Rules Policies and Reports
The CAE Program has Standing Rules and Policies set by the CAE Commission.
June 2025 CAE Commission Policies and Procedures (PDF)
2024 Analysis Report for the Certified Association Executive (CAE) Examination aka Job Task Analysis
2024 Analysis Report for the CAE (PDF)
2024 Analysis Report for the Certified Association Executive (CAE) Examination
The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)
Executive Summary, April 2025
ASAE is committed to enhancing the professional development of and recognition for professionals in association management. The Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential, governed by the CAE Commission, is the marker of a committed association professional who has demonstrated the wide range of knowledge essential to manage an association in today’s challenging environment.
Starting in September 2024, ASAE assembled a panel of subject matter experts (SMEs) to determine the competencies required for successful performance as a newly certified CAE. The results of this process, known as a practice analysis study, serve as the cornerstone for examination development by ensuring the content on the examination reflects the tasks performed in practice settings.
Phase I: Initial Development and Evaluation
In September 2024, a panel of 10 subject matter experts (SMEs), assembled by ASAE, met to delineate the role of the CAE. The major function of the certification program is to ensure competence and professionalism for individuals working in association management. The results of these meetings were used to create a preliminary content outline of the major areas of responsibility that describes the current practice in the field.
To ensure a representative practice analysis, the panel consisted of SMEs carefully selected to reflect the diversity of practice within the profession. ASAE assembled the panel with the following targets in mind:
- Representation from each major organization type (i.e., professional, trade, consultant, association management).
- At least 20% newly certified (three years or less).
- At least 20% with fewer than 10 years of experience.
- At least one panelist from Australia or New Zealand.
- No more than 80% representing a single demographic category in terms of gender identity or race/ethnicity.
The panel discussed the mission of the program, relevant characteristics of potential certificants, the changes in the industry during the past five years, as well as the anticipated changes in the next five years. Although certificants are not required to be chief staff executives to earn the CAE designation, the credential is designed to assess basic competence in this role.
Domain, Subdomain, and Task Development
The panel reviewed the 2019 practice analysis content outline, identifying the key domains and subdomains—the major groupings of responsibilities, knowledge, and skills that constitute significant areas of the role—and the specific tasks or activities performed within each subdomain.
Discussions focused on ensuring the identified responsibilities and knowledge areas accurately reflected the diverse settings in which CAEs operate. As the panel refined the content outline, they assessed the relevance and currency of the domains and subdomains, making necessary additions, edits, or removal until a comprehensive list was created.
The panel created a comprehensive list of eight domains, 31 subdomains, and 119 task statements. The eight domains include:
- Governance
- Executive Leadership
- Organizational Strategy
- Operations
- Business Development
- Member and Stakeholder Engagement
- Advocacy and Public Policy
- Marketing and Communications
New tasks were added to address crisis management, covering both planning and communication, and to promote a foresight-driven culture. Language was broadened to reflect role variability, particularly in Marketing and Communications, recognizing that many CAEs oversee specific tasks rather than perform them directly. Additionally, data and performance metrics were established as central to decision making across all domains. The domains, subdomains, and tasks were designed to reflect practices in both the United States and Australasia.
Phase II: Validation Study
Meazure collaborated with ASAE to develop an online survey to validate the work of the panel. The survey asked respondents to rate each of the domains, subdomains, and tasks using the following scales:
- Frequency: How frequently do you perform work in this domain, subdomain, or task in your role? Daily or weekly
and
- Criticality: How important is this domain, subdomain, or task in your role?
On September 26, 2024, Meazure sent an email invitation, including a unique survey link, to 4,072 valid contacts1 provided by ASAE. 953 individuals responded, resulting in a 23% response rate.
Survey Results
After reviewing the demographics of the survey respondents, the CAE Commission concluded that the respondents were representative of the CAE population and could reliably be used to establish the examination’s test specifications. The Commission examined the domains, subdomains, and tasks with the lowest frequency and criticality ratings, determining that no task warranted complete removal from the CAE examination. However, some tasks with overlapping processes were merged, and one task was added to Public Relations.
The final content outline consists of eight domains, 31 subdomains, and 115 tasks.
Phase III: Development of Test Specifications
The final phase of a practice analysis study is the development of test specifications that identify the proportion of questions to be allocated to each content area on the examination. To ensure a strong link between the practice analysis study and the examination, information collected through the validation survey was used to calculate new test specifications.
The CAE Commission determined that a hybrid approach, blending both bottom-up and top-down weights, would best represent the CAE role and ensure sufficient content coverage at the subdomain and task-level. To account for sampling error (i.e., variability in statistical estimates from a sample) associated with survey ratings and to allow flexibility when assembling future test forms, the CAE Commission concluded that minor shifts in domain weights would not impact the exam’s overall validity. Thus, domain weights are permitted to deviate by plus or minus one percent. ASAE notified Meazure Learning of final approval of the CAE test specifications on December 2, 2024
Conclusion
The survey results confirm the outcomes of the practice analysis meeting, indicating that the domains, subdomains, and tasks areas defined by the panel accurately represent competent practice for a newly certified CAE.
Exam Content Outline
In 2024, the CAE Commission oversaw a practice analysis that resulted in the identification of 116 essential association management competencies organized into eight knowledge domains. This study is conducted every five years, and confirms that the domains, subdomains, and tasks areas defined by the panel accurately represent competent practice for a newly certified CAE. This was used to create the new CAE Exam Content Outline.
The 2025-2030 CAE Exam Content Outline takes effect with the December 2025 CAE exam and continues through the May 2030 CAE exam. The outline presents the content covered in the exam; the amount of the test devoted to each area is indicated in parentheses
2025-2030 CAE Exam Content Outline