This document provides an overview of the main coaching accrediting bodies and the ICF credentialing certification terminology

Coaching Accreditation and Certification

Coaching is a relatively new and growing profession. It is also an unregulated profession. So far no one has managed to legally restrict people from coaching or legally require them to hold any particular certification. (Although there have been attempts in certain states in the US).

There are, however, a range of professional coaching associations that have set recommended and industry endorsed standards of practice. Some of these associations are region or niche specific and some are global and all encompassing. It is up to individual coaches where they align themselves and which certification they pursue.

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Certifying Body

International Coaching Federation (ICF)

Summary The ICF is the largest and main professional association for coaches

Number of members

(in 2024)

  Established in 1995. The ICF has approximately 50,000 members worldwide with Over 130 Chapters in nearly 150 countries plus a growing number of “virtual chapters
Target Membership  All coaching niches (life, business, corporate, executive etc.)
Services/ Functions for Education Providers The  ICF provides accredition to qualifying coaching education providers
Coaching education providers submit their program for accreditation by the ICF. The provider must demonstrate the following for a Level 2 or Professional Coaching Certification (PCC)
A minimum of 125 student contact learning hours (SCLH), of which 100 must be direct communication either virtually or face to face sessions
The program must include at least 6 observed coaching sessions for the purpose of evaluating competency. Observers must be ICF PCC and MCC credentialed coaches
The program is required to administer a comprehensive and quantitative final examination, in a formal testing environment. The final exam shall contain an actual observation of coaching at least a half-hour in length which is graded as a final exam
If a coaching education provider is approved, they can then market themselves as an ICF Accredited Coaching Education partner and use the designated Level 2 ICF logo to promote the program

Services for Coaches

The ICF also certifies individual coaches. There are 3 levels of certification (or Credentials as it is sometimes called)

Master Certified Coach (MCC)

200 hours of Coach Specific Training and 2,500 hours of Client Coaching Experience
Professional Certified Coach (PCC) 125 hours of Coach Specific Training and 750 hours of Client Coaching Experience
Associate Professional Coach (ACC) 60 hours of Coach Specific training and 250 hours of Client Coaching Experience

Certifying Body

International Association Of Coaches (IAC)

Summary

The IAC was set up by Thomas Leonard and was born out of his frustration with certain elements of the ICF credentialing process. His main issue was the fact that to be certified with the ICF you have to demonstrate a certain number of training hours and a certain number of coaching hours. Tomas Leonard did not believe that the length of time a coach trained or has been coaching was a good indication of their skill as a coach. Rather, he believed that you could be a really powerful coach with almost no training and almost no experience. Consequently the IAC certification process is merely an online exam. If you pass you are certified if you fail you can sit it again as many times as you like until you get it right

Number of members

(in 2024)

Since 2003 IAC has attracted over 25,000 coaches
Target Membership Professionals from various industries that are transitioning into coaching, or use a coaching approach a variety of ways in their business or practice
Services/ Functions for Education Providers The IAC license coach training schools to use the IAC Coaching Masteries™ as the basis of their coach training program
Services for Coaches The IAC also certifies coaches via an online test that evaluates the knowledge and awareness of IAC’s Coaching Masteries and the legal and ethical coaching standards
Coaches practical experience is assessed based on the submission of two recorded coaching sessions, where the coach demonstrate the application of their coaching skill

There are two levels of certification

The Skilled Certified Coach, or CC (IAC)

The Master Certified Coach, or MCC (IAC)

Certifying Body

World Wide Association Of Business Coaches (WABC)

Summary The World-Wide Association Of Business Coaches aims to support business coaches through information such as peer-reviewed articles and news and provides further training and professional development and credentialing for business coach trainers and training school. WABC also certify individual coach

Number of members

(in 2024)

Not published. It was established in 1997
Target Membership Business Coaches and corporate managers wanting to coach learn coaching skills
Services/ Functions for Education Providers

WABC offers program accreditation at four levels

labeled practitioner, advanced, master and elite

Licensing of a number of training programs whose graduates get the following designations The Registered Corporate Coach™ (RCC™), WABC Certified Business Coach™ (CBC™), WABC Certified Master Business Coach™ (CMBC™), Chartered Business Coach™ (ChBC™)

Certifying Body

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

Summary The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) provides coaching and mentoring professional accreditation, as well as support and guidance to the coaching and mentoring profession and for its members. It is one of a small number of such global coaching industry bodies which has led in representing the profession globally as well as within the European Union

Number of members

(in 2024)

In August 2019, it served over 6,000 members located in at least 90 countries, most recently launching in China in November 2019
Target Membership The EMCC has organizational members, such as the UK’s National Health Service and PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”), in addition to having individual members. Public sector bodies across Europe are also members of, or work with, the EMCC
Services/ Functions for Education Providers

EMCC provides independent accreditation for professional coaches, mentors and supervisors, as well as for coaching and mentoring training providers and their programs. The EMCC also helps organizations to benchmark their coaching and mentoring programs. Various universities teach courses in coaching or mentoring which are approved by the EMCC

In Summary

In summary as a trained coach, you can choose who you want to get your certification from. The certifications you can apply for will depend on the criteria required by each certifying body from the most rigorous certification requirements of the ICF to the online certification of the IAC. This choice is personal and will depend on your own circumstances, whom you are coaching and what kind of certification is important in the field in which you practice. At ICE we feel that the certification requirements of the International Coach Federation ensure that certified coaches have undertaken significant training and have substantial coaching practice and this is the certification path that we follow. Furthermore, ICF is more known in globally and some organizations will only work with credentialed ICF coaches.

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Taymour Miri is an ICF master coach and a Gallup certified strengths coach and more recently one of the first 136 coaches world wide to be awarded an Advanced Certificate in Team Coaching. He has 30 years’ experience in leadership roles and 20 years of experince in coaching. Taymour has trained over 1,500 coaches across five continents and is the founder of International Coaching Education (ICE).