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Credit for prior work experience (CPWE) as a special entrant applicant

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If your qualification is not recognised by the Financial Reporting Council for audit and you are requalifying for the Audit Qualification (AQ) with ICAEW, you may be eligible for credit for prior work experience (CPWE) as a special entrant applicant. This credit is only available to senior and experienced auditors with many years of audit experience and is an alternative option to the 12 months' CPWE allowed under our normal CPWE process – you cannot apply for both.

Under the special entrant route, if you do not have any UK audit experience, you can apply for 12 months' CPWE based on your non-UK audit experience. This will leave you with 2 years to complete under your training agreement with an ICAEW Authorised Training Employer (ATE) going forward.

If you have at least 24 months of UK audit experience within an ICAEW ATE, you can apply for 24 months of CPWE. This will leave you with 1 year to complete under your training agreement with an ICAEW ATE going forward.

The special entrant route will not affect the exam component of your requalification for the AQ – you will still be required to pass the relevant ACA exams as outlined for your home body.

Eligibility criteria

To be considered for CPWE as a special entrant applicant, you must:

  • hold at least 2 years' membership of an IFAC member body and your membership must have been gained via the normal education and training route (you must also be a current member);
  • hold or have held audit signing rights in your home country;
  • have significant audit experience of at least 5 years;
  • hold a senior level position (typically this would be senior manager and above) at your current firm and have held a senior level position for at least 2 years across your current firm or previous firms;
  • have the support of your current employer who intends to appoint you as a responsible individual (RI) once you have completed the requalification process.

Supporting documentation

Please submit the following documents to aq@icaew.com outlining your intention to apply for CPWE as a special entrant applicant:

  • A letter of good standing from your home body confirming you gained membership via the normal education and training route and the dates you have held membership and audit signing rights.
  • A detailed CV demonstrating that you hold a senior level position within your current firm and that you have significant previous audit experience of at least 5 years.
  • CPD records for the 12 months preceding the date of application. This must include an amount of audit CPD comparable to that expected of a statutory auditor in the UK.
  • A letter of support from your firm which confirms your competence, seniority within the firm, and that there is an intention to nominate you as an RI after you are granted the AQ.
  • If your application is based on 12 months of non-UK experience:
    • A summary of your audit work experience in the preceding 12 months in the country where you have held audit signing rights using the Audit Experience Summary form. This will need to include a substantial amount of audit experience and can include statutory or non-statutory audit assignments, audit compliance, audit tendering and training of audit staff.
    • You cannot cite experience from this time towards the required 240/120 days of audit/statutory audit which must be gained under your training agreement going forward.
  • If your application is based on 24 months of UK experience:
    • A completed AQ Application form for the 24-month period demonstrating your substantial audit experience.
    • You can only cite experience from the most recent 12 months towards the 240/120 days of audit/statutory audit requirement. The remainder will need to be gained under your training agreement going forward.