AACA APE NEP cheat sheet

The logbook records dated, quantifiable professional valuation work; each entry states the task, the standard or method applied, the time spent, and the supervisor or client who can verify it.

The Statement of Practical Experience summarises the candidate's cumulative experience by area of practice; it must reconcile with the logbook totals in months and in hours.

Typical minimum threshold is 24 months of acceptable valuation experience completed within a defined look-back window (commonly the 5-10 years preceding application); confirm the current figure with the governing institute.

Acceptable experience is work performed under supervision of a qualified valuer; unsupervised clerical, marketing, or purely administrative time is normally excluded.

Each claimed month should be supported by evidence: engagement letters, signed reports, timesheets, or a supervisor attestation naming the candidate's role.

Experience categories usually mirror the examination syllabus (e.g., real property, plant and machinery, business interests, financial instruments); breadth requirements may cap the credit given to a single category.

Supervisor sign-off must identify the supervisor's own credential and registration number; self-certification alone is insufficient.

Incomplete or inconsistent entries are the most common cause of referral back; the logbook is assessed for contemporaneity, not reconstructed retrospectively.

The written paper is a closed-book, time-limited assessment; confirm the current duration, number of questions, and pass mark from the institute's examination regulations before sitting.

Questions are drawn from the published syllabus weighting; allocate revision time in proportion to the stated percentage per topic area.

Valuation answers are marked on method selection, explicit assumptions, arithmetic accuracy, and a reasoned conclusion - not on a single 'correct' number.

Show workings: a defensible answer states the approach, the inputs and their sources, the calculation, and any sensitivity or cross-check.

Common valuation mechanics tested include the income approach (capitalisation of net income, DCF), the market approach (comparable evidence, adjustments), and the cost approach (depreciated replacement cost).

For DCF, the discount rate must match the cash-flow basis (nominal vs real, pre- or post-tax) and the terminal value assumption must be stated explicitly.

Professional standards and ethics questions test independence, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and the duty to disclose material assumptions.

Time management rule: answer every question, since partial credit for method and workings typically exceeds zero for an unanswered item.

Legislation and standards cited in answers should be identified by name and, where required, by section or clause.

The interview is an oral assessment conducted by a panel of qualified valuers; it typically follows successful completion of the written paper.

The candidate presents a submitted valuation report (often called the 'experience' or 'critical' report) and defends its method, assumptions, and conclusion.

Panel questions probe why a particular approach was chosen, what alternative approaches were rejected, and how the conclusion was cross-checked.

Candidates must demonstrate personal responsibility for the work presented: what they did, what the supervisor did, and what they would do differently.

Ethics scenarios are commonly posed: conflicts of interest, pressure to inflate a value, confidentiality, and competence boundaries.

Knowledge of the governing professional standards and the institute's code of conduct is tested directly, not merely by reference to the report.

Answers should be structured: state the principle, apply it to the facts, then give the conclusion - an unstructured answer loses credit even when factually correct.

The panel assesses professional judgement and communication; acknowledging the limits of an assumption is stronger than defending an indefensible position.