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CPA Australia
Micro-Credentials

The micro-credentialed courses offered by CPA Australia 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 successfully complete a course, you’ll be awarded a digital badge that represents the micro-credential. Relevant micro-credentialed courses that can be ‘stacked’ into 120-hours of study will be assessed by a capstone exam, and successful completion represented by a digital certificate.

CPA Australia is introducing education offerings that are flexible, relevant, add value and provide life-long learning opportunities. We are offering micro-credentials alongside the CPA Program, in response to changes within the profession, both to the skills and capabilities employers are looking for in finance and business professionals and to the way that individuals want to develop their professional capabilities and demonstrate their achievements.

The CPA Program is a ‘macro-credential’ that represents a significant investment of study hours to achieve a globally recognised designation. CPA Australia Micro-Credentials are available alongside the CPA Program, as a new way to quickly gain or demonstrate specific capabilities important to your employer or career path.

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 underway in your CPA Program study, you can make subject choices for the coming semesters to ensure that you’ve got an elective space free to complete this subject when it’s available in Semester 2, 2021. If you don't have any elective spots free, you will 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.

All CPA Australia Micro-Credentialed courses have in-built assessment which is included in the fee. You can choose not to complete the assessment, but you won’t receive the micro-credential or be able to claim a digital badge and CPD hours will not be automatically applied.

Learners will have 60 minutes to complete 20 multiple choice questions for each Digital Finance micro-credentialed course.

Learners must achieve a score of at least 60 percent, or 12 out of 20 marks, to pass the assessment.

Assessment with be subject to security conditions including a photo ID check and will be monitored at intervals and learners must ensure they have a working webcam and meet all system requirements.

No, the Digital Finance assessment seeks to replicate real world practice, while validating the competency requirements of each course. The assessment is therefore open book and learners may refer to the course or other supporting resources they deem necessary.

Open book exams do not mean learners don’t need to study the content, and answers will not be easy to find during the assessment. Learners need to be familiar with the concepts and contents of the course plus any supporting resources they are using in the assessment.

The assessment is set at proficient level of CPA Australia’s Accounting and Finance Capability Framework which equates to an under-graduate level (Australian Qualifications Framework level 6/7). The assessment will be an accurate representation of the skills that learners need to demonstrate at this level of competency. We encourage learners to spend the recommended study time on the course and read through the entire content, before attempting the assessment.

There are also supporting resources to help learners prepare for the exam, such as a Practice Exam and a short ‘assessment assistance’ video containing study tips.

The Digital Finance micro-credentialed courses and assessments are the equivalence of an undergraduate subject level and are at the Proficient level on our Accounting and Finance Capability Framework. View our definitions of levels of capability and experience.

When someone clicks on your digital badge or certificate, they will be able to view information about that achievement. We call this information ‘metadata’. It includes:

• Who has awarded the badge or certificate and when;
• The subject studied including learning outcomes;
• Hours of learning and the assessment process undertaken;
• Date of attainment; and
• The level of capability achieved, and skills demonstrated.

We have partnered with Credly, an organisation that provides digital credentials worldwide. Credly will issue and manage your digital badges and certificates through their Acclaim platform.

For help claiming or managing badges and certificates, please contact Credly’s Acclaim Support at support.youracclaim.com.

There are no additional fees to use the Acclaim platform.

No, digital badges and certificates are secure, tamper-proof icons, linked to data hosted on Credly’s Acclaim platform. The link to verified data makes them more reliable and secure than a paper-based certificate. It also eliminates the possibility of anyone claiming someone else’s credential and associated identity.

By following the links on Credly’s Acclaim platform, you can display your digital badges and certificates on social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, by email, or embedded in a website or email signature. View our Digital Badge Guide for details on how to claim your badge or certificate and more.

It is in CPA Australia’s programme of work to digitise our offerings, including retrospectively awarding a digital badge or certificate for Certification achievements and CPA designation. Further communication on these exciting offerings will be available in the near future.