Micro-credentials FAQs
General
- Our micro-credentialed courses are equivalent to 20, 30, 40 or 60 hours of study, including an in-built formal assessment that corresponds to an AQF level. When you complete a course, you’ll be awarded a digital badge that represents the micro-credential. Relevant micro-credential courses that can be ‘stacked’ into 120-hours of study will be assessed by a capstone exam. When you successfully complete the exam you receive a digital certificate.
We're introducing training that's flexible, relevant, adds value and provides lifelong learning. Micro-credentials are being offered as a training opportunity alongside the CPA Program. We're responding to changes in the profession to provide you with the skills and capabilities employers need in finance and business professionals. Micro-credentials also reflect the way you've told us that you want to develop your professional capabilities and demonstrate your achievements.
Yes. All of our micro-credentialed courses have in-built assessments which are included in the fee. If you don’t complete the assessment, you won’t receive the micro-credential. You won't be eligible to claim a digital badge and your CPD hours won't be automatically applied.
You will have 60 minutes to complete 20 multiple choice questions for each micro-credentialed course.
You must achieve a score of at least 60 percent, or 12 out of 20 marks, to pass the assessment.
Your assessment with be subject to security conditions including a photo ID check. You'll be monitored regularly and must make sure you have a working webcam and meet all system requirements.
No, the micro-credential assessments seek to replicate real world practice, while validating the competency requirements of each course. You may refer to the course or other supporting resources you deem necessary.
Open book exams don’t mean you won't need to study the content. Answers won't be easy to find during your assessment. You need to be familiar with the concepts and contents of the course plus any supporting resources that are used in the assessment.
Your assessment will be an accurate representation of the skills that you need to demonstrate at the advised level of competency which corresponds to an AQF level and CPA Australia's Accounting and Finance Capability Framework. View our definitions of levels of capability and experience in the Resources and Guides section below.
We encourage you to spend the recommended study time on the course and read through the entire content, before attempting your assessment.
Some micro-credentials have supporting resources to help you prepare for the exam, such as a practice exam and a short 'assessment assistance' video containing study tips.
When someone clicks on your digital badge or certificate, they can view details about your achievement. We call this information ‘metadata’. It includes:
- who has awarded the badge or certificate and when
- the subject you studied including learning outcomes
- hours of learning and the assessment process you undertook
- date of attainment, and
- the level of capability you achieved, and the skills demonstrated.
- We have partnered with Credly, an organisation that provides digital credentials worldwide. Credly will issue and manage your digital badges and certificates.
- For help claiming or managing your badges and certificates, please contact Credly’s Support at credly.com.
- No. There are no additional fees to use Credly.
- No, digital badges and certificates are secure, tamper proof icons, linked to data hosted on Credly. The link to verified data makes them more reliable and secure than a paper-based certificate. It also eliminates the possibility of anyone claiming your credentials and associated identity.
By following the links on Credly, you can display your digital badges and certificates on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Weibo. You can also share them by email, or embedded in a website or your email signature. View our Digital Badge Guide below for details on how to claim your badge or certificate and more.
It is in our program of work to digitise our offerings, including retrospectively awarding a digital badge or certificate for Certification achievements and CPA credential. Further communication on these exciting offerings will be available soon.
Digital Finance
View the FAQs on our Digital Finance micro-credential courses
We know that a high competency in digital finance is increasingly expected of finance professionals. That's why we're pleased to share that Digital Finance will be introduced as a new elective in the CPA Program from Semester 2, 2021.
If you're already underway in your CPA Program study, you can make subject choices for the upcoming semesters to ensure that you've got an elective space free to complete this subject when it's available in S2 2021. If you don't have any elective spots free, you'll be able to stack our Digital Finance micro-credentialed courses into 120-hours of study, assessed by a capstone exam, with your achievement represented by a 'Digital Finance' digital certificate.
- The Digital Finance micro-credential courses and assessments are the equivalent of an undergraduate subject level. They're at the Proficient level on our Accounting and Finance Capability Framework.
Leadership
View the FAQs on our Leadership micro-credentials
CPA Australia has recently released three micro-credential assessments on Leadership topics.
- Strategic Leadership (112518325)
- Business management professional (112518012)
- Leading People and Performance (112518174)
These micro-credentials are assessments only and are designed to support learners in demonstrating their non-technical skillsets.
Business Management Professional
Influencing, negotiating and communicating are becoming more important than ever for the finance professional. This assessment-only micro-credential product will allow you to demonstrate skills in decision making, impactful communication and creating customer success.
Leading People and Performance
Developing high performing teams is key for a finance leader to ensure success in today's environment. This assessment-only micro-credential will allow you to demonstrate skills in managing employee performance, leading and engaging employees, improving team productivity, and developing talent.
Strategic Leadership
Leading strategy, change and performance are core capabilities for a future-fit finance professional. This assessment-only micro-credential will allow you to demonstrate skills in leading strategy, managing change and innovation, and improving performance.
These micro-credentials are assessment only and do not contain any content.
However, each assessment is based on the learnings contained within the Harvard ManageMentor courses and as such, each assessment does have a list of recommended courses to undertake. These courses are not a requirement but a recommendation. We encourage you to refer to the product details to learn more about these micro-credentials.
Each micro-credential includes a 60-minute assessment only. However, there are five Harvard ManageMentor skill-packs recommended under each micro-credential. These are 4 hours per skill-pack, which totals to 20 hours of recommended learning per micro-credential.
Each skill-pack consists of two Harvard ManageMentor courses, and each individual course is two hours in duration.
Harvard ManageMentor® are online courses that CPA Australia resells to CPA members only. Each course is 2 hours in duration. These courses are available in skill packs of two courses plus a Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study that helps embed the learning.
The HBR case study is not counted or included in the assessment.
You're not required to study all the Harvard ManageMentor® online courses that underpin each micro-credential on leadership. Although we recommend you undertake these courses before attempting the assessment, if you're sufficiently experienced or knowledgeable on the assessed topics, you may be able to successfully complete the assessment without studying the courses.
The assessment for each micro-credential is at, what CPA Australia is calling in its Capability Framework, the Proficient Level. This relates to the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 6/7 (the equivalent to study at an undergraduate level).
The three micro-credentials on leadership topics are a CPA Australia micro-credential and as such, you will not receive a certificate from Harvard.
However, anyone who completes one of the Harvard ManageMentor courses, does receive a digital certificate co-branded by both CPA Australia and Harvard that you'll be able to print and share.
No, the digital badge will not mention Harvard as the micro-credential is a CPA Australia product.