What to write on a certificate of completion

Unlike an award, a certificate of completion isn’t mainly about celebration. It is a record that someone finished something, and it is often read by people who weren’t there: an employer checking a CV, a professional body counting CPD hours, an auditor looking at training records. Write it for them.

1. What it must say

1. The title: “Certificate of Completion”, or something more specific, like “Certificate of Attendance” for an event with no assessment
2. The learner’s full name, spelled the way they write it
3. The course or programme name, exactly as it is advertised
4. What completing meant: attended, completed all modules, or passed an assessment, whichever is true
5. The completion date, written out in full
6. The provider: your organisation’s full name and logo
7. A signature, with the signatory’s printed name and role
8. A certificate number, and ideally a QR code or link to check it

2. What makes it more useful

• Hours or CPD points, if learners need to log them, with the unit stated (“6 CPD hours”)
• Modules or topics covered, so a reader can see what the course included
• The delivery mode, such as in person, live online or self-paced, where it matters to the reader
• A grade or result, only if there was a real assessment
• An expiry or renewal date for training that has to be refreshed, like first aid or health and safety

3. Wording examples

4. What to leave off

• Dates of birth, addresses and ID numbers. They aren’t needed to prove completion, and certificates get shared.
• Vague praise. “For outstanding commitment” belongs on an award, not on a record of completion.
• Marketing. A small logo is fine; a list of your other courses is not.

5. Issuing them for a whole cohort

Completion certificates usually go out in batches, with the same course and different names, sometimes with different hours or grades. Put the changing details in columns in a spreadsheet (name, email, hours, grade) and issue them all at once; our guide to bulk certificates from Excel walks through it. Certale recognises headings like “CPD hours”, “Course” and “Grade” and fills them into the matching fields when the design has them.

Training providers who need expiry dates and the ability to revoke certificates will find both on the Business plan. See how other providers set this up in our guide to training and CPD certificates.

Written by

The Certale team

Certale, by PPT-Design Ltd

We design Certale’s 1,000+ certificate templates and build the app that issues and verifies them. In the Journal we share what we have learned about recognising people well: the wording, the design and the practical side of getting certificates into the right hands.