A focus on continued professional development (CPD) is important for all accountants, helping ensure we are always improving our skills and are fully aware of the latest changes in legislation and practice that have an impact on our role.
With this in mind, the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) has issued a proposed revision to its CPD standards, in the form of the new International Education Standard (IES) 7, Continuing Professional Development.
It aims to encourage businesses to review their existing protocols for how CPD programmes are measured, monitored and enforced. This means that accountancy practices will no longer be urged to simply log the number of hours spent on CPD by their employees, but instead will focus on the quality of training and how CPD directly correlates with their professional responsibilities.
The organisation argues this will serve the public interest by setting high-quality education standards for professional accountants and by converging these requirements across national and international boundaries.
IAESB chair Chris Austin stated: ‘Many CPD programmes will benefit from a more innovative approach to learning and development, given technological and educational advances.
‘This proposed standard embraces innovation and changes in learning by enhancing existing requirements and focusing recommended measurement approaches on learning while emphasising the range of available approaches.’
In addition to accountancy practices themselves, the new IES 7 standard will also target educational organisations, regulators, government authorities and other key stakeholders. This will ensure that not only private operators come under the auspices of enhanced CPD requirements in the years to come.
A request for comments has now been issued by the IAESB, with the aim of securing full approval for the new IES 7 standard later this year. Individuals and organisations affected by the change in CPD requirements have until 5 September, 2017 to respond to the proposal. They can do so by submitting comments directly to the IAESB at http://www.ifac.org/publications-resources/proposed-international-education-standard-7-continuing-professional
Look out for more on CPD as we ask Praxity participant firms for their views and experiences.
If you have any ideas for future articles or any news you think would interest other Praxity participants, please contact our copywriter Simon Tyrrell on styrrell@praxity.com.