA, RPES FAQs for trainees). Check ACCA's RPES page for current availability before you plan around it.

The Approved Employer route

Working for an ACCA Approved Employer is not required. Some Approved Employers on the Gold or Platinum Trainee Development stream let trainees claim an exemption from documenting performance objectives, but the employer decides whether to allow it. You still record your employment and your progress towards 36 months in MyExperience. Trainees on that route complete a brief form when applying for membership or leaving the employer, which their supervisor verifies (ACCA India, Approved Employer performance objective exemption).

You log your PER in ACCA MyExperience by adding each employer and role, inviting your supervisor, writing a 200 to 500-word statement for each objective, and submitting for sign-off (ACCA India, Completing your PER).

Your supervisor decides on your objectives, but ACCA can still select your record for a PER audit before or after you become a member, and an audit can delay your application (ACCA India, membership requirements). Write each statement as if a stranger will read it.

A routine that touches MyExperience every three months keeps the work fresh while the evidence still exists. The three-month rhythm is our recommendation, not an ACCA rule. ACCA's only timing rule is to claim time when you leave a role or reach 36 months, but your memory fades much sooner than that.

Run each item as a test:

• Month 1: role entered. Pass: employer, role, start date and relevant-time percentage are in MyExperience. Fail: any of those missing.
• Month 1: supervisor registered. Pass: your supervisor appears as registered. Fail: invited but not registered, which means they cannot sign.
• Month 1: second supervisor named, if needed. Pass: your line manager confirms time and a qualified person with a business connection to your employer has agreed to review objectives. Fail: you are assuming it will work out later.
• Every 3 months: task notes captured. Pass: you have dated notes of three or more real tasks, what you did and the outcome. Fail: nothing you could show a reviewer.
• Every 3 months: one statement drafted. Pass: 200 to 500 words, one or two examples, no overlap with earlier statements. Fail: under 200, over 500, or repeated content.
• Every 6 months: relevant share checked. Pass: your logged percentage matches the hours you really spend on relevant work. Fail: it was set in month 1 and never reviewed.
• On leaving any role: end date added and sign-off requested before your last day. Pass: your supervisor has signed off the time. Fail: you are planning to chase later.

PER and exams run in parallel, so a failed attempt does not stop your PER months accruing, and a job gap does not stop you sitting papers. Only the final membership application needs everything complete. This table shows the rhythm, with no dates; for exam planning use our exam attempts and scheduling guide.

ACCA says the qualification is changing from 2027, and that there will be no changes to the existing PER in 2027: you still need at least 36 months of supervised experience plus the performance objectives (ACCA India, students and transition). The redesigned PER that follows will be similar, but ACCA says the performance objectives students complete will change (ACCA India, future qualification FAQs). As of November 2026, that is ACCA's current statement.

ACCA plans to let students gain up to six months of PER through simulated experience from selected Optional Employability Modules (short optional learning modules). That time will not count towards any performance objectives, the Audit qualification or Practising Certificates, and ACCA will announce timings later. Our advice: do not delay real work for a module that has no start date. Keep logging.

Students part-way through the qualification get credit for equivalent elements already completed (ACCA India, students and transition).

We do not arrange PER, supervisors or sign-offs. Your employer and your supervisor handle those, and this page shows you how to prepare for them. What we do is coach you through the ACCA exams that sit beside PER.

See our ACCA coaching classes in Bangalore and our courses, or read how to choose ACCA coaching for the December 2026 exams.

A steady exam plan makes PER easier. You do not want a retake cycle forcing you to leave a role before its sign-offs are done.

Your PER is easiest to finish when it never becomes a backlog. This week, open MyExperience and check three things: your current role is entered with its relevant-time percentage, your supervisor has registered, and, if your line manager is not a qualified accountant, a second qualified person has agreed to review your objectives.

If any answer is no, fix that one first, because an unregistered supervisor cannot sign anything. If you are about to leave a role, ask for sign-off before your last day rather than chasing it later. Then set a three-month reminder to draft your first statement.

If you want the exam side planned around your work, call iProledge on +91 90198 10080 (Jayanagar) or +91 87925 71811 (Malleshwaram), or talk to our team through the contact page.