Statement of Impartiality

1. ACI's Commitment to Impartiality

The Auditor Certification Institute (ACI) is an independent personnel certification body. Our role is to assess and certify the competence of individual auditors against defined criteria. The credibility of every ACI credential depends entirely on the independence and objectivity of our certification decisions.

ACI is committed to ensuring that no commercial, financial, organisational, or personal interest influences how we assess applicants, make certification decisions, or maintain the integrity of the ACI Professional Register.

2. Separation of Certification and Training

ACI does not deliver training courses. Training is provided exclusively by ACI Approved Training Providers (ATPs) — organisations that have been separately assessed and approved by ACI for that purpose.

This structural separation means that the organisation that trains you is never the organisation that certifies you. ACI's certification assessors have no financial interest in whether a candidate passes or fails, and no relationship with the ATP that delivered the course.

• ACI does not earn revenue from training course fees
• ACI assessors do not work for or own stakes in any ATP
• Certification decisions cannot be influenced by the ATP that trained the applicant
• ATP approval status does not affect how individual applicant applications are assessed

3. Conflict of Interest Identification and Management

ACI operates a formal conflict of interest identification process. All persons involved in the certification process — including assessors, committee members, and ACI staff — are required to declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest before participating in any certification decision.

Where a conflict is identified or declared, the individual concerned is excluded from the relevant decision. Conflicts are logged, reviewed by the Governance Board, and addressed in accordance with ACI's Conflicts of Interest Policy.

• All assessors sign an annual declaration of independence
• Conflicts are disclosed before each certification assessment
• Recused assessors are replaced before any decision is made
• Conflict disclosures are retained in the ACI audit record

4. Governance and Oversight

ACI's Certification Council is the independent oversight body responsible for reviewing the integrity of the certification process. The Certification Council operates separately from ACI's management and includes independent members who have no commercial relationship with ACI, its ATPs, or its corporate members.

The Certification Council reviews this Impartiality Statement annually, considers any reported threats to impartiality, and reports to the ACI Governance Board on the overall integrity of ACI's certification activities.

5. Threats to Impartiality

ACI recognises that threats to impartiality can arise from multiple sources. We continuously assess the following categories of threat and maintain safeguards against each:

• Self-interest: financial or other interests that could influence a decision in favour of or against a specific applicant
• Self-review: reviewing work that was previously performed by the same individual
• Familiarity: personal or professional relationships between an assessor and an applicant
• Intimidation: pressure — perceived or actual — applied by applicants, ATPs, or third parties
• Commercial pressure: volume targets, revenue expectations, or partnership incentives influencing certification outcomes

6. Reporting Concerns

ACI takes any concern about the impartiality of a certification decision seriously. If you believe that a conflict of interest has influenced an ACI certification decision, or that pressure has been applied to ACI to alter a decision, you may raise a concern through ACI's formal complaints process.

All complaints relating to impartiality are escalated directly to the Certification Council for independent review, outside of the normal management chain.