IESs Implementation Support Presentation by IAESB Staff, April 2015

1. Page 1 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
IES 6, Initial Professional
Development – Assessment of
Professional Competence (Revised)
IES Implementation Support Material
Prepared by: IAESB staff
April 2015

2. Page 2 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Overview of Presentation
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
 Introduction
 Scope: Who? What? When? Why?
 Objective:
 IES 6 establishes the assessment of professional competence that is
needed to perform a role as a professional accountant
 Requirements & Explanatory Material:
 Formally assess whether aspiring professional accountants have achieved
an appropriate level of professional competence by the end of IPD

3. Page 3 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Overview of Presentation
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
 Requirements & Explanatory Material:
 Design assessment activities that have high levels of reliability, validity,
equity, transparency, and sufficiency
 Base the assessment of professional competence on verifiable evidence

4. Page 4 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Introduction - Scope
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
What?
 Prescribes the assessment of professional competence practical
experience required by the end of initial professional development
Who?
 Targets IFAC member bodies, helpful to accountants, providers,
employers, regulators, and government authorities
When?
 Effective date: July 1, 2015
Why?
 To protect the public interest by prescribing requirements to assess the
professional competence required to perform a role as a professional
accountant.

5. Page 5 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Objective
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
IES 6 establishes the assessment requirements for
professional competence
 Establishing assessment requirements serves to
 Protect the public interest & enhance the credibility of the accountancy
profession
 Ensure competence expected by the public, employers, and clients
 Ensure competent professional service is received by clients, employers and
other stakeholders
 Requiring assessment activities to be achieved by the end of IPD to
 Perform a role as a professional accountant

6. Page 6 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Requirements
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
Formally assess by the end of IPD whether an appropriate
level of professional competence has been achieved
 Draw on outcomes of one or more assessment activities
 Configuration of assessment activities may vary
 Examples include: single multi-disciplinary examination, series of
examinations of specific areas, series of examinations and workplace
assessments
 Select of assessment activities
 Assess specific areas of professional competence
 Match particular aspect of professional competence
 Depend on factors specific to each IFAC member body

7. Page 7 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Requirements
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
 Determine an appropriate level of professional competence by
 Complexity and variety of tasks
 Expectations of stakeholders
 Specialized knowledge required in particular industries
 Level of professional judgment
 Varied roles assumed
 Complexity of working environment

8. Page 8 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Requirements
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
Design assessment activities that have high levels of
 Reliability
 If they produce the same result given the same set of circumstances
 Can be increased by avoiding ambiguous wording in exam questions;
undertaking internal or external review of content; selecting assessors who
have comparable levels of ability and providing suitable training
 Validity
 If they measure what they are intended to measure
 Forms of validity: face, predictive, and content
 Can be increased by including a comprehensive and relevant case study;
relying on a workplace assessment; covering more, rather than a few
aspects of the particular area of professional competence

9. Page 9 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Requirements
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
Design assessment activities that have high levels of
 Equity
 If they are fair and without bias
 Can be increased by relying only on computer-based technologies that are
available to all; removing assumptions relating to cultural knowledge not
commonly shared
 Transparency
 If details of an assessment are disclosed publicly
 Can be increased by making publicly available a statement that explains
areas of professional competence, types of assessment activities, timing of
assessment activities during IPD; defining clearly the competence
framework against which employee’s competence will be assessed;
making publicly available information on development, scoring and
management of the examination

10. Page 10 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Requirements
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
Design assessment activities that have high levels of
 Sufficiency
 If they have balance of depth and breath, knowledge, and application, and
combine material form different areas applied to a range of situations and
contexts
 Can be increased by assessing appropriate coverage of professional
competence (breadth) and level of details (depth); and demonstrating
professional competence across a wide range of skills and attitudes applied
to many situations

11. Page 11 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
Requirements
IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)
Base the assessment of professional competence on
 Verifiable evidence
 Is objective, capable of being proven, and stored in written or electronic
form
 May satisfy needs of third parties who oversee or regulate member bodies
and increase confidence of stakeholders
 Examples include
 Certificates of successful course completion
 Recorded outcomes of successful achievement in examination
 Records of achievement provided by employers on competence achieved

12. Page 12 | Confidential and Proprietary Information
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IES 6, Initial Professional Development – Assessment of Professional Competence (Revised)