ICPAK certificate and licence fees and renewal
ICPAK's practising certificate and annual licence fees by category at the time of writing, the 31 December expiry, and a renewal diary for firms.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in Kenya
Every December, someone in a Kenyan practice remembers that the licences run out at the end of the month. The fees themselves are modest next to a single audit fee. The cost of forgetting them is not: a partner whose licence has lapsed no longer holds the annual licence the Accountants Act requires for practising as a firm, and an audit signed in January on an expired licence is a problem no invoice can fix.
This article sets out what ICPAK charges for the practising certificate and the annual licence in each category, at the time of writing, when the licence expires, what else a practising member pays for, and how to build the renewal into the firm's calendar.
Two different payments
It helps to separate the two documents before looking at the numbers.
- The practising certificate is applied for once. Its fee is a one-time application fee.
- The annual licence is what lets a certificate holder practise as a firm, alone or in partnership. It is paid for every year.
The Accountants Act sets the annual cycle. Under section 22, a practising certificate holder who intends to practise as a firm must obtain an annual licence, which is valid until 31 December of the year in which it is issued and must then be renewed. A licence taken out in October therefore covers only the few months to the end of that year.
The fees ICPAK lists
ICPAK publishes its fees on its practitioners' licences page, which sets out the requirements for the practising certificate and for each licence category, including experience, CPD hours and fees. At the time of writing, ICPAK states the following.
| Licence category | One-time application fee | Annual licence fee |
|---|---|---|
| A: Audit and Assurance | Sh. 10,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 15,000 for non-Kenyans | Sh. 7,500 for Kenyans; Sh. 15,000 for non-Kenyans |
| T: Tax | Sh. 10,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 15,000 for non-Kenyans | Sh. 5,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 10,000 for non-Kenyans |
| M: Accounting, Controls and Consulting | Sh. 10,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 15,000 for non-Kenyans | Sh. 5,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 10,000 for non-Kenyans |
| C: Composite | Sh. 10,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 25,000 for non-Kenyans | Sh. 10,000 for Kenyans; Sh. 25,000 for non-Kenyans |
Fees change, so treat the table as a guide to the structure and confirm the current amounts with ICPAK before paying. Which category a partner needs depends on the work the firm does; that choice is explained in ICPAK licence categories A, T, M and C.
What else a practising member pays for
The licence fee is not the whole annual cost. On its membership page, ICPAK says a practising member applies with an application fee of Kshs 10,000, pays an annual subscription of Kshs 21,200, and must obtain professional indemnity insurance.
ICPAK also lists what the application needs beyond the fee: being up to date on CPD for the last three years, employer references, a letter from a practising firm confirming audit experience, and two referees, one of whom is a practising accountant the applicant worked under.
So a partner's yearly budget for staying in practice has at least three lines: the subscription, the licence for the relevant category, and the indemnity insurance premium. The CPD record has to be kept current as well, because it is a condition of the application; ICPAK CPD requirements covers what counts.
Why the 31 December date matters for audits
Because every annual licence ends on 31 December, the busiest audit-signing months of the new year fall entirely in the new licence period. A partner who signs a December year-end audit in March needs the new year's licence, not last year's.
Achekam treats this as a hard stop for Kenyan audit reports. It blocks signing until the signer's ICPAK practising certificate and annual licence have been recorded and verified by a different person at the firm. The firm must also record the signer's audit signing authority. A missing firm licence produces only a warning. Achekam does not look up ICPAK's lists itself: a person checks them and attaches dated evidence, because no API exists for software to query. How that block behaves in practice is set out in the ICPAK certificate check before signing.
Recording renewals in Achekam
The verification step is where renewal and the platform meet. Staff record the firm's ICPAK firm licence and each signing professional's registration. A different person must then verify each record against the official register, with dated evidence attached. The "check online" call always answers UNAVAILABLE, because Achekam does not perform that lookup; the person doing the verification does it and keeps the proof.
That makes the January routine straightforward. Once the new licences are issued, update each partner's record with the new licence, have a second person verify it against ICPAK's list, and attach the dated evidence. Until that is done, Kenyan audit reports for that partner cannot be signed.
A renewal diary for the firm
| When | What to do | Who |
|---|---|---|
| September | Confirm each partner's CPD position for the year and fill any gap | Each partner |
| October | Collect the indemnity insurance renewal terms | Practice manager |
| November | Confirm current ICPAK fees and each partner's licence category | Practice manager |
| Early December | Pay subscriptions and licence renewals | Practice manager, with partner sign-off |
| On receipt | Record the new licences in Achekam and have a second person verify them with dated evidence | Practice manager and a second reviewer |
| Early January | Confirm no partner has an audit report due for signature without a verified licence | Engagement partners |
The month labels are a suggestion. What matters is that payment happens well before 31 December and verification happens before the first new-year signing.
The next step
Open the firm's calendar now and enter the December renewal with a reminder a few weeks ahead. Then check that every signing partner's current licence is already recorded and verified, so that the January step is only an update.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
