credit arrangements and common content arrangements with other professional accountancy bodies around the world. Membership categories Members have the designation ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) or FCA (Fellow Chartered Accountant) after their name. Fellowship is intended to designate those who have achieved a higher level of professional experience. It is awarded on application, and at no additional cost, to those members who have attained at least ten years of membership and who, at the date of application, have complied with the institute's requirements on continuing professional development in the preceding three years and have no outstanding disciplinary charges against them. Regulation and discipline As an improvement regulator, ICAEW works to protect the public by making sure ICAEW Chartered Accountants, firms that are regulated by ICAEW and students studying with ICAEW maintain the highest standards of professional competency and conduct. An improvement regulator works to educate as well as monitor the quality of its firms and members’ work and enforce change (change can include restrictions, penalties, exclusion from membership or from working in a regulated area) when needed. To ensure impartiality, the regulatory and disciplinary roles of ICAEW are carried out by a separate department, the Professional Standards Department. All of this work is overseen by several layers of independent governance; an independent board, the (IRB) and regulatory and disciplinary committees (at least half of each board must be lay members (non-accountants)) and oversight bodies including the Financial Reporting Council and the Insolvency Service. Faculties ICAEW has seven faculties, each run by an in-house team working together with members who are experts in their particular sector: Audit and Assurance Business and Management Corporate Finance Financial Reporting Financial Services Tax Tech The Tax Faculty was the first to be formed in 1990; The monthly TAXline publication started in 1991, and an annual Technical Review (now Tax Planning) was first published in October 1992. The Tax Faculty joined the Confédération Fiscale Européenne (CFE) in 2001. District societies The institute has 25 district societies across the UK, the largest of which is the London Society of Chartered Accountants (LSCA) with over 38,000 members. The LSCA was instrumental in the formation of the influential Hundred Group of finance directors. See also British qualified accountants References External links ICAEW official website Key Facts and Trends in the UK Accountancy Profession, annual publication by the Professional Oversight Board Fraud Advisory Panel charity, founder and funding member ICAEW as