Mentored Experience Program

The Mentored Experience Program (MEP) is designed to provide a structured approach to your workplace learning and ongoing professional development.

It is entirely a work-experience based program guided by a mentor and is a
support mechanism for your career development. The purpose of the program is for you to work with a more experienced accountant who can guide and assist you in the early stages of your career.

In the program you will complete suitable work experience and provide documentary evidence relating to a number of agreed areas of work activity under the supervision of a mentor.

Entrants to the MEP normally begin in entry level work such as bookkeeping and accounts payable roles before gaining more complex knowledge and increasing seniority as you are guided through agreed upon areas of activity.

At the end of the MEP, you will have acquired skills and experience that will give you greater professional opportunities, higher self-confidence and enhanced recognition in your work place to help you advance your career.

The MEP is an important condition for advancement to Member, Institute of Public Accountant level of membership (MIPA).

In addition to qualifying you for MIPA status, the MEP identifies you as someone who is committed to ongoing career and personal development.

We encourage all members to enrol in the IPA Program and the MEP simultaneously where possible, though it is not compulsory to do the two programs 
together. However both programs must be completed to advance to MIPA status. You may be eligible for exemption from the MEP - please refer to the MEP Information Pack*.
The MEP Information Pack contains all the forms that you will need to register for the Program.

As the program is work-experience based, you will accumulate documented experience that will help you prove your abilities to future employers to gain and excel in future roles.

A mentor can help new entrants into the profession through their experience and insight as senior qualified accountants. The key role of the mentor is to provide guidance and to act as a sounding board. This allows the mentee to ask
questions, seek assistance, brainstorm, or to talk through issues when needed.