Education and membership

There are opportunities for volunteers to get involved in the work of CIPFA's education and membership directorate in a number of ways.

The Education and Membership Directorate is responsible for the development, delivery and promotion of CIPFA's qualifications. We are an awarding body and a provider of student training and learning support. The quality assurance of providers of CIPFA qualifications is also a key area of our work. Education and membership has a significant research function, ensuring our students receive the most current and relevant knowledge and skills in the field of professional education.

Current vacancies

Bring your skills back to school

National education charity Governors for Schools is working with CIPFA to recruit more school governors with financial skills. Volunteering as a school governor allows you to gain new strategic and executive skills while using and developing your finance skills to make a tangible difference at a school convenient to you.

Governors for Schools finds and places high calibre volunteers on the governing boards of schools across England. Our bespoke service connects schools with a wide talent pool of volunteers, bringing skills such as finance and procurement, to support education. We place trustees on academy boards, as well as governors for local governing boards at school level.

Governors for Schools welcomes applications from CIPFA members. To become a governor or trustee, apply here. For more details on the role, call 020 7354 9805.

International volunteering with AfID

Accounting for International Development is a multi-award winning social enterprise that offers CIPFA members the opportunity to use their skills to support a broad range of non-profit organisations around the world.

Volunteer assignments of between two weeks and 12 months form part of an ongoing strategy to build the financial management and reporting capacity of charities in Africa, Asia and Americas. The main focus of all assignments is to enhance the skills, confidence and potential of local people, enabling their organisations to deliver more effective and sustainable programmes to their many beneficiaries. The programme is based on a long-term development strategy whereby assignments of differing lengths are supported by handovers from one accountant to another. Qualified accountants provide one-to-one coaching on all matters relating to the organisation's finances and accounting.

AfID partners are a mix of small grassroot NGOs, social enterprises and much larger international charities and AfID's own global branch networks. All are undertaking important work to alleviate poverty and inequality within their communities. Since inception in 2009, AfID has arranged volunteer assignments for over 1,000 accountants, who have given over 250,000 hours of one-to-one support to more than 500 non-profit partners in over 50 countries. You can find a small selection of current volunteer opportunities here.

Find out more about AfID and international volunteering opportunities.

Examinations panel

The examinations panel is urgently seeking volunteers to take on roles as lay members (to ensure the entire examination processes run correctly) and subject champions (taking responsibility for reviewing exam papers for specific modules in CIPFA qualifications as well as exam results). Contact Quality Compliance to find out more by emailing qualitycompliance@cipfa.org.

CIPFA Student Network

The CIPFA Student Network is a body that represents all CIPFA students and acts on their behalf. Members come from different backgrounds, employers, regions, etc to ensure fair representation of a cross-section of CIPFA students across the globe. The CIPFA Student Network is closely linked to the various regional student societies.

Other more hands on opportunities

If you'd prefer a more hands-on rather than a committee role you might want to think about volunteering to talk to students about CIPFA and the careers available with the CIPFA qualification at careers fairs. CIPFA is keen to promote the uptake of the Professional Qualification at university careers fairs and these are taking place in a wide range of locations through the year.

At the other end of the qualification road there are also opportunities to invigilate examinations in a number of areas around the UK.

Contact us

Complete the volunteer form or get in touch: studentsupport@cipfa.org

Webchat is available Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 17:00 (excluding UK bank holidays).