Indicator 16 — Registration and presentation for certification exams

Indicator 16 closes the series 1 to 16 and complements indicator 7 on the operational side: your content prepares for the certification (indicator 7) — but your beneficiaries must also actually be registered for the exams, informed of the rules of the game and put in a position to succeed. It only concerns services leading to a professional certification: training providers preparing a title or diploma, and CFAs. Without certifying services, it is not applicable.

What the auditor actually checks on the day

The auditor reconstructs the candidate's journey from entry to the exam:

• The exam registration procedure: who registers (the provider, the certifier, the candidate), when, with which documents, within which deadlines. This division of roles must be written and consistent with your accreditation agreement.
• Candidate information: exam formats (nature, duration, venue, allowed equipment), eligibility conditions, session calendar, procedure after a failure (resit, block retention, new session). This information must be transmitted and traced.
• Exam preparation: mock exams, jury interview simulations, professional file preparation — directly linked to indicator 7's teaching plan.
• Registration tracking: a candidate table with session dates, received convocations, actual attendance, results. The auditor may ask for a full cohort's outcome.
• Special cases: exam accommodations for candidates with disabilities (requested within the certifier's deadlines), handling of absentees and postponements.

Achieving compliance, step by step

1. Document the registration circuit in a one-page procedure: actors, deadlines, required documents, the certifier's platform, the owner within your team.
2. Create a candidate information document: exam presentation, calendar, sitting rules, disability accommodation procedure, resit conditions. Hand it over at the start of the pathway, against a trace.
3. Keep a candidate tracking table: registration, convocation, attendance, result, follow-up. This table also feeds your presentation and pass rates (indicator 2).
4. Build exam preparation into the plan: at least one full dress rehearsal before the session.
5. Anticipate disability accommodations: identify the certifier's procedure and deadlines, together with your disability officer; an increasingly checked point.

Field advice

First: nail down registration responsibility. The typical dispute: the candidate thought the provider would register them, the provider assumed the opposite, and the session has passed. Write down who does what in the contract or information document, and have it signed.

Second: watch the presentation rate, not just the pass rate. Candidates trained but never presented to the exams are a major warning signal for auditors and funders alike — especially on CPF-funded courses, where sitting the exam underpins the funding logic.

Third: keep the documents issued by the certifier — registration acknowledgements, convocations, results statements, jury minutes if you run the exams. These external documents carry more evidential weight than your internal ones. Finally, if you are the certifier or run the exams yourself, the indicator also covers your organisation: issued convocations, secured papers, convened juries and archived minutes. In every case, the auditor's final question is the same: "pick a candidate at random and show me their path to the exam" — your system must answer it in five minutes.