Candidate handbook

This handbook is the reference for anyone holding, sitting for, or considering a CBA credential. It sets out what the credential is, what each level requires, how to register, how to prepare, what the examination is and what happens on the day, how results and credentials are issued, and what to do when something goes wrong. It summarises other CBA policies in places; where this handbook and a specific policy differ, the specific policy governs.

What a CBA credential is

The Corporate Business Alliance is a United Kingdom certification body. It sets competence standards in finance, accounting, management and technology, assesses candidates against those standards, and awards credentials to candidates who meet them. Each credential is published with its own code, syllabus and examination blueprint.

CBA is not a training provider. It publishes study material; it does not teach, coach or deliver courses. Assessment and instruction are kept separate.

CBA credentials are CBA’s own professional certifications. They are not regulated qualifications, CBA is not a regulated awarding organisation, and CBA claims no equivalence to any other qualification or credential. Describe your credential by its full title and its credential ID, and not as anything else.

The three levels

Every programme sits at one of three levels. The level states what was measured, not how senior the holder is.

• Certificate. Examination only. The credential evidences knowledge of the published syllabus.
• Practitioner. Examination plus assessed applied work. You complete one or more applied workbooks in a spreadsheet, and each is marked against a published tolerance rather than by impression.
• Professional. Examination, assessed applied work, and professional experience confirmed by a named referee, together with a signed undertaking to the Code of Professional Conduct.

A Professional credential is not issued until the candidate’s experience record is verified; passing the examination alone does not produce it.

Eligibility

At Certificate and Practitioner level there is no experience requirement and no entry requirement of any kind. CBA asks for no prior qualification, no membership and no sponsor.

At Professional level there is an experience requirement. The number of years is set per programme and stated on the programme page. Some programmes state a reduced requirement where you hold a relevant degree; where a degree makes no difference, the programme page says so.

Experience is verified, not declared. You submit a declaration giving your current role, your organisation, the years you are claiming, and a short account of the work relevant to the programme. You also name a referee: their name, role, organisation, email address, and how they know your work. The referee must be someone other than you, and is normally your line manager. CBA writes to the referee directly. You cannot confirm your own experience. A declaration cannot become verified without a confirmation from the referee themselves: normally that is their reply to CBA’s link, and where it is given another way — by telephone, or in writing outside the link — it is recorded verbatim against the name of the CBA reviewer who took it.

A declaration is then reviewed by a named CBA reviewer and recorded as verified or not accepted. You are told the outcome either way. You may declare experience before or after sitting the examination; the credential is issued once every requirement for the level is recorded.

Examinations and study material are published in English. Candidates enrol from anywhere. CBA is established in the United Kingdom, and the law of England and Wales governs its published terms.

Registering, and what an enrolment includes

You do not create an account before buying. Enrolling on a programme, or buying its study material, creates one for you and CBA emails you a link to set a password; if that email is lost, ask for a new link at cba-uk.com/account/forgot using the address you paid with. Payment is taken by an external payment provider. Where card payment is not taken at checkout, CBA emails you an invoice with a secure link to pay by card, and issues the voucher directly.

An enrolment includes one or more of the following, depending on what you buy:

• Access to the programme’s study material for as long as the enrolment is active: the lessons, the worked exercises, and the applied workbooks, which download as spreadsheets in a starter and a solution version.
• An examination voucher, where the purchase includes an examination. A voucher is a single code entitling you to one attempt, and is valid for twelve months from issue. The programme page states the attempts and the validity period that apply to it.
• A re-sit voucher, at the re-sit fee shown on the programme page. There is no limit on attempts and no waiting period between them.

Prices, question count and duration are stated on the programme page before you pay. The pass mark is set by a documented standard-setting panel and published on the programme page before any candidate sits the examination, so no candidate is examined against a figure that has not been settled. Cancellation and refund rights, including the statutory right for consumers buying online in the UK and the effect of accessing digital study material on that right, are set out in the refund policy.

How to prepare

CBA’s study material is optional. It confers no advantage in the examination.

Examination items are written to the published blueprint, not to the study material. No item depends on a phrase, a worked example or a numbering scheme appearing only in a CBA publication. A candidate who prepared with an employer, with an Approved Learning Partner, or alone from the blueprint and their own sources sits a paper drawn from the same bank and marked to the same cut score as a candidate who used CBA’s study material.

The material covers the blueprint in the same proportions as the paper, because both are built from it.

At Practitioner and Professional level the assessed workbooks are not optional: they are a requirement of the level, and are marked against a defined numerical tolerance. At Certificate level, workbooks are practice.

Approved Learning Partners deliver training independently of CBA. A partner may not advertise a pass guarantee on CBA’s behalf, and CBA does not operate one.

The examination

Examinations are delivered online. Every question is single best answer from four options: one mark each, no negative marking, no partial credit.

Papers run from 60 to 80 questions and from 90 to 135 minutes depending on the programme. The exact figures for your programme are on its programme page, where its pass mark is also published before any candidate sits, and all three are fixed for the examination cycle you sit in.

Each programme page states how its examination is supervised.

How a paper is assembled

Papers are assembled automatically at the moment you start, drawn at random from the programme’s item bank in the proportions set by the published blueprint. Domain weightings total one hundred per cent, and the blueprint is published before the programme opens. No two candidates should see the same paper.

Every item is reviewed and signed off by a named subject-matter expert before it can appear in a live paper. An item with no recorded reviewer cannot be made active, and the sign-off stays recorded against the item.

Every bank is audited for answer cueing, domain by domain as well as across the bank, so that a test-wise candidate cannot select correct answers from their shape rather than their content.

Cut scores are set by a documented standard-setting panel and published on the programme page before any candidate sits the examination, so no candidate is examined against a figure that has not been settled. They are not adjusted afterwards to produce a particular pass rate. The pass mark in force on the day you sit is recorded against your result and does not move afterwards.

What the format means in practice

• All questions carry equal weight. The blueprint weightings decide how many questions come from each domain, not how much each question is worth.
• Unanswered questions are marked incorrect, and there is no penalty for a wrong answer. Answer every question.
• You can move between questions in any order, and change an answer as often as you like until you submit.
• The clock starts when you start the paper and runs to a fixed finish time. It does not pause, and it does not stop if you close the page.
• The paper submits itself when the clock reaches zero, and is marked on whatever was answered.
• A short allowance beyond the finish time absorbs the round trip of a slow connection. A paper submitted materially after the finish time is not marked, and the sitting is recorded as expired.
• You cannot return to the paper after submitting.

On the day

You need a device with a working browser, a connection you expect to stay up, your voucher code, and a block of uninterrupted time at least as long as the paper. There is nothing to install.

Start at the examination page and redeem your voucher. You give your name and email address at that point. Check the spelling of your name before you start: it is printed on your certificate and shown on your public register entry.

The examination rules apply from the moment you start. They cover what counts as malpractice, including having someone else sit the paper for you, and copying, recording or sharing questions in any form. Where malpractice is found, the attempt may be voided, future entry refused, and any credential already awarded revoked. You will be shown the evidence and given an opportunity to respond before a final decision, and you may appeal the outcome.

If a disability or long-term condition affects your ability to sit under standard conditions, ask for an adjustment before you book. Adjustments such as additional time, alternative formats or rest breaks are agreed in advance. An adjustment changes the conditions and never the standard: the blueprint and the pass mark are identical for everyone. The reasonable adjustments policy sets out the evidence CBA asks for, the deadline, who decides, and how a refusal is appealed. You do not have to disclose a condition to a general enquiry address to find any of that out.

If your connection fails during the paper, return to the examination page and redeem the same voucher code. You are returned to the paper you were already sitting rather than to a new one, and the attempt is not consumed. Two things matter here. Answers you had selected but not submitted are held in the browser and are not saved question by question, so you will need to select them again. And the clock does not stop while you are away: it runs on to the finish time set when you started.

Do not attempt to start a second paper with another voucher while a session is live. If you cannot get back in at all, or the interruption cost you enough time that finishing was impossible, follow the route set out below.

Your result

Results are issued on completion, on screen. You are shown your score as a percentage, the pass mark in force for the programme, and a breakdown of how you performed in each domain of the published blueprint.

A pass creates a credential record. The public register entry appears within one working day, and the certificate is a PDF you download from the result page. Save it when you download it: that link belongs to the examination session, while the credential itself is permanent and always confirmable from the register.

At Practitioner and Professional level, a pass is one component. The credential is issued when the assessed workbooks, and at Professional level the verified experience record and the signed ethics undertaking, are all recorded.

A result that is not a pass carries the same domain breakdown, which shows which parts of the blueprint to concentrate on. A re-sit needs a new voucher, at the re-sit fee stated on the programme page.

Scores are never published. The register shows that a credential exists and whether it is current, and nothing about how well it was earned.

Your credential, and how it is verified

Every award carries a unique credential ID in the form CBA-XXX-YYYY-NNNNNN followed by a check block. It is printed on the certificate, and it resolves to a permanent public register entry.

Anyone can check a credential from the ID alone at cba-uk.com/verify, with no account and without contacting CBA. The register is the source of truth; the certificate document is a printout of it.

The register entry shows the holder’s name, the programme, the level, the scheme version, the issue date, the expiry date, and the status: valid, expired or revoked. It shows no email address, no score and no contact detail, and it cannot be browsed or listed. Whoever checks must already hold the ID.

The level states what the award was assessed by, so an employer reading the entry can tell an examination-only credential from one that also required assessed applied work or verified professional experience. The scheme version is the competence standard in force on the day of the award: when a blueprint is reweighted or a pass mark is reset, the standard you actually met stays traceable.

Revoked credentials remain in the register showing the status “Revoked”. They are not deleted, because an employer who checked a credential previously must be able to discover that it has been withdrawn.

Expiry and recertification

Credentials are valid for three years from issue. The expiry date is printed on the certificate and shown on the public verification page from the day the credential is issued.

Renewal requires evidenced professional development. There is no fee-only route.

• Earn 60 hours of continuing professional development across the three-year cycle: twenty hours a year of structured training, formal study, conferences and webinars, workplace projects that extended your practice, teaching and mentoring. You log activities as you go, and CBA asks for evidence on a sample basis.
• Before your expiry date, submit the hours you have logged. CBA reviews the record, then charges the renewal fee shown on your programme page. A renewal with a complete CPD record is processed within five working days.
• Your register entry rolls forward three years. The credential ID and the certificate lineage do not change.

CBA sends a renewal reminder before the expiry date. For twelve months after the expiry date you can still renew on the ordinary terms by completing the outstanding CPD hours. After that, the route back to a valid credential is sitting the current examination against the blueprint as it then stands.

An expired credential is not removed from the register. The entry stays, showing the status “Expired”.

When something goes wrong

Each situation below has a first action you can take yourself, and a route if the first action does not resolve it. Where the route is to contact CBA, use the contact form at cba-uk.com/contact, or write from the email address on your enrolment. Every matter in this section is a formal one, so it is acknowledged within five working days and given a substantive response within fifteen. An ordinary question, asked through the same form, is answered in two.

A payment that fails

First action: do not pay a second time. A failed payment sometimes leaves a temporary authorisation on the card, and paying again can create a second one.

Route: contact CBA with the programme code, the date and approximate time of the attempt, and any reference shown on the payment page. CBA can see whether an order reached it, and will either complete the enrolment or confirm that no payment was taken. Where your card issuer is holding funds against an order that was never created, only the issuer can release that hold. Never send card details to CBA, by email or through any form.

A voucher you cannot find

First action: search your email, including the spam folder, for the message that issued the code, and search the address used at enrolment rather than the one you read email on today.

Route: contact CBA from the address used at enrolment, quoting your order reference. A voucher is reissued to that address only. Note that an expired voucher and an unrecognised code produce the same message on screen, deliberately, so the form cannot be used to test which codes exist. If a code you believe is genuine is refused, contact CBA rather than assuming you have typed it wrongly.

A technical failure during the paper

First action: go back to the examination page and redeem the same voucher code. You resume the paper you were sitting, and the attempt is not consumed.

Route: if you cannot get back in, or the interruption made finishing impossible, contact CBA within two working days quoting the voucher code, the programme, and the date and approximate time you started. CBA reviews the session record held on its side and aims to decide within five working days. Where the record supports your account, the sitting is voided and a replacement voucher issued. Where it does not, you are told what the record shows, and you may appeal that decision.

A result you believe is incorrect

First action: compare your domain breakdown against the published blueprint and identify the specific ground. An appeal rests on one of two grounds: procedural, meaning something went wrong in how the examination was administered; or assessment, meaning an item you believe was defective, outside the published blueprint, or incorrectly marked.

Route: submit an appeal under the complaints and appeals policy within 30 days of receiving your result. There is no fee. It is reviewed by someone who was not involved in the original decision, acknowledged within five working days and decided within twenty-five. If it is upheld, the result is corrected. Where an appeal shows an item to be defective, every affected paper is re-marked, including papers that already passed, and every affected candidate is told. A complaint about service, materials, a learning partner or how you were treated goes down the complaints route instead, which is set out in the same policy.

A certificate showing the wrong name

First action: check the public register entry. The register is the source of truth, and where the entry is correct the certificate can simply be regenerated.

Route: contact CBA with your credential ID and the correct spelling. A misspelling is corrected on the same credential ID, with the same issue date and the same register entry, and a corrected certificate issued; CBA aims to complete this within five working days of agreeing the correction. Where the change is not a correction but a change of legal name, CBA asks to see a document evidencing the new name before reissuing. The credential ID and the issue date do not change in either case.

Anything else

Contact CBA and describe what happened. Where a matter falls outside every policy CBA has published, say so in your message, and CBA will tell you how it intends to handle it and by when.

Where the other policies are

This handbook is a guide to the policies and does not replace any of them. All of them are listed at cba-uk.com/legal.

Three further pages are not policies, but answer what candidates ask most often: the programme pages and their blueprints at cba-uk.com/certifications, recertification at cba-uk.com/recertification, and credential verification at cba-uk.com/verify.

On personal data the privacy policy governs. It sets out what CBA holds, why, for how long, and how to ask for a copy or a correction. A complaint about how CBA has handled your personal data can also be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

CBA is not a regulated awarding organisation, so there is no statutory regulator above CBA for assessment decisions, and no external appeal route for them. Complaints about misleading advertising can be made to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Changes to this handbook

This handbook is dated, and the date of the version you are reading is shown at the top of the page. Where a change affects what a credential means, such as new or reweighted domains, a new pass mark, or a change of examination format, the programme’s scheme version is raised and the change takes effect from the next examination cycle. The blueprint and the pass mark for a cycle already open do not change mid-cycle.