Guide10 min read
AC application evidence: a checklist for logs, references and reflection
This is a working checklist you can copy and fill in.
Your Association for Coaching application is a set of documents that have to agree with each other. The delivery log has to match the dates in the client references. The supervision log has to match the supervisor's reference. The training certificate has to cover the hours you claim. The client reference and the training certificate come from other people, so request those first.
This is a working checklist you can copy and fill in. It is illustrative. AC's own forms and current overview control what you actually submit, and the templates here are not AC-approved substitutes for them.
Step 1: identify the pack that governs your application
The detailed examples below cover the written Coach/Executive Coach route, with live and RAP differences identified. Team, leader and supervisor schemes have separate packs; use their own criteria. The AC accreditation guide explains how the schemes, levels and routes fit together. Write these down before you download anything:
- Scheme: coach, executive coach, team coach, leader coach or coach supervisor
- Level applied for
- Route: written, live assessment, accelerated or Recognized Accelerated Pathway
- Document reference and date on the overview you are reading, for example CAO 11/25 or CALA 11/25
- Date you downloaded the forms
AC publishes its application forms and logs on the individual coach accreditation supporting documents page, under the heading "Application Forms & Logs". That page links the application form, the client reference form, the supervision reference and log, and the coaching delivery hours spreadsheet (checked 11 September 2026). Download from there rather than reusing a file a colleague sent you, since a familiar filename can hide an old version.
If you are on the accelerated route, your AC training provider supplies the details and documents for your submission. If you are on the Recognized Accelerated Pathway, the application is a portfolio (AC, Individual Coach Accreditation, checked 11 September 2026).
Step 2: the dossier index
Tick what your route asks for, and record who is responsible for producing each item. This index is illustrative, and the items reflect what AC's current overviews list.
The live assessment route asks for its documents in advance of the session. AC's live assessment overview, reference CALA 11/25, lists training certificates, the delivery log, an ethics declaration, client references, the supervision log, learning record and supervisor's reference, and CPD certificates before assessment (one at Foundation, Coach and Professional; two at Master). It also requires an insurance declaration where applicable in your resident country. AC's page also says you will need to submit forms completed on AC templates plus existing records such as your training certificate, and that its team contacts you with submission instructions once you have booked.
The written route's evidence set comes from CAO 11/25, CAAG 11/25 and the application form: coaching approach, case study, ethics responses, level-specific fitness-to-practise evidence, one to four client references, supervision and CPD, plus self-assessment and a development plan. RAPO 11/25 has its own portfolio list, including approach, case study, ethics and supervision; its supervision minima are 3/4/4/4 sessions rather than the written route's 3/6/6/6. Use the RAP pack rather than assuming every item in this index applies.
Recording and transcript: the written route above Foundation
CAO 11/25 and CAAG section 7 require Coach, Professional and Master applicants to provide a recording, verbatim transcript and critical reflection. Foundation uses a 500–1,000-word reflective statement instead.
CAAG specifies a 30–40-minute recording in .mp3 or .mp4 format, from a session delivered within 18 months of the application. With the client's permission, you may record that length or select a 30–40-minute segment from a longer session. Explain the surrounding context in no more than 500 words, separately from the reflection. Critical-reflection lengths are 1,000 words at Coach, 1,500 at Professional and 2,000 at Master; follow the current form's word-count tolerance.
Ask the client specifically for permission to submit the recording. Use the current access and submission instructions and check that the assessor can open the file without making it public. A transcript must be verbatim; check any automated transcription against the recording.
The live route demonstrates coaching in the assessment triad. Do not impose the written recording requirement on live, accelerated or RAP applicants without their route's own instructions.
Step 3: the delivery log
AC provides a coaching delivery hours spreadsheet. CAAG also permits your own log if it records all information required by that spreadsheet. The point of the working row below is to show what to capture as you go, so that filling AC's form later is transcription rather than reconstruction.
An illustrative row, with a fictional client:
Log the minutes you coached. The example above logs 50 minutes, not an hour.
Use a client code in your working records and keep the identifying details in a separate, access-controlled list. AC's forms will tell you what identifying information the submission itself needs.
Mark individual and group work distinctly. Where one-to-one coaching happens inside a team or group engagement, the applicant guide CAAG 11/25 allows it to be counted as individual coaching, but not counted twice.
Keep delivery separate from supervision, training and CPD. They are different requirements with different totals.
Older delivery sessions can still contribute to the total. AC's help answer says you can go back through your coaching experience records as far as you need to in order to demonstrate the hours for your level (AC, Counting coaching delivery hours, checked 11 September 2026).
Step 4: request references early
Client references come on AC's client reference form, and the number rises with the level, from one at Foundation to four at Master under CAO 11/25.
CAAG advises choosing typical clients you have coached more than once and within the last 18 months. Executive applicants need clients able to complete the executive sections of the reference form. Request the references early; here is an illustrative covering note:
I am applying for Association for Coaching accreditation at [level]. The application asks for a client reference on AC's own form, which is attached. It asks about your experience of being coached by me. Our sessions ran from [date] to [date], [number] sessions in total. Would you be willing to complete it by [date]? Happy to answer any questions, and please only include what you are comfortable putting in writing.
Check that the dates and session counts you quote match your delivery log before you send it. A reference that says four sessions against a log that says six will need explaining.
Your supervisor's reference works the same way. Your supervisor does not have to hold AC accreditation, provided they meet the professional body, training and experience conditions AC publishes (AC, supervisor accreditation requirement, checked 11 September 2026). Confirm that before you rely on their reference.
Step 5: reflective writing that shows your practice
In the written fitness-to-practise section, AC asks you to examine your coaching choices and learning. Explain what you noticed, why you acted and what you would change, rather than only describing the client's problem.
A usable structure for each reflective piece:
- The situation, in two or three sentences, with the client anonymised.
- What you did, including the specific intervention or question.
- What you observed happening next. Keep this to what you saw or heard.
- What you would consider doing differently, and why.
- What changed in your practice afterwards, and where that shows up.
An illustrative example, written about a fictional client:
In a mid-programme session, the client returned to a decision they had already discussed twice. I named the repetition and asked what made this one hard to settle. The client paused, then said the decision belonged to someone else in their team and they had been answering for them. We spent the rest of the session on their own part of it. Looking back, I would have named the pattern a session earlier; I noticed it and waited. Since then I have started raising repeated topics at the point I notice them, and I brought this pattern to supervision in April.
Separate what you observed from what you inferred. This short example illustrates the reflection prompts; it is not a complete submission at AC's required length.
Step 6: consent and privacy
Consent to be coached is not consent for an assessor to read about the session or hear a recording. If your route requires material involving a client, ask that client specifically, tell them what will be shared and with whom, and follow AC's current instructions on how material is submitted.
Anonymise case studies and reflective writing. Names, employers, job titles and distinctive details can identify someone in a small profession.
Do not upload confidential client material to general-purpose AI tools to tidy up your writing. That is a disclosure, whatever the tool's marketing says.
Keep your working client-code key separately and retain identifiable material only as needed for your agreed, professional and legal obligations. AC forms may require identifying information; provide the required fields with the appropriate permissions.
Step 7: pre-submission check
Use this as a pre-submission check, marking items that do not apply to your route:
- Delivery total on the AC spreadsheet or accepted equivalent log matches the total you claim on the application form
- Every reference has arrived, on the current AC form, with dates that match your log
- Training certificate hours cover the training requirement for your level
- Supervision log, learning record and supervisor's reference agree on dates and session counts
- CPD meets my route's requirements: written-route annual rates and evidence period checked, or live-route certificate list completed. Foundation's period confirmed where needed
- Ethics declaration signed
- Written sections are inside AC's stated word counts
- Written route above Foundation: recording is 30–40 minutes from the last 18 months, transcript is verbatim, context and critical reflection supplied, client permission recorded
- Applicable insurance declaration included
- Case study and reflection are anonymised, and consent is documented where it was needed
- Every form is the current version for my route; accelerated-provider and RAP packs checked separately
- Your AC membership is current, at Member level or above
Using your own records
If you already log sessions in a tool, compare its fields and totals with AC's spreadsheet. CAAG allows an existing log containing all required information; an export is not automatically sufficient. Treat an export from a platform such as Robin as working material to check against AC's requirements. The export alone does not establish that your submission complies or that every recorded hour is eligible. Check the direction of each session too: coaching you received is not coaching you delivered.
Maintain ongoing supervision and CPD records for renewal. Set retention periods for client material according to your agreements and professional/legal obligations; accreditation's three-year validity is not a blanket instruction to retain every recording for three years.
Related guides: Coaching accreditation explained · How to log coaching practice.
Sources
- AC supporting documents, including the application, client reference and supervision reference/log. Checked 11 September 2026.
- CAO 11/25, CAAG 11/25, sections 3 and 7–11, and CALA 11/25: written/live evidence, existing-log option, references, recording and transcript rules, CPD and supervision. Checked 11 September 2026.
- RAPO 11/25: RAP portfolio and supervision minima. Checked 11 September 2026.
- AC Individual Coach Accreditation, Counting coaching delivery hours and Supervisor eligibility. Checked 11 September 2026.
These working tools are independent of AC. Foundation CPD wording differs between the annual table and the since-training instruction; confirm your period. Reciprocal swaps and classroom practice remain unconfirmed. Never infer eligibility or assessor-sharing consent from a platform export.