We are often full of good intentions at the beginning of the year, and so it's a great time to be thinking about what CPD we might do over the next twelve months. It's really important, that as professional accountants, we undertake CPD that is relevant to our role.
Your CPD should reflect your role.
An accountant working as a financial controller for a large manufacturing company would be unlikely to benefit from attending a three-hour inheritance tax update course. However, they may benefit from attending a three-hour corporation tax update course as this will usually provide details of relevant reliefs that are available.
Deciding on what CPD activities will be undertaken is something that a professional accountant should do early on in the year. It is not advisable to cram everything in at the end of the year just so the CPD declaration can be submitted to the professional body on time because this is clearly not an effective use of time and can put the accountant under a lot of unnecessary pressure. Deciding what courses, events, conferences, or webinars you should do on at the start of the year means that CPD activities can be planned around work commitments and makes the end of the year a lot less arduous!
Finding the right fit
Some professional bodies require their members to carry out a certain minimum number of hours of CPD annually and require a mix of verifiable and non-verifiable CPD activities to be carried out. Generally, verifiable CPD means:
- The learning activity was relevant to the individual's career.
- The member can explain how they applied the learning in the workplace.
- The member can provide evidence that they undertook the learning activity.
- Depending on your professional body, there will be requirements for your CPD.
Each professional body has differing requirements for CPD so it is advisable to check exactly when and how CPD should be carried out. Accountants working in tax will need to undertake CPD to maintain their tax knowledge, such as changes in tax legislation, additional reliefs which may be available for tax planning or updates in specific taxes such as capital gains, inheritance tax and corporation tax. Professional accountants that are involved in the preparation of financial statements for clients will need to keep up-to-date with changes in accounting standards and company law to ensure that correct accounting treatments are applied, and appropriate disclosures are made in the financial statements.
Steve Collings is an author for accountingcpd. To see his courses, click here.
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