ICPAK licence categories A, T, M and C
What ICPAK's Audit and Assurance, Tax, Consulting and Composite licences each require, and which one a Kenyan practice needs for its work.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Kenya
A practice in Nairobi takes on its first statutory audit after years of bookkeeping and tax work. Before the engagement letter goes out, someone asks whether the partner's licence actually covers audit. It is a fair question, and ICPAK's answer depends on the letter after the word "Category".
ICPAK issues practitioner licences in four categories: A for audit and assurance, T for tax, M for accounting, controls and consulting, and C for composite work across all three. Each has its own experience test, and the description a firm uses on its letterhead has to match the licences its people hold. Getting this wrong is not a paperwork slip: holding a licence in force is part of being allowed to practise at all, as explained in what "practising accountancy" means in Kenya.
Category A: Audit and Assurance
According to ICPAK, an Audit and Assurance licence requires two years as an ordinary member and five years' full-time external audit experience, or seven years part-time, monitored by a member who has held a practising certificate for at least six years.
ICPAK adds ongoing conditions: 40 CPD hours a year, attendance at two of its listed mandatory trainings, good standing with the Institute, and a valid work permit for foreign nationals.
The supervision condition is the one applicants most often underestimate. Experience gathered under someone who was not a long-standing practising certificate holder may not count, so a manager planning to apply should check who signed off their audit years before relying on them.
Category T: Tax, and the tax agent condition
ICPAK says the Tax licence requires two years as an ordinary member with a valid practising certificate, two years' full-time taxation experience or four years part-time, 40 CPD hours a year and two mandatory tax trainings.
There is a further condition from outside ICPAK's own rules. The applicant must be a licensed tax agent under sections 19 and 20 of the Tax Procedures Act 2015. In practice, that means two sets of papers: the KRA tax agent licence and the ICPAK licence. A practice that offers tax work should track both renewal dates, because the tax agent licence is one of the conditions ICPAK lists for the T licence.
Category M: Accounting, Controls and Consulting
For the M licence, ICPAK requires two years as an ordinary member, at least two years' experience in accounting, financial management, management accounting or advisory services, 40 CPD hours a year, and mandatory training that includes ethics.
This is the category for practices whose work is bookkeeping, management accounts, internal controls reviews and advisory assignments, without audit opinions or a tax agency.
Category C: Composite
A composite practice works across all three areas. ICPAK says a Composite licence requires five years' full-time experience, or seven part-time, across audit and assurance, tax and accounting, controls and consulting. The applicant also needs an average of 40 CPD hours a year over the last three years and at least three mandatory trainings in the last year.
The C licence carries its own application and annual fees, which differ for Kenyans and non-Kenyans. Those are set out in ICPAK licence fees and renewal.
Matching the firm's description to its licences
The description on a firm's door has to be earned by at least one person inside it. ICPAK says a CPA firm that describes itself as an "Audit and Assurance Practice" must have a proprietor or at least one partner holding a valid Audit and Assurance licence. The same rule applies to tax practices and the T licence, and to accounting, controls and consulting practices and the M licence. A composite practice needs either a partner with a C licence or partners who between them hold A, T and M.
A quick way to see where a practice stands:
| Work the firm offers | Description it would use | Who must hold what |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory audits and other assurance | Audit and Assurance Practice | The proprietor or at least one partner holds an A licence |
| Tax returns, objections, tax advisory | Tax practice | The proprietor or at least one partner holds a T licence |
| Bookkeeping, management accounts, controls, consulting | Accounting, Controls and Consulting practice | The proprietor or at least one partner holds an M licence |
| All of the above | Composite practice | A partner with a C licence, or partners holding A, T and M between them |
The firm's name and how it presents itself raise related questions, covered in naming a CPA firm in Kenya. ICPAK's own practitioners' licences page sets out the requirements for the practising certificate and each licence category, including experience, CPD hours and fees, and is the place to confirm them before applying.
Signing partner versus the firm
Notice that the rule above is about the firm's description. The individual who signs an audit report is a separate question: the person whose name goes on the opinion needs their own practising certificate and licence in force, whatever the firm's description says. That is also the point at which Achekam applies its check.
How Achekam checks the signing partner's licence
Achekam records these licences and uses them at the point of signing, for Kenyan firms on the platform.
Staff record the firm's ICPAK firm licence and each signing professional's registration. A different person must then verify each one against the official register and attach dated evidence. Achekam does not look these up online: the "check online" call always answers UNAVAILABLE, so the verification is a person's check, recorded.
For a Kenyan firm, Achekam blocks signing until the signing partner's ICPAK practising certificate and annual licence are verified as valid on the signing date. A missing firm-licence check, by contrast, produces only a warning, not a block. The firm still needs to confirm its own description is supported by the right licence; the platform enforces the individual signer's position.
A short licence review for the practice
- List every service the firm offers and match each to A, T or M.
- For each, name the proprietor or partner whose licence supports the description.
- Record each licence's category and renewal date in one place.
- For T licence holders, add the KRA tax agent licence date beside the ICPAK one.
- Check the firm's letterhead, website and engagement letters use a description its licences support.
Before the next engagement
If the practice is about to add a service line, check the licence position first. A new audit or tax client is easy to win and awkward to hand back once it emerges that nobody in the firm holds the category the work needs.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
