Any work that you do that relates to the profession of accountancy is likely to be considered accountancy and finance work.

The scope of such activity is wide and would include work undertaken in practice and outside of practice, such as working in the finance department or the management of a business, charity or public sector organisation.

If you are in any doubt whether your work is accountancy or finance, it is highly likely that it is.

The services listed below would be included within the scope of accountancy or finance work, although please note that this list is not exhaustive:

If you work for an accountancy firm, either as a member of staff or as a partner/director of the firm, then you are a practice member. An accountancy firm can be structured in a number of different ways, for example as a partnership, a Limited Liability Partnership, a limited company, or an unincorporated business (including as a sole trader). For the purposes of the CPD regulations it does not matter how the accountancy firm is structured; if the organisation you work for provides accountancy services, then you are in practice if you are client facing or support the provision of those services.

In a public sector context, if you are employed by a public sector audit agency such as the National Audit Office, Audit Wales or Audit Scotland, and your role is to perform audit work, then you would be in practice for the purpose of the CPD categories.

If you work in an audit regulatory role within an accountancy professional body, a training organisation or an oversight body, then you would be classified as being in practice.

If you do not work for an accountancy firm or a government audit organisation, then you are likely to be considered as not working in practice. This will include the following members/relevant persons (please note this list is not exhaustive):

• Those employed in a business, either in the finance department or in a non-finance role.
• Those working as a self-employed consultant providing services to businesses.
• A company director, whether executive or non-executive (for a company that does not provide accountancy services).
• A partner in a partnership (that does not provide accountancy services).
• A trustee or employee of a charity.
• A trustee or employee of a pension fund.
• Those employed in a public sector organisation such as a local authority, NHS trust, school, or central government department.
• Lecturers.

Any individual who sits on the management board, in either an executive or non-executive capacity, including as chairman, chief executive and chief operating officer, for example.

This category of individual seeks to include all who hold a chief, director or head role, which may include:

• Chief financial officer
• Finance director
• Head of tax
• Head of internal audit
• Group financial director
• Those who report to the CFO

In most cases, members of the audit committee would also be members of the management board and would therefore be captured in the CPD category for those individuals. However, for the avoidance of doubt, members of the audit committee who do not sit on the management board are also within scope of the CPD Regulations.

This category of individual seeks to include all who hold a manager level role, which may include:

• Financial controller
• Financial reporting manager
• Internal audit manager
• Tax manager
• Finance business partner
• Financial planning and analysis manager

A responsible individual is a principal or employee in an audit registered firm who is responsible for the audit work under ICAEW's Audit Regulations and registered with ICAEW and/or the Financial Reporting Council for that role.

For those working outside the UK, responsible individuals are ICAEW members or regulated individuals working in audit with the right to sign an audit report.

The engagement quality review is the partner, other individual in the firm, or an external individual, appointed by the firm to perform the engagement quality review.

Individuals who sign local audit reports within a registered local audit firm, are called key audit partners (KAPs). The detailed eligibility requirements are set by the Local Audit and Accountability Act and the FRC's Guidance for Recognised Supervisory Bodies on the approval of KAPs for local audit.

The accounting officer of a public sector organisation is usually its permanent secretary or chief executive officer, the official who manages its business day to day. The post carries personal responsibilities to manage the organisation efficiently and effectively and to report to parliament accurately, meaningfully and without misleading. In turn, others in the organisation, operating using delegated powers, account for their own performance to the accounting officer.

A statutory officer refers to the chief executive, the monitoring officer and the Section 151 officer of a local authority, or a police and crime commissioner in England and Wales, or its equivalent.

Under ISA 220, the engagement partner is defined as: “The partner or other individual, appointed by the firm, who is responsible for the audit engagement and its performance, and for the auditor's report that is issued on behalf of the firm, and who, where required, has the appropriate authority from a professional, legal or regulatory body.”

Please note that if you are a responsible individual or key audit partner, you should choose these from the options.

For the purpose of the CPD Regulations, we define high-net-worth individuals as those with net worth of more than £20m.

A client asset assurance (CASS) auditor is defined by the FRC as: The person or persons conducting the CASS audit or other CASS assurance engagement, usually the CASS engagement leader or other members of the engagement team, or, as applicable, the auditing firm. Where a requirement expressly intends that it be fulfilled by the CASS engagement leader the term "CASS engagement leader" rather than "CASS auditor" is used. (Please note that a CASS auditor need not be the firm's statutory auditor).

A client asset assurance audit (CASS) is an engagement that involves providing a client asset report to the Financial Conduct Authority.

An insolvency practitioner who is authorised to take insolvency appointments is defined as:

• ICAEW members authorised under either section 390A(2) or 390A(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 and articles 349A(2) or 349A(3) of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.
• Non-ICAEW members registered with ICAEW under either section 390A(2) or 390A(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 and articles 349A(2) or 349A(3) of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

An insolvency practitioner who holds a non-appointment taking licence is defined as follows:

• ICAEW members authorised under either section 390A(2) or 390A(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 and articles 349A(2) or 349A(3) of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 but who are not permitted to act as an insolvency officeholder by the rules of their authorising body.
• Non-ICAEW members registered with ICAEW under either section 390A(2) or 390A(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986 and articles 349A(2) or 349A(3) of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 but who are not permitted to act as an insolvency officeholder by ICAEW.

A pension fund with:

• gross assets of more than £1bn, and
• more than 10,000 members.

A charity with:

• incoming resources of more than £100m, and
• gross assets of more than £1bn.

A public sector body as defined by the Office for National Statistics in its Public sector classification guide and forward work plan.

A large company is one which does not meet the small or medium sized company criteria in the Companies Act 2006. Broadly, this means a company is large if it meets two out of three of the following criteria:

• Turnover greater than £36m.
• Balance sheet value greater than £18m.
• More than 250 employees.

As defined by the Companies Act, a micro entity is a company that meets two out of the following three criteria: turnover less than £632,000; net assets less than £316,000; and fewer than 10 employees.

The Financial Reporting Council defines a Major Local Audit as:
“… one which meets the following criteria:

• Total income or expenditure of at least £500m; or
• For a local authority pension scheme, at least 20,000 members or gross assets in excess of £1,000m.”

A local audit is the audit of a local public body in England (principally local authorities and health bodies, other than Foundation Trusts). Local audits can only be performed by firms authorised by ICAEW to perform local audits in line with the requirements of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

For the purposes of the revised CPD Regulations, devolved administrations refers to the devolved governments and not other public bodies within the devolved nations.

A Public Interest Entity (PIE) is one that falls within the Financial Reporting Council's Glossary of Terms (Auditing and Ethics) definition of:

“(a) An issuer whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a UK regulated market;

“(b) A credit institution within the meaning of Article 4(1)(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 17, which is a CRR firm within the meaning of Article 4(1)(2A) of that Regulation;

“(c) A person who would be an insurance undertaking as defined in Article 2(1) of Council Directive 91/674/EEC of 19 December 1991 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertaking as that Article had effect immediately before exit day, were the UK a Member State.

“No other entities have been specifically designated in law in the UK as 'Public Interest Entities'.”

Broadly, this includes listed companies, banks, building societies, and insurance companies. Whether a client entity is a PIE is of significance for other regulatory requirements, such as auditor independence, the firm should be aware which clients meet the definition of a PIE.

Probate work

Those undertaking probate work includes those who are principals or employees of an accredited probate firm who are designated under section 4 of the Probate Regulations.

Designated professional body (investment business) licensed

Designated professional body (investment business) licensed includes individuals who are principals or employees of a firm licenced by a designated professional body under Part XX of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and who are directly involved in advising on or facilitating all steps in an investment transaction (other than selecting a particular investment product in a number of situations), in the course of providing exempt regulated services to the firm's clients.

Designated professional body (consumer credit) licensed

Designated professional body (consumer credit) licensed includes individuals who are principals or employees of a firm which is eligible to undertake exempt credit-related activities under Part XX of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and who are directly involved in conducting such activities as specified in the Financial Services and Markets Act (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 no 544 (as amended) in the course of business on behalf of a consumer client.

Non-reserved legal services

Non-reserved legal services include the undertaking of non-reserved legal activities including, but not limited to, will writing or acting as an executor, whether charging a fee or not.

Corporate finance advice

Corporate finance advice includes members involved in transactions in which existing capital is used and new capital raised to create, develop and grow new projects and ventures, and to acquire other businesses.