FPER

Foundations
practical experience
requirement
FPER
FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

Contents
1 THE BASICS
What is ACCA’s foundations practical experience requirement (FPER)?
Why is the FPER important?
Holding CAT status

2 MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS

How do I get the right type of experience?
What if I am studying full time or not in a relevant job?
What are performance objectives?
How do I complete my performance objectives?
What is a practical experience supervisor?
Foundations in Accountancy exam exemptions
ACCA Qualification students
PER exemptions
What is the performance objectives exemption?
What is a FPER audit?

3 COMPLETING YOUR FPER

Using My Experience
You and your practical experience supervisor
Targeting performance objectives
Writing your performance objective statements
Reviewing and gaining sign-off.

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

01
The basics

WHAT IS ACCA’S FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

(FPER)?
ACCA’s foundations practical experience requirement (FPER) is a key component of
achieving Certified Accounting Technician status (CAT). To gain CAT status trainees
must successfully complete:
• the foundations level exams
• the foundations in professionalism module
• the foundations practical experience requirement.
There are three components to the FPER:
• achieve two (2) Essentials and six (6) Technical performance objectives which are
signed off by your practical experience supervisor*
• complete 12 months’ experience in one or more accounting or finance-related
role which is signed off by your practical experience supervisor
• regularly record your FPER progress in your online My Experience record, which
can be accessed via myACCA.

WHY IS THE FPER IMPORTANT?

In order to perform effectively as a Certified Accounting Technician, you need to
develop your skills in the workplace as well as passing the exams. The FPER helps
you to:
• apply in practice the knowledge and techniques you are gaining through your
studies towards the Foundation level exams
• observe and be involved in real-life work situations that help you to develop
professional skills, attitudes and behaviours
• develop your judgment, encouraging you to reflect on the quality of your work
and how you may improve your performance in the future.
Employers expect high levels of knowledge, ethics and ability in the workplace.
FPER enables you to confirm the quality of your workplace performance.

ALL RECORDED IN * Unless your employer is a Gold or Platinum

MY EXPERIENCE trainee development CAT approved employer
8
12 and they have taken advantage of the
performance performance objective exemption; in this case
months
objectives you should regularly record your progress
towards achieving 12 months’ experience in
your online My Experience record.

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

HOLDING CAT STATUS FAQs

Once I’ve completed my CAT qualification can I offer my services directly to
the public?
If you hold CAT status and you are not registered as an ACCA Qualification student
then you can undertake work that falls within our definition of public practice (see
the Rulebook for full details). You can refer to your Certified Accounting Technician
Status and use the designatory letters ‘CAT’ after your name.
What if I’m now an ACCA Qualification student?
If you hold CAT status and you are registered as an ACCA Qualification student then
you can provide the following services:
• payroll
• VAT (UK only)
• basic book keeping
• record basic accounting data
• prepare records to trial balance.
However you cannot refer to your Certified Accounting Technician status or
undertake work that falls within our definition of public practice.
All Certified Accounting Technicians can only carry out audit work, or other reserved
work, where authorised to do so by applicable law.
Once I’ve completed my CAT qualification can I call myself a member of
ACCA?
No, you can only refer to yourself as a member of ACCA once you’ve completed the
ACCA Qualification exams, the professional ethics module, the practical experience
requirement, and been admitted to membership.
If you want to progress to ACCA membership then you can choose to transfer to
the ACCA Qualification. You will gain an exemption from the first three fundamental
exams, a year of the PER and two of the Essentials performance objectives.

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02
Meeting the
requirements
HOW DO I GET THE RIGHT TYPE OF EXPERIENCE?
ACCA trainees work in every sector and size of organisation. Wherever you work, it
is important to look for the opportunities to help you meet your FPER and to obtain
12 months’ experience in a relevant role, or roles. Ideally, you should have a job
where most of your time is spent on activities and tasks related to accounting.
If your job only includes some accountancy or finance work then the time you spend
on these activities can still count towards your 12 months’ experience. For example,
if only 25% of your working time during the year is spent on accounting or finance
tasks, you can claim three months out of a possible 12 as relevant time. When you
record your role in My Experience you must input the percentage of time you spend
on accountancy or finance activities, the relevant time you can claim will then be
calculated automatically.
You can use experience from previous roles, voluntary work, work placements and
internships towards your FPER, including experience gained before registering with
ACCA. If you are using previous experience then the person who supervised your
work at that time must be able to review and sign off your experience.

WHAT IF I AM STUDYING FULL TIME, OR NOT IN A RELEVANT JOB?

We realise that many trainees study for their exams on a full-time basis before
gaining their FPER. If you are studying full time you need to regularly update your
My Experience record to inform us of this.
If you are not in a relevant job to achieve your FPER, you still need to regularly
update your My Experience record to inform us of this. You could gain experience
by doing voluntary work for clubs, charities or associations. Alternatively, if your
current job offers no opportunities for accountancy or finance related work, it may
be necessary to find a job that does. We recommend you use the range of career
resources in ACCA Careers, to help you gain a relevant job.

WHAT ARE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES?

Performance objectives are ACCA’s indicators of effective performance. They set
the minimum standard that you need to demonstrate in the workplace. There are
two types of performance objective: Essentials and Technical. For FPER you must
complete both Essentials. There are 22 Technical performance objectives. We need
you to demonstrate your experience in six of these:
• one from group one
• two from group two
• three from group three.
You can find out more about the performance objectives in My Experience, or in
ACCA’s foundations performance objectives booklet at http://www.accaglobal.com/
uk/en/student/practical-experience/practical-experience-foundation-level.html. This
includes information about the exams that the performance objectives link to. Each We recommend that you start to
plan your search for a relevant role
performance objective is linked to an exam paper. Pursuing linked exams prior to leaving full-time study.
and performance objectives will allow you to put into practice what you are Visit www.accacareers.com. You could also
learning and help you to structure your study and training effectively. ask your tuition provider for support and ideas.

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES HOW DO I COMPLETE MY

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES?
ESSENTIALS – complete both Each performance objective is made up of
a description, elements which describe the
1 Professionalism and ethics skills and experience you must demonstrate
2 Stakeholder relationship management and a statement. The statement allows
you to summarise and reflect on your work
TECHNICAL activity, so that your supervisor can evaluate
GROUP 1 – COMPLETE ONE whether you have achieved the standard
required for the performance objective you
3 Verify and record income and receipts from originating documents are trying to achieve. You will need to claim
4 Verify and record purchases and payments from originating five elements and complete a 200–300 word
statement for each performance objective.
documents
5 Prepare ledger accounts and an initial trial balance You can claim elements individually as soon as
you achieve them, you do not have to wait until
6 Provide basic information on costs and revenues
you are ready to submit the whole objective.
GROUP 2 – COMPLETE TWO
YOUR STATEMENT
7 Correct errors and process accounting adjustments in an extended What should I write?
trial balance Each description should be a concise
8 Maintain records relating to capital acquisition and disposal explanation of how you achieved the
9 Prepare the final accounts of unincorporated entities performance objective description. Remember
that you only need to cover the broad
10 Prepare and complete sales tax/vat returns
description of each performance objective. You
11 Record and analyse information relating to direct costs don’t need to summarise all the activities you
12 Record and analyse information relating to indirect costs carried out to achieve the individual elements.
13 Record and analyse information relating to costs, revenues and We’ll need details of one or two tasks
profit that you’ve been involved with for every
14 Manage and control cash receipts, payments and balances performance objective. The tasks should
relate closely to the objective’s description.
GROUP 3 – COMPLETE THREE Remember there is a limit of 200–300 words for
each statement.
15 Draft financial statements for different business sectors
16 Interpret financial statements for different business sectors When writing your statement:
17 Use management accounting techniques to support planning and • be concise
decision-making • avoid using jargon or abbreviations, unless
18 Measure and evaluate financial performance they are explained.
• provide evidence and examples to help
19 Plan and control financial performance illustrate your statement.
20 Use and evaluate accounting systems and financial control • avoid repeating information or making
21 Implement internal or external audit procedures reference to other statements.
22 Prepare personal taxation computations and complete tax returns Remember that your experience is unique and
23 Prepare business taxation computations and complete tax returns your statement should be unique too.
24 Grant credit and monitor and control the collection of debts

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

WHAT IS A PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

SUPERVISOR?
A practical experience supervisor supports your
development in the workplace and reviews
your FPER progress and achievements. Your
practical experience supervisor should guide
and support you in the following ways:
• Help you to identify which performance
objectives you should aim to achieve, and
the date by which you should achieve them.
• Help you plan how to gain relevant
experience, for example by helping to
arrange job rotations, project work, or other
opportunities should you need them.
• Help you identify personal development,
training, research, or practice needed to
achieve the performance objective.
• Your practical experience supervisor will
review your performance objective statement
and sign off your performance objectives
once they agree that you have met the
standard required.
• Your practical experience supervisor will also
confirm the relevant time you are claiming
towards your 12 months’ experience.
It is your responsibility to find a practical
experience supervisor. To be eligible to sign
You can have one practical experience supervisor, or you can have several
off your performance objectives they must
different practical experience supervisors to support you in achieving
be a qualified accountant recognised by law
different performance objectives. For example, you may report directly to
in your country and/or a member of an IFAC
your line manager who will be able to help you with performance objective
body; and they must have knowledge of your
five, but you may also be working closely on a project with another colleague
work. They should be someone with whom
who may be able to support you on performance objective nine.
you work closely, who knows the type of work
you are doing and the quality of your work. If you work for a small organisation, or your organisation does not employ
They will be assessing your achievements so a professionally qualified accountant who can sign-off your performance
it is important they have the knowledge and objectives then you could ask an external accountant or auditor who knows
expertise to do this. Ideally this will be your your work, to be your practical experience supervisor and work with your line
line manager, or the person to whom you manager to sign-off your objectives.
report on particular projects or activities. A
Remember that your non IFAC qualified line manager can still sign off the
practical experience supervisor cannot sign
relevant time you have completed in this role.
off experience that you have not been able to
demonstrate to them in the workplace. If your You should avoid having a friend or relative as your practical experience
practical experience supervisor is not your line supervisor to prevent any potential conflicts of interest. In the event that your
manager, then they may need to consult with practical experience supervisor is related to you, you should disclose this to
your line manager to validate your experience. ACCA when you apply for CAT status.

Encourage possible practical experience supervisors to read Becoming an FPER practical experience supervisor.
You’ll find this at www.accaglobal.com/per

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

FOUNDATIONS IN ACCOUNTANCY FOUNDATIONS IN LEVEL PERFORMANCE TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE

EXAM EXEMPTIONS ACCOUNTANCY OBJECTIVE OBJECTIVES
While completing your FPER you may GROUP
choose to claim exemption from some
FA1, Recording Introductory Group one 3 verify and record income and receipts
or all of the CAT Introductory and Financial from originating documents
Intermediate exams. Transactions 4 verify and record purchases and
To gain an exemption you must payments from originating documents

complete all of the relevant 5 prepare ledger accounts and an initial

trial balance
performance objectives for each exam
outlined in the table below. This means MA1, Management Introductory Group one 6 provide basic information on costs and
you’ll need to complete more than Information revenues
the minimum number of Technical
FA2, Maintaining Intermediate Group two 7 correct errors and process accounting
performance objectives required for Financial Records adjustments in an extended trial
FPER to get the exemptions. So to balance
gain exemption from the Introductory 8 maintain records relating to capital
exams you’ll need to complete all of the acquisition and disposal
performance objectives in group one, 9 prepare the final accounts of
and for the Intermediate exams you’ll unincorporated entities
need to complete all from group two. 10 prepare and complete sales tax/vat
returns
You can claim the exemption when
you make your application for CAT MA2, Managing Intermediate Group two 11 record and analyse information
Costs and Finance relating to direct costs
status – remember that you need to get
12 record and analyse information
all of the performance objectives you
relating to indirect costs
complete signed off by your practical
13 record and analyse information
experience supervisor. relating to costs, revenues and profit
14 manage and control cash receipts,
ACCA QUALIFICATION STUDENTS payments and balances
If you’re an ACCA Qualification
student applying for CAT status
then you’ll need to complete all
of the performance objectives in
group one and two in place of the
Introductory and Intermediate level
Foundations in Accountancy exams. achieve 12 months’ experience and keep a record of this and your employer
details in your online My Experience record, as well as recording that you
PER EXEMPTIONS are claiming the performance objective exemption. This exemption exists
If you decide to go onto study for the because ACCA recognises that your employer has a training and development
ACCA Qualification and become an programme which gives trainees the required support to achieve CAT status.
ACCA member then some of your
However, it is important to confirm that your employer has this level of approval
foundations practical experience can
and whether they will allow you to claim the exemption. Please note that it is your
be counted towards your PER. You
employer – not you – who decides whether you can claim the exemption.
will be exempt from PER Essentials
performance objectives one and two, If you have met the requirements for CAT status or leave an approved employer
and your 12 month’s FPER experience part way through your training, you must complete the Approved employer PER
will be counted towards the 36 months’ confirmation form which you can download from My Experience. This will ensure
PER requirement. that you have a record of any performance objectives you have achieved while
working for them. Please send a copy of your signed off Approved employer
WHAT IS THE PERFORMANCE PER confirmation form to ACCA and we will update your records to reflect your
OBJECTIVES EXEMPTION? achievement. Please keep the original for your own records.
If your employer is a gold or
platinum ACCA approved employer WHAT IS AN FPER AUDIT?
– trainee development CAT stream, ACCA conducts FPER audits to assure the quality of the FPER process and to
they may allow you to claim a maintain the standards that are set out in the performance objectives. You may be
performance objectives exemption. selected for a PER audit before or after you gain CAT status or as part of the CAT
You would still be required to application process.

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

03
Completing your FPER

USING MY EXPERIENCE
You plan and record your FPER using the online recording tool My Experience
which you can access in myACCA. You will need your user name and password to
access myACCA. The tool will help you to plan your FPER and track your progress
towards achieving the requirements. You will also use it to record your employment
information, register your supervisor and submit your experience to them for sign-
off. ACCA recommends that you always keep your FPER information up to date.
Trainees often have difficulties if they do not: an example is failing to get experience
signed off before leaving an employer. Updating My Experience also allows ACCA
to track your progress and assist you by developing products and services to help
you on your way.

YOU AND YOUR PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE SUPERVISOR

Once you have identified a practical experience supervisor, make sure that you enter
their details into My Experience and send them an invitation to register as your
supervisor. You will not be able to submit anything to your supervisor for sign-off
until they have registered, so make sure you invite them to register as soon as you
can. Then you will need to meet to decide which performance objectives you are
going to target first.
You should agree with your practical experience supervisor how your relationship
can be managed. For example, how often will you meet to discuss progress towards
achieving your performance objectives? Will these meetings be virtual or face
to face? You should agree your approach together to avoid misunderstandings,
unnecessary meetings, or unexpected requests. It is important to be proactive and
plan ahead.
You will need to make the most of the time you have scheduled with your supervisor.
As well as taking responsibility for arranging and planning meetings, think ahead
about the agenda and anything you need to discuss.

Find a practical experience supervisor

Target performance objectives

Gain experience

Submit for review and gain sign off

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

You should also agree how and PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES LINKS TO EXAMS
when your supervisor will review your
performance objectives. These could ESSENTIALS
be reviewed as and when you submit 1 Professionalism and ethics FAB Accountant in Business
an individual element or a whole FMA Management Accounting
performance objective to them for FFA Financial Accounting
review, on a quarterly basis, or as part of
2 Stakeholder relationship management FAB Accountant in Business
your annual appraisal process.
TECHNICAL – GROUP ONE
TARGETING PERFORMANCE
3 Verify and record income and receipts from FA1 Recording Financial Transactions
OBJECTIVES originating documents
Ideally, your employer should give you
the experience you need to achieve the 4 Verify and record purchases and payments from FA1 Recording Financial Transactions
performance objectives. If your current originating documents

role offers few opportunities, you and 5 Prepare ledger accounts and an initial trial balance FA1 Recording Financial Transactions
your practical experience supervisor will
need to think of ways to gain relevant 6 Provide basic information on costs and revenues FA1 Recording Financial Transactions
experience. For example, you might TECHNICAL – GROUP TWO
consider a secondment, job rotation, or
involvement in a project that will give 7 Correct errors and process accounting adjustments FA2 Maintaining Financial Records
in an extended trial balance
you the necessary experience.
8 Maintain records relating to capital acquisition and FA2 Maintaining Financial Records
The performance objectives you choose disposal
should be agreed with your practical
experience supervisor. You should 9 Prepare the final accounts of unincorporated FA2 Maintaining Financial Records
consider the following points when entities
selecting which performance objectives 10 Prepare and complete sales tax/vat returns FA2 Maintaining Financial Records
to target:
11 Record and analyse information relating to direct MA2 Managing Costs and Finance
• If you are studying for Foundation costs
level exams, choose the performance
12 Record and analyse information relating to indirect MA2 Managing Costs and Finance
objectives that relate to these exams. costs
This way you will be able to put what
you are learning into practice. 13 Record and analyse information relating to costs, MA2 Managing Costs and Finance
revenues and profit
• Match any business objectives you
have been set at work with the 14 Manage and control cash receipts, payments and MA2 Managing Costs and Finance
balances
performance objectives. This will
allow you to work towards your TECHNICAL – GROUP THREE
business objectives and your FPER at
15 Draft financial statements for different business FFA Financial Accounting
the same time. sectors
There is no time limit for achieving 16 Interpret financial statements for different business FFA Financial Accounting
a performance objective, but you sectors
must be able to demonstrate that
you can carry out the work activities 17 Use management accounting techniques to FMA Management Accounting
support planning and decision-making
that relate to the performance
objective to a consistent standard. 18 Measure and evaluate financial performance FMA Management Accounting

19 Plan and control financial performance FMA Management Accounting

20 Use and evaluate accounting systems and financial FAB Accountant in Business
control

21 Implement internal or external audit procedures FAU Foundations in Audit

22 Prepare personal taxation computations and FTX Foundations in Taxation

complete tax returns

23 Prepare business taxation computations and FTX Foundations in Taxation

complete tax returns

24 Grant credit and monitor and control the collection FFM Foundations in Financial Management
of debts

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE ONLINE SIGN-OFF PROCESS • Show your supervisor that you are
achieving your goals and performing
effectively in the workplace.
Add your employer and role to My Experience • Avoid repeating information or
making reference to other statements.
• Check back against the performance
Add your supervisor to the role and send them a request objective description. Have you met
all the outcomes and shown that
you have conducted yourself in an
appropriate manner?
Your supervisor accepts your request and registers • If you need to make reference to
clients or particular documents that
may be confidential, it might be more
appropriate to use some references
Complete a performance objective by claiming the or codes instead. If you do, make
five elements and writing your statement sure that your supervisor understands
these. You will also need to provide
this information if you are selected
by ACCA for a FPER audit, so we can
Submit these to your supervisor confirm the authenticity of your work.
• If relevant, you might need to
mention the size or variety of client
Your supervisor approves or declines your submission firms.
• You can use information from existing
documents that you have written,
such as your performance appraisal
form. You must make sure that
whatever you use fully addresses the
WRITING YOUR PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE STATEMENTS performance objective description.
Remember you can claim individual elements from your performance objectives Remember that your experience is
as you achieve them, and send each to your practical experience supervisor for unique and your statement should
sign-off. But when you and your supervisor agree that you have achieved the level be unique too. (If cutting and pasting
of experience required to achieve the whole performance objective, you should from another document, please
claim any remaining elements and submit your statement for your supervisor to check that your answer is saved
review and sign-off. It might be helpful to discuss with your supervisor what you correctly in My Experience).
should include in your statement. Remember, though, that you must complete the
• Avoid using jargon or abbreviations,
statement yourself.
unless they are explained.
The following tips will help you complete your performance objective statements:
• Remember that each statement
• Tell us what you did to meet the objective’s description and highlight any should be between 200 and 300
lessons you learned. Remember that you only need to cover the broad words.
description of each performance objective. You don’t need to summarise
Your situation and experience are
all the activities you carried out to achieve the individual elements.
unique to you, so we do not expect
• Keep your answers concise, but not so brief that your supervisor cannot to see duplicated wording, whether
appreciate what you are recording. As a guide, someone who doesn’t know from statement to statement, or from
your work should be able to fully understand and appreciate the work you have other trainees. If such duplication
completed. Taking this approach will also help ACCA to assess your eligibility occurs then it may be referred to
for CAT status and conduct FPER audits. Provide details of one or two tasks that ACCA’s Disciplinary Committee.
you’ve been involved with for each statement. The tasks should relate closely to
the objective’s description.

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FOUNDATIONS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

REVIEWING AND GAINING SIGN-OFF

You will need to submit your performance
objectives to your practical experience
supervisor for review and sign-off. To
do this, you will need to ensure that
your supervisor is registered by adding
their details to My Experience and
sending them an invitation to register
as your supervisor. You will not be able
to submit anything to your supervisor
for sign-off until they have registered.

When your supervisor receives the

notification email, they must register in My
Experience to be given access to review
and sign-off your experience. Please note:
your supervisor can only see the status
of your performance objectives and the
time you have completed, but not your
personal details. If they have questions
they can use the comments section to
ask you a question. Once approved your
experience will show as completed on your
My Experience record.

Your supervisor will decide if you have met

all the requirements for the performance
objective as a whole, or any of the
performance objective elements you
have claimed individually. They will refer
to the detail of the relevant performance
objective to check your achievements. The
review can be done in person or remotely;
it may also be done in conjunction
with your line manager if they are not
performing this role.

If your supervisor decides that you have not

yet achieved all or part of a performance
objective they will decline your submission.
You should discuss this and ask for
Need more
feedback. You may find it useful to review
your submission with your supervisor, and
agree a plan of action that will help you
help?
achieve the performance objective. Your
Please visit http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/student/
supervisor will leave feedback for you to
practical-experience/practical-experience-foundation-level.
view within the declined objective.
html for further guidance and support for FPER
NEED MORE HELP?
Please visit http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/
en/student/practical-experience/practical-
experience-foundation-level.html

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ACCA
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89 Hydepark Street
Glasgow G3 8BW
United Kingdom
+44 (0)141 582 2000
[email protected]
www.accaglobal.com

The information contained in this

publication is provided for general
purposes only. While every effort
has been made to ensure that the
information is accurate and up to
date at the time of going to press,
ACCA accepts no responsibility
for any loss which may arise
from information contained in
this publication. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, in
any format, without prior written
permission of ACCA.
© ACCA February 2016

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