AIAC-FNAP · Professional grade · Practice
Certified AI in Finance & Accounting — Professional
For senior finance and accounting professionals who set the terms on which AI is used across a finance function — and answer for the estimates, controls and disclosures it touches.
2 hours examination · remote, proctored · pass mark 70% · valid 2 years
US$895
Preparation course and first membership year included
§ 1 — Intended candidates
Who this certification is for
The Fundamentals grade certifies a professional’s own AI-assisted work. The Professional grade certifies the person who decides how a whole finance function uses AI: what may be relied on and at what threshold, which controls change when a model sits inside them, what is disclosed about an estimate a model produced, and what is shown to an auditor, an audit committee or a regulator afterwards. It examines judgement exercised without supervision, on cases that run across a reporting period. It is not an assurance credential and does not certify the ability to audit an AI system.
- Prerequisites
- No formal prerequisite. Designed for candidates with several years in a finance or accounting function. The Fundamentals grade is the recommended entry point and is not required.
The other grade of this credential: Certified AI in Finance & Accounting — Fundamentals.
§ 2 — Examination domains
What the examination covers
The examination is mapped to AI in finance and accounting practice at function level: governing how AI is used, model-assisted estimates and disclosures, AI inside internal control, and accountability for the result to auditors, committees and regulators. Weightings are indicative until each syllabus is published.
- 01
Governing AI use across the finance function20%
The policy, the permitted-use terms, the vendor and data conditions, and the named owner for every model a finance function relies on — set once, and evidenced.
- 02
AI-assisted estimates, forecasts and disclosures25%
A model that replaces the method behind an estimate, a forecast that becomes a critical accounting estimate, and what the narrative must say about either.
- 03
AI inside internal control and the close20%
What changes in the control when a model sits inside it: the evaluation, the general controls, the change that must be disclosed, and the monitoring for drift.
- 04
Reliance thresholds, verification and escalation20%
Deciding, for a function rather than a task, when model output may be relied on, what verification is proportionate, and when a misleading figure must be escalated or the work declined.
- 05
Accountability to auditors, committees and regulators15%
What a certifying officer, an audit committee or a tax authority is entitled to be shown about AI-assisted work, and what the professional signs.
Curriculum mapping indicates alignment of learning content with published frameworks. It does not constitute endorsement by, or certification under, any standards organisation or regulator.
§ 3 — Preparation
What preparation is anchored to
The examination fee includes access to the Council's self-paced online video course for this grade, taken in the candidate portal in your own time. Using it is optional. Candidates may instead prepare through an employer programme or by self-study against the published materials, and no route is a condition of sitting, an advantage in marking, or visible to an assessor.
A certificate of completion records that you attended. A Council credential records that you were examined, that you passed, and that anyone can check it on the public register. The course is included and optional. The examination is neither.
§ 4 — Assessment
How candidates are assessed
Examination built on extended finance cases in which AI has produced estimates, reconciliations, flags and narrative across a reporting period. The candidate decides what the function may rely on, what it must control, what it discloses, and accounts for each decision to an auditor or a committee.
Every paper is machine marked against its fixed key. The pass mark is 70% of the scored questions. A named member of staff reviews the recording and the marked script before releasing the result, within3 working days. The credential carries a unique identifier any employer can check on the public register.
§ 5 — FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How does the Professional grade differ from Fundamentals?
Fundamentals assesses your own AI-assisted work: what you check before a figure is relied on and what you escalate. Professional assesses the decisions that set the terms for everyone else — the reliance threshold a function adopts, the controls that change when a model is inside them, what is disclosed about a model-produced estimate, and how the whole of it is accounted for to an auditor or a committee. The cases are longer, the judgement is unsupervised, and the candidate is examined on defending the decision, not only on making it.
Do I need the Fundamentals grade first?
No. There is no formal prerequisite, and a candidate with several years in a finance or accounting function may enrol directly. Fundamentals is the recommended entry point for anyone who has not yet had to answer for AI-assisted figures to a reviewer, because the Professional examination assumes that experience rather than teaching it.
Does this certify me to assure or audit AI systems?
No. It certifies the governance and use of AI inside the finance function you are responsible for, and your accountability for the result. Assessing or auditing an AI system as a third party is a different competence, and this credential makes no claim to it.
What does the fee not cover?
The US$895 covers one sitting, access to the Council's self-paced video course for this grade, and the first year of membership. A re-sit is charged again, revalidation at the end of the two-year term is charged separately, and each grade is its own examination and its own fee. There is nothing else to buy.
Scheme-wide questions are answered on the FAQ and in the candidate handbook.
§ 6 — Enrol
Enrol through the candidate portal
Enrolment is open. Create an account or sign in, verify your identity, and register for the examination. There is no date to book, and once the fee is paid you may begin on any day of the 90 days that follow. The examination fee is US$895 and includes the first year of membership. Nothing is payable until you register for the examination.