Your experience

To satisfy the experience requirement you’ll need to:

1. Gain experience

You need to gain 36 months of full time, or the equivalent for part-time work, of relevant experience.  To calculate the hours for part-time work, use this formula: (your weekly part-time hours /35 hours) x months worked = full time equivalent in months.

Experience can be gained at any time:  before or during your study, through relevant volunteer work, eligible work experience during university or you may already have enough relevant experience. You cannot claim the same skill for multiple roles, and you cannot claim concurrent employment.

You can also gain experience by working for a Recognised Employer Program Partner (see below).

While accumulating your experience, you must demonstrate 10 skills across four categories. This must include:

• four technical skills
• two personal effectiveness skills 
• two business skills 
• two leadership skills

Each role must include at least one relevant technical skill from the skills list to count towards Your Experience.

2. Get your experience signed off

You'll need to demonstrate the experience and skills you've gained by getting your experienced signed off digitally by a CPA, FCPA or an equivalent full member of an International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) member body. They will review your experience and sign off on the time you’re claiming and the skills you acquired.

The signing off process of your experience claim can be completed as part of your experience claim application. Remember, each of your roles must include at least one technical skill. 

If you’re supported by a mentor who is a CPA, FCPA or IFAC member, they can sign your claim. It’s optional to work with a mentor, but we encourage all our Associate members to have one so that you have guidance and support throughout your CPA Program. 

Find out more about finding a mentor below.

If you currently hold an equivalent full membership with another accounting body recognised by IFAC, please submit a Letter of Good Standing issued directly by the accounting body within the last 6 months confirming your membership status issued by the accounting body in lieu of the Third Party Sign Off Form.

Log in and select the “experience” application to create and submit your claim. You will need to create a separate claim application for each individual signing off on your experience.

When your experience claim application has been signed off and completed, you can submit it to CPA Australia for verification.

NOTE: We have now transitioned to an online form to claim your experience and are no longer accepting PDF claim forms.

Please allow up to 15 business days to process your application.

You can also check the status of your claim by logging in. 

Experience claims are only available to ASA members. 

When you have met your experience requirement, and satisfied all other outstanding requirements as outlined in your membership application outcome, you’ll be ready to advance to CPA status.

REP Partners have shown CPA Australia they provide their staff with access to learning and development opportunities that satisfy our experience requirements.

Benefits of working for a REP Partner:

• a streamlined application to recognise of Your Experience. As an employee of a REP Partner you don’t need to complete the skills table 
• a supportive relationship with an assigned mentor
• working for an organisation committed to career development 
• simplified maintenance and recording of your continuing professional development

Check if your employer is listed as a REP Partner.

How to claim your experience with a REP Partner

If you are employed in a relevant role at a REP, simply follow these steps to have your experience validated:

• complete your 36 months (or its equivalent for part-time work) of relevant experience
• ensure you can demonstrate 10 skills across four categories
• create and submit the Experience claim application to CPA Australia for verification to verify the duration of your employment
• You do not need to add any skills for REP employment. However, if you are claiming experience from both REP and non-REP employers, all non-REP roles must include at least one technical skill from our skills list for assessment

Studying the CPA Program with the support from a mentor provides many benefits. It’s optional to work with a mentor but we highly recommend it. Our experience has shown that Associate members studying with a mentor have a higher likelihood of passing their subjects than those who don’t. An experienced mentor can also give you the opportunity to progress your career and broaden your professional networking.

How to find a mentor

A mentor can be a CPA, FCPA or anyone who holds full membership with an equivalent professional International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) member body.

Your mentor can be:

• working within the same company as you
• working within an external organisation
• retired or unemployed if they still have full membership

If your manager or supervisor is not suitable or available to be a mentor, you can try:

• contacting others in your workplace
• advertising your need for a mentor on your organisation's intranet or website
• attending networking events and local discussion groups
• or post your interest for a mentor on CPA Australia’s Facebook page or LinkedIn group