Tier 1
Associate
[post-nominal TBC]
Foundational execution and entry-level competence
For practitioners establishing their craft: sound fundamentals, ethical grounding and supervised delivery across core communications functions.
PRCC-PROP-01 · Section 04 & 13.5Accreditation Tiers
Three tiers.
Evidence over tenure.
Accreditation is conferred at one of three progressive tiers, each defined by demonstrated competence and scope of responsibility — assessment over years served.
Accreditation Tiers
Tier 2 · Core grade
[post-nominal TBC]
Practitioner
Strategic counsel and campaign leadership — the core professional grade.
For practitioners who set strategy, lead campaigns and advise decision-makers. This is the grade most procurement and senior hiring should reference.
The signal procurement should ask for
Tier 3
Fellow
[post-nominal TBC]
Mastery, organisational impact and industry stewardship
Senior leaders of demonstrated mastery who shape organisations and the profession itself, and who mentor and assess the next generation.
On existing credentials
Nothing is extinguished. Everything is mapped.
Existing credentials such as APR are not replaced. They are mapped onto the new tiers through a Legacy Equivalency Pathway (Section 08) and honoured in the founding cohort. No practitioner loses standing; no body loses its people.
Principle
Evidence over tenure. Assessment over years served.
Each tier is conferred on demonstrated competence and scope of responsibility — not seniority by default.
Supporting rationale
A CFA + ISO hybrid — voluntary, market-driven, internationally portable.
The Council deliberately does not model itself on a statutory professional body. Its mould is two voluntary instruments the market already trusts: a person-level credential the buyer recognises, and a process-level standard the auditor respects.
Person-level mould
CFA — Chartered Financial Analyst
Voluntary, market-enforced, globally respected without a law behind it. Procurement and senior hiring reference it because it carries signal.
Process-level mould
ISO — Voluntary international standards
Adopted because adoption opens doors, not because law compels it. Auditable, portable across borders, and continuously revised by the community it serves.
Specialist Endorsements
Each endorsement is a deliberate signal to a specific buyer.
Not administrative tags. Each line tells the buyer exactly what they are getting — turning endorsements from CV decoration into a procurement instruction.
Endorsement
Crisis & Issues
Boardroom-credible counsel under live reputational pressure
Key buyer
CEOs, Chairs, GLC boards, audit & risk committees
Endorsement
Public Affairs & Government
Policy fluency and stakeholder access in a regulated environment
Key buyer
Regulated industries, GLCs, public-sector commissioners
Endorsement
Digital & Social
Platform-native judgement in an AI-saturated information environment
Key buyer
Consumer brands, marketing leads, in-house digital functions
Endorsement
Financial & Investor Relations
Disclosure-grade communication aligned to Bursa and capital-market expectations
Key buyer
Listed companies, CFOs, IR officers, IPO candidates
Endorsement
Internal & Change
Organisational transformation communication anchored in employee experience
Key buyer
CHROs, transformation leads, M&A integration teams
Endorsement
Sustainability & CSR
ESG narrative integrity that survives auditor and regulator scrutiny
Key buyer
Chief Sustainability Officers, listed companies, ESG-rated firms