What is the ADP?
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What is the ADP
The Audit Development Programme (ADP) is a period of work experience undertaken by a qualified professional accountant that is relevant to the work of a Registered Auditor (RA). The programme is designed to develop professional competence in the workplace and provides a means for individuals to demonstrate that they have attained the competencies required of a Registered Auditor within an RA firm.
The final assessment is based on the submission of a Portfolio of Evidence (PoE), and there is no written examination. The PoE may be submitted to the IRBA once the Oversight Registered Auditor (ORA) is satisfied that the RCA has completed the minimum programme requirements, including at least 18 months in the ADP, 1,500 productive hours in audit and assurance work, and the achievement of the required competencies.
To learn more about the IRBA, Why you should register as RCA and the ADP Programme, including all its requirements, check out our ADP Learning Content page
Frequently Asked Questions
If I resigned from the ADP and decided to rejoin the programme later,
do I need to pay the registration fees again?
do I need to pay the registration fees again?
To apply for RPL you must stipulate this upon application and indicate how many months of RPL you would like remission for, up to a maximum of 12 months. This means you will need to spend a min of 6 months on the ADP program.
Your application form must be accompanied by a motivation letter as to why we should grant you the RPL. There is no template for this, however, should indicate how long you have been a manager/reviewer for, what clients and frameworks you have worked on and any other information to support your request.
Once you receive the welcome and registration email from the IRBA indicated that you have been successfully enrolled on the ADP, you may assume that your RPL HAS been granted.
(If you did not apply for RPL upon application for the ADP due to lack of knowledge on the topic, you can still apply for it after your application was approved, just contact adpadmin@irba.co.za, submit request and motivation letter, the ADP team will revert with feedback).
I am an RPL RCA, how does my PoE differ?
To apply for RPL you must stipulate this upon application and indicate how many months of RPL you would like remission for, up to a maximum of 12 months. This means you will need to spend a min of 6 months on the ADP program.
Your application form must be accompanied by a motivation letter as to why we should grant you the RPL. There is no template for this, however, should indicate how long you have been a manager/reviewer for, what clients and frameworks you have worked on and any other information to support your request.
Once you receive the welcome and registration email from the IRBA indicated that you have been successfully enrolled on the ADP, you may assume that your RPL HAS been granted.
(If you did not apply for RPL upon application for the ADP due to lack of knowledge on the topic, you can still apply for it after your application was approved, just contact adpadmin@irba.co.za, submit request and motivation letter, the ADP team will revert with feedback).
I am an RPL RCA, how does my PoE differ?
It does not. You will still need to submit (via the ADP LMS):
- Initial Report – Progress Report 1.
- Final Report – Progress Report 2.
- RCA’s latest performance appraisal.
- Professional curriculum vitae of the RCA.
- A copy of the CPD hours undertaken during the ADP.
- POE declaration form.
The PoE for RPL candidates will incorporate evidence from both the RPL period and the period spent on the ADP. The total hours must still equate 1500 hours or more.
For RPL candidates, the initial/final reports containing the RPL evidence must be submitted as soon as possible, as the ADP monitoring visit is triggered sooner for RPL candidates firms.
Is an ADP monitoring visit compulsory?
Yes. An ADP Monitoring visit is compulsory for all firms with candidates on the ADP.
This is a prerequisite to approval of the RCAs PoE.
Note: The firm may not be visited each time a new RCA registers on the ADP, depending on any prior firm ADP monitoring inspection outcomes.
What if the firm “fails” the monitoring visit?
It is important to note that the outcomes of the ADP monitoring visit are not a “pass” or “fail”. The outcome of the ADP monitoring visit is a low, medium or high monitoring intensity attributed to the firm based on demonstrated compliance with the relevant standards as assessed by the ADP Inspector.
The ADP Monitoring visit is developmental in nature.
The findings, along with robust recommendations, are reported to the firm. The IRBA expects that the firm will adequately address the findings accordingly.
How does the ADP term differ if the candidate completed their articles with an elective other than audit, such as taxation? Can they still apply?
Yes, you can still apply for RPL for the experience you have had as a prior audit manager if you were also a CA then. However, you do need to be in audit environment to be on the ADP, RPL is allowed for maximum of 12 months of the program. The remaining 6 months still must be completed on the ADP in an audit environment. If you are in a quality department or similar and conduct quality reviews, we do consider and allow for this as well.
Can a candidate who has managerial audit experience, but is no longer directly in an audit manager role, apply for RPL? Or do you currently have to be in an audit manager role to do the ADP?
To apply for RPL you must stipulate this upon application and indicate how many months of RPL you would like remission for, up to a maximum of 12 months. This means you will need to spend a min of 6 months on the ADP program.
Your application form must be accompanied by a motivation letter as to why we should grant you the RPL. There is no template for this, however, should indicate how long you have been a manager/reviewer for, what clients and frameworks you have worked on and any other information to support your request.
Once you receive the welcome and registration email from the IRBA indicated that you have been successfully enrolled on the ADP, you may assume that your RPL HAS been granted.
(If you did not apply for RPL upon application for the ADP due to lack of knowledge on the topic, you can still apply for it after your application was approved, just contact adpadmin@irba.co.za, submit request and motivation letter, the ADP team will revert with feedback).
Do the ADP monitoring visits occur for every RCA or are they conducted on a cycle basis?
Depends on the ADP monitoring outcome in 2025. If the firm still has a valid ADP monitoring outcome, i.e., it has not expired, by the time the 2026 RCA submits a PoE to the IRBA, it will not trigger another monitoring inspection. If the ADP monitoring outcome has expired before the submission of the full PoE of the second candidate, then the monitoring inspection will need to be redone.
Low Monitoring outcome – Valid for 36 months from the date of inspection
Medium Monitoring outcome – Valid for 18 months from the date of inspection
High Monitoring outcome – Valid for 6 months from the date of inspection.
Is the ADP monitoring inspection an indication of full compliance and can it be used as evidence of compliance against other IRBA inspections that the firm may be selected for? That is, if I had no or few findings for the ADP monitoring, can I expect the same from other IRBA inspections?
The key is to understand the different objectives and scopes of the two processes. ADP monitoring focuses on whether the required quality standards have been adopted and implemented at a high level. It is a short, two-day review testing quality indicators relevant specifically for ADP purposes.
In contrast, Firm- or Engagement-level inspections conducted by the IRBA are far more extensive and typically span several weeks or even months. These inspections assess design, implementation and test operating effectiveness i.e., full compliance with the standards and regulations, in much greater depth.
Because of this, positive ADP monitoring results cannot be relied upon as an indicator of broader inspection outcomes.
While the ADP monitoring can place some reliance on the results of a comprehensive Firm-level inspection for ADP purposes, the reverse is not true.
Firms may therefore meet the ADP’s requirements (allowing the RCA to progress and complete the ADP successfully), while still receiving additional findings during IRBA inspections due to the more detailed and rigorous nature of those reviews.
