All categories of members must comply with CPD requirements, except Technical Accountants who need to complete 20 CPD Hours, of which 50% must structured, and 50% unstructured.
Definition of Continued Professional Development
Continued Professional Development represents ongoing post-qualification development, aimed at refreshing, updating and developing knowledge and skills of professionals.
Qualifying activities for CPD purposes should maintain and expand a members' capacity to enable them to discharge their professional obligations and should have the following characteristics:
1) An organized, orderly framework developed from clear set objectives
2) A structure for imparting appropriate basic knowledge of a technical and practical nature
3) Requires involvement from the member
One of the underlying principles of any institute is that its members should be competent to carry out their duties and responsibilities.
The Institute, being affiliated with SAQA, and registered with CIPC and SARS, requires all its members to comply with CPD in order to keep their professional status; also members undertook to comply with their CPD requirements when they became IAC members.
A member has a duty to maintain a high level of professional knowledge and skills to carry out their work in accordance with all relevant laws, regulations, technical and professional standards applicable to that work. A member should only undertake work which they are able to carry out with professional competence. As a member is required to maintain their professional knowledge and skill, they should be at the forefront of what is happening in the accounting profession.
How to maintain your CPD
Accounting Members
a) IAP - Independent Accounting Professional
b) FAP - Financial Accountant in Practice
c) FAC - Financial Accountant in Commerce
d) TA - Technical Accountant
All members should complete 40 hours of CPD per CALENDER YEAR (1 January - 31 December), 50% must be structured CPD and 50% must be unstructured.
Except for the Technical Accountant (TA) who should complete 20 hours of CPD, being 50% structured and 50% unstructured.
The Board further resolved that CPD hours need to be broken down into the following categories:
1) Accounting (i.e. IFRS)
2) Taxation
3) Company Law
4) Auditing & Review Engagements
5) Ethics (Compulsory)
What constitutes structured CPD hours?
Attending:
- Courses, congresses, seminars, workshops, lectures and conventions which are related
to your field. - Attending meetings of technical committees
- Researching and writing technical publications
- Compiling technical papers
- Attending discussion groups (which are organized by the IAC monthly)
What constitutes unstructured CPD hours?
Reading of technical and business literature e.g. The Professional (IAC bi-monthly newsletter)
Tax - Members
CTP - Certified Tax Practitioner
ATP - Associate Tax Practitioner
Please note that in terms of Section 240A of the Tax Administration Act of 2011, SARS requires that all tax practitioners needs to do a minimum of 18 structured CPD hours per annum (10 Tax hours, 2 Ethics and 6 hours relating to the service provided)
Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) - Members
It was agreed between CIPC and the Controlling Bodies during May 2017 that the minimum CPD Hours would be as follows:
- 20 hours per year in total, of which:
- 12 hours must be verifiable / structured
- 4 hours must be business rescue related
- 8 hours non-core but have the elements of Tax, Finances, Company and Commercial Law
- 8 hours not verifiable / unstructured, e.g., reading material, etc.
The following proposal was made regarding CPD Hours:
- The qualification and / experience of the presenter
- Contents of the presentation split into:
- Technical / Practical
- Theory
- Assessment (Assignment and questionnaire)
- Length of time
- NQF level of the programme
The committee recommended that the renewable period of the license be done every 3 years, and therefore an evaluation need to done every 3 years.
What happens if I do not complete my CPD hours?
Firstly you will be fined.
Secondly should a member not make a concerted effort to bring their outstanding CPD hours up to date, they might lose their Professional Status.
Keeping record of your CPD hours
Members are required to keep proof of their completed CPD hours for 5 years. The Institute can ask for proof at any time.
MEMBERS MUST LOG THEIR COMPLETED CPD HOURS ON THE WEBSITE