On 1 November 2023, ICAEW's revised Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Regulations brought in new CPD requirements, including a minimum number of hours. If you haven’t familiarised yourself with the changes yet, our CPD guidance will help you understand how the changes impact your role. Even if you are retired from your professional career, your voluntary work may mean that the CPD changes affect you.

While it always takes some time and effort to adapt to change, here is why, as an ICAEW member, I am feeling positive about the CPD Regulation changes:

1. The start of the CPD year is an opportunity to take a moment and reflect on my professional development. Knowing how many CPD hours are expected of me (which our self-assessment tool will help you determine) allows me to plan my learning for the year ahead and gives me confidence that I understand what’s expected of me.
2. With so many free reading materials and webinars from a wide variety of ICAEW Communities and Faculties, the new CPD requirements don’t mean that ICAEW members have to empty their pockets. Our Community webinars, for example, are CPD-eligible and free. And, by joining our Charity Conference on 18 & 19 January 2024, we can claim up to 7.5h of verifiable CPD in just two days (from £25 + VAT). Register.
3. We have introduced a new (free) CPD course for charity trustees. This 1h video recording helps trustees refresh their knowledge of the legal responsibilities associated with their role. It also gives trustees the confidence that they understand which new developments may affect their board role in 2024 and beyond. As a trustee and treasurer of a small charity, free training that is tailored to my needs (as a chartered accountant) is always welcome!
4. A new ‘Add CPD’ widget enables me to effortlessly add any learning activity from ICAEW articles, podcasts, webinars, or courses to my CPD record. This means a lot less time spent on documentation. I will also be able to keep track of how many CPD hours I have already completed and how many more are due for the year.
5. In the past, I thought of CPD primarily as courses and other formal training. Because of this, I sometimes focused on technical accounting and tax updates, even if only a portion of the courses was relevant for my role in the charity sector. Now there is a clear reference guide on what can count as verifiable CPD, so I feel empowered to add a variety of activities to my CPD record, including technical reading, ICAEW podcasts, participation in discussion groups on technical topics, or workshops.

I hope that some of my reasons will resonate with you, and that you take advantage of the Charity Community’s CPD-eligible content, webinars and events to undertake and document your CPD activity throughout the year.

One of the Charity Community’s key aims is to help you meet your charity related CPD needs easily and at low cost. The Community is free to join and offers regular newsletters and webinars that keep you up to date with developments in charity accounting, tax and governance as well as wider developments that impact charities, for example in artificial intelligence or cyber security.

If you attend our webinars, you will have heard me say just how important your feedback is in helping us shape our content and events programme. Please continue to tell us what matters most to you and what topics we should tackle next.

We are planning a Charity Community survey in early 2024 to hear how we can best support you. In the meantime, you can contact me by email with your ideas and suggestions – they are always welcome and appreciated.