Accreditation of MBA programs has become a subject of increasing importance to European business schools. The pros and cons of this quality improvement instrument have been well elaborated from a business school's point of view. However, how students perceive accreditations has not been subject of research yet. In order to contribute to close this research gap and to gain some insight into the customers' perception of accreditations, the authors have conducted an empirical survey amongst students and alumni of Executive MBA (EMBA) programs. Results of a multinomial logistic regression show that accreditation is by far not the most relevant criterion for the choice of an Executive program at this point in time. According to that and the low knowledge on accreditation among students and alumni one may raise the question why business schools invest so much time and effort in accreditation. Based on these results, the article implies possible shifts in the relationship between business schools and accrediting institutions.