Professional skills and experience

Through the ACA’s professional skills and experience requirement, students will develop key transferrable skills while gaining experience in real-life working environments:

• Provides students with the opportunity to apply the technical knowledge they are gaining in a real-world context.
• Develops commercial and business awareness with the opportunity to exercise professional judgement.
• Drive career longevity with a focus on building key transferrable skills such as communication, critical thinking and leadership.
• Celebrates diversity by creating personalised views of students' professional development.
• Empowers employers to hold holistic and valuable development conversations with students.
• Encourages lifelong learning and development, by helping students and employers to identify development opportunities and support them with relevant resources.
• Complements the UK Level 7 Apprenticeship* by improving alignment with apprenticeship standards.

* More information will be released once the revised UK Level 7 Apprenticeship Standards have been confirmed.

Professional skills equips students with the ability to handle the variety of different situations they will encounter throughout their career. The ACA features 25 professional skills split across five key competency areas: communication, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, leadership and professionalism.

A three-stage proficiency model will guide students to develop their unique skills portfolio, supported by their employer as part of their regular six-monthly review meetings. Ethics in practice scenario discussions will develop critical thinking, professional scepticism and ethical decision-making skills.

This emphasis on skills development develops critical thinkers, agile problem-solvers and effective communicators ready to succeed in the modern business landscape.

Students will continue to gain invaluable business and commercial insight with professional experience, putting what they learn into practice in the workplace. Students need to complete 450 days of professional work experience with an Authorised Training Employer, which will typically take between three and five years. Professional work experience involves undertaking real-life work of a financial, business and/or commercial nature. The knowledge, skills and experience students gain as part of this work experience is invaluable, helping them as they prepare for ICAEW membership.

From December 2025, students will also have the opportunity to develop their digital skills with the new Technology Hub. This will include demonstration platforms and dummy datasets where students can safely interact and experience different technologies in a sandbox environment.