Cookie policy
Details of cookies we use across ICAS websites.
What are cookies?
A cookie is a tiny file that is saved by your browser when you visit a website. It enables certain information about your visit to be stored by the site, to save you from re-entering information in the future (such as preferences), to enhance the overall experience, including the speed and security of the website and to enable us to serve relevant adverts to you. Some of these cookies are essential for a website to run as you would expect.
This policy only covers web-based cookies. If you’re looking for more information on ICAS’ approach to the personal information we handle in carrying out our duties as a professional body and regulator of Chartered Accountants, then please read our privacy notice.
Does ICAS use cookies?
Yes, we do use cookies across our website and Advantage, our online student learning platform. We use them for a range of different reasons outlined below.
How long are cookies active for?
Some cookies are active during your session on the sites and will automatically delete after you close your browser. Other cookies are persistent and will either expire after a certain period of time (e.g. one month) or when you tell them to expire via your browser’s settings.
How does ICAS use cookies?
There are some cookies that are used to allow the sites to function as you would expect, which are called Strictly Necessary Cookies.
Other cookies allow you to personalise and customise the sites for your benefit, or similar purposes. These are known as Functional cookies. We also use marketing and advertising cookies to track you across sites and display ads that are relevant and engaging for you. These are called Targeting Cookies.
We may also use cookies known as Social Media cookies, to enable you to share our content with your friends and social media networks. These cookies can track your browser across other social media sites and build a profile of your interests so we can serve you relevant content.
We also use analytics cookies to help us understand the usage of our sites by collecting and reporting information anonymously. These are called Performance cookies.
Who sets the cookies?
Some cookies are set directly by ICAS when you use our sites and these are known as ‘first-party cookies’ and are controlled by us. Other cookies are placed by other organisations and are known as ‘third-party cookies’. Third-party cookies may be placed for different purposes, such as by analytics providers that help ICAS understand how visitors use our site, or by social media platforms that enable content sharing or tailored ads. The tables below provide more information on the providers of the ICAS cookies.
Understanding and managing your ICAS cookies
To make cookies easier to understand, and in line with best practice, we have categorised the cookies we use into five categories. The categories are as follows.
Strictly necessary - make our websites usable by enabling certain functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website.
Functional - enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks.
Performance - help us understand how users use our websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
Targeting - these are used to track visitors across websites. Data is collected to display ads that are relevant and engaging.
Social media - these allow you to share content via social media platforms and enable personalised content and ads.
Some types of cookies require us to obtain your consent before we set them – these are Functional, Performance, Targeting and Social Media Cookies. Because these cookies are not ‘strictly necessary’ to the functioning of the sites then we will ask for your consent before we set these cookies. Cookies that are Strictly Necessary and essential to the operation of the site will be set automatically. To reject all cookies, except for Strictly Necessary cookies, select ‘reject all cookies’ in the cookie manager. You have the freedom to control all cookies in the list below, except for Strictly Necessary cookies, across the ICAS sites using the cookie manager.