A commitment to life-long learning has always been an integral part of being a successful chartered accountant just as continuing professional development (CPD) is an integral part of an ACA qualification. And as scrutiny of the accountancy profession and regulatory expectations ramp up, the need to revisit what this means in practice has never been more important.

Ensuring that CPD is approached as part of an overarching learning and development (L&D) strategy will pay dividends - both for individuals and the organisations they work for. “This shouldn't just be approached as a box-ticking exercise,” says Liz Shaw, Senior Manager, Professional Standards at ICAEW. “If you take a more strategic view of CPD, you're going to get a lot more out of it,” Shaw adds.

Investing in L&D is not just about giving team members the skills they need, but equally about showing them how much they are valued, says Gareth John, Chief Executive of accountancy training provider First Intuition. “It plays an increasingly valuable role in recruiting and retaining precious staff and therefore needs to be considered at a strategic level.” At a time of fierce competition for the best talent, that’s a factor not to be ignored.

Changes to ICAEW CPD requirements

Under the revised ICAEW CPD Regulations, from November individuals are required to determine which of the predefined CPD categories they fit into and undertake the specified minimum amount of CPD– ranging from 20 to 40 hours. ICAEW has created a CPD self-assessment tool to help those affected understand how much CPD they must complete each year. “If you’re the Responsible Individual on the audit of a Public Interest Entity, that's a higher risk than if you're doing straightforward tax returns. That focuses people's minds on where the risk is in the work that they do,” Shaw says.

Alongside specifying the minimum amount of CPD required, ICAEW has mandated that at least one hour of ethics training aligned to the ICAEW Code of Ethics is completed each year. Already 12 hours of ICAEW-created ethics training is available to all members free of charge.

Identifying development needs

For ICAEW members, reflecting on the intricacies of your role should play an important part in identifying development needs, including understanding:

• your responsibilities,
• the expectation of others, and
• issues pertinent to the business sector in which you work. 

Bear in mind too that CPD doesn’t necessarily need to be technical, Shaw says. “For example, it may be that you've recently taken on a people management role, or you identify other areas of your work where you need to develop skills, such as time management or delivering presentations.”

While statutory CPD requirements will help to ensure that individuals are competent to carry out their current tasks, it’s important not to overlook their developmental needs for career progression and future roles, John adds. This includes soft skills development, management training and mentoring of aspiring leaders for succession planning.

Focusing on business goals and outcomes ensures your L&D strategy is purposeful, engaging to participants and beneficial for the company. “Identify anything that needs immediate or prolonged attention and address it first. Anything critical to the business is paramount and although you would like to work and improve a lot of processes and grow a lot of individuals, taking on too much could be detrimental,” says Dominic Fitch, Head of Creative Change at Impact International.

Consider verifiability

ICAEW’s view on CPD has evolved to recognise that L&D can occur in many ways – and is by no means limited to in person training courses. That broad definition of CPD offers huge benefits, not least the scope to tailor learning and development for your organisation and individual employees.

However, the requirement from November that a proportion of your ICAEW CPD must be ‘verifiable’ needs to be factored in. Shaw explains: “Individuals need to be able to demonstrate to ICAEW that they’ve completed these CPD activities if they are selected for review,  and we’re open to how that is done – it might be certificates, proof of attendance at meetings, or participation in a course, for example. But, if you have other ways of evidencing the completed training, we’re happy to review and consider this. 

The requirement for verifiable CPD also means that firms need to capture documentation to prove that professional development in whatever form has occurred. The larger firms typically use learning management systems to do this, but an Excel spreadsheet will probably serve a smaller firm well. “Do it in a way that works for your firm, but you do need to have a process in place to ensure the evidence is retained and available for review,” Shaw says.

Pulling together this data is an opportunity to identify gaps in your training programme – not just technical training but also other areas, such as sector-specific insight, Shaw says. Documenting L&D across your firm will also help to ensure that staff are on track to meet their statutory CPD commitments. “Because you've got to complete a prescribed number of hours, you don't want to wait until the end of the year only to find out that you have not achieved the minimum required hours,” Shaw warns.

Long-term, over-arching strategy

To be successful, L&D needs to be seen as an ongoing, long-term investment in the skills and abilities of staff, rather than one-off, tactical training interventions. “It is important that individuals’ CPD is consistent with the overall business strategy and goals of their employer. It is easy to create disjointed ‘pockets of expertise’ in an organisation, which can be based on personal enthusiasms rather than on the pursuit of concrete and coordinated benefits to the business,” John says. 

Having an umbrella view of L&D needs can also highlight areas where there is consistent demand for training and development across the organisation. Not only does this presents potential efficiency and cost benefits, but it can also highlight potential business risks where knowledge might be lacking.

Data analysis should also be complemented with discussions around training with the individuals concerned. Appraisals are a good opportunity to talk through individuals’ training plans, but ongoing dialogue about the L&D needs of employees should be encouraged. “The trick is to take advantage of both formal and informal conversations to find out what kind of learning individual employees would like,” Shaw says.

Rather than give individual employees carte blanche over their training, organisations could offer a library of approved training with guidance on what would be most relevant in given departments and teams, John suggests. “Employees need to be given adequate time to undertake training, to reflect on their learnings and to implement them in their daily work. If staff don’t feel they have the ‘headspace’ to consolidate what they learn they are far less likely to take it seriously in the first place.”

Take on feedback and don’t be scared to tweak the strategy to get the best results. “It is important to track employees’ progress and ensure they feel engaged. You are investing in their development, so be sure to make sure they are aware of this, and that they feel it is of use to them and their career,” John says.

With the right attitude and organisation, an L&D strategy will become part of the business culture and will be something that staff and leaders will want to engage with, rather than feel it’s something they have to do.