What Is CPD and How Is It Changing?
CPD (Continuing Professional Development) is the process of ongoing learning that continues throughout a professional’s career. It enables individuals to stay up to date, remain relevant and prepare to meet the challenges of the future. Each of the UK’s accountancy bodies has a CPD scheme. They are required to by their membership of IFAC, the global organisation for the accountancy profession, and by the Financial Reporting Council. The FRC delegates its regulatory responsibilities to four Recognised Supervisory Bodies (RSBs): ACCA, CAI, ICAEW and ICAS, and so has the right to lay down conditions, such as an effective CPD policy.
These CPD schemes are defined either by the “inputs” – how many hours you are required to spend doing CPD, or by the “outputs” – the things you have decided you need to achieve to remain relevant, up to date and ready for the challenges of tomorrow. Proponents of inputs-based systems point to the ease of measurement and the fact that it is much harder to misrepresent whether you have done your CPD. On the other hand, proponents of outputs-based systems say that they are more rigorous, and that measuring compliance in hours turns the process into a cynical tick-box exercise.
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