The cooperation on civil service among ASEAN Member States started in 1980 as the ASEAN Conference of Reforms in the Civil Service (ACRCS). The ASEAN Conference on Civil Service Matters (ACCSM) was then established in the following year in 1981 to foster greater level of cooperation among ASEAN civil service and as a platform for exchange of information, innovations and best practices in public service management in ASEAN.  On 17 November 2015, the ASEAN Heads of Civil Service Retreat in Cyberjaya, Malaysia agreed, among others, to change the name of ACCSM to ASEAN Cooperation on Civil Service Matters. The Retreat also adopted the Putrajaya Joint Declaration on ASEAN Post-2015 Priorities towards an ASEAN Citizen-Centric Civil Service. The cooperation of ACCSM is guided by the ACCSM Work Plan. 

One of the milestones of ACCSM is the establishment of ASEAN Resource Centres (ARCs) which was initiated during the 8th ACCSM held in Manila, the Philippines in January 1995. Currently, all ten ASEAN Member States are leading ARCs based on their respective specialisation and expertise (see the ARC Directory as of 2018) and regularly conducts self-evaluation of their respective ARC.  The ASEAN Network of Public Service Training Institutes was established in October 2018 to enhance the competencies of ASEAN civil services and their capacity to respond to emerging challenges. The Network is currently coordinated by Civil Service College of Singapore for the period of 2019-2020.

The ACCSM’s cooperation with the Plus Three Countries started in 2008 and was formalised in the Luang Prabang Joint Declaration on ASEAN Plus Three Civil Service Cooperation which was adopted in 2010. The ACCSM+3 Work Plan 2016-2020 covers the thematic areas of (i) E-governance; (ii) human resource management and human resource development; (iii) productivity in public sector; (iv) good governance; (v) public sector reform; (vi) local administration capacity building and cooperation; and (vii) research and innovation. These thematic areas continue to guide joint efforts in the ACCSM+3 Work Plan 2021-2025.