Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Required Hours

Newly Admitted Members

Retired Members

What Learning Qualifies as CPD

Verifiable and Unverifiable CPD

Tracking and Reporting CPD

What Happens if I Fail to Comply with the CPD Requirement

Required Hours

Retired Members

Retired means the Member has ceased full-time practice, full-time employment or full-time business activity and the sum of the Member’s age and the total number of years of aggregate membership in the Institute or the Institute and Recognized Professional Accounting Body, equals or exceeds “85”.

Retired Members Exempt from CPD Requirements

Retired Members who have ceased full-time practice, full-time employment or full-time business activity, who are not licensed to practice public accounting and who do not provide any Reliance Services are exempt from the continuing professional development requirements.

Retired Members Licensed to Practice Public Accounting

Retired Members who are licensed to practice public accounting must complete the continuing professional development requirements of 20 hours annually, and 120 hours in the last three-year period in activities directly related to the competencies needed to provide public accounting services.

Retired Members Providing Reliance Services

There are continuing professional development requirements for retired Members who are providing Reliance Services. “Reliance Services” means activity undertaken by a Member where it is reasonable to believe that another party is relying on the Member’s skills as a Member and includes, but is not limited, to:

• serving on the board or governing body of a reporting issuer as defined in Rule of Professional Conduct 204;
• serving on the board or governing body of a public interest entity;
• providing accounting services to the public; and

• providing other professional service(s) for which the Member is remunerated and the gross annual revenue from such service(s) exceeds $25,000.

At least half of the annual and triennial requirement must be met through verifiable CPD.

Free Institute CPD offerings for some retired Members

A retired Member is eligible to register for up to three full-day Institute CPD courses each year without being required to pay the registration fee if he or she:

• is not licensed as a public accountant;
• does not provide any professional services for which he or she is remunerated; and
• does not receive remuneration, such as directors’ fees, for serving on the board or governing body of a reporting issuer or public interest entity.

If you are retired and eligible to register for a complimentary CPD course, complete the registration form, http://www.icao.on.ca/PD/PDInfoReg/1016page7275.pdf and indicate Complimentary - Retired in the payment section or call 416.969.4321 to arrange for the registration.

Free Institute CPD offerings for Members who are granted a parenting or family care dues reduction.

Two free professional development days are granted to every Member who qualifies for a parenting or family care reduction. Courses must be taken within the membership year that the reduction is granted.

Completion of the Institute’s 2013-2014 Annual Membership Dues (AMD), Financial Waiver, Deferral and Reduction Request Form 4-2B is required. Members will be informed in writing whether their request has been granted or not granted.

The criteria to be met is:  Members who leave full-time employment for the purpose of parenting or providing full-time care to an elderly or ill family member may apply for a CPD exemption if:

• the Member's net equity is less than $200,000; AND
• the Member's gross income from all sources (including employment insurance benefits, investments, etc.) is less than $30,823; AND
• the Member provides full-time care for a child who is six years of age or less at March 1st of the current membership year, or who is over six and suffering from a disability or illness; OR
• the Member provides full-time care for an elderly or ill family member who is unable to care for themselves.

If you are granted a parenting or family care dues reduction, complete the registration form, http://www.icao.on ca/PD/PDInfoReg/1016page7275.pdf and indicate Complimentary - Parenting in the payment section or call 416.969.4321 to arrange for the registration.

For Institute definitions of terms included in this section please refer to Regulation 4-5 of the ICAO Members’ handbook.

What Learning Qualifies as CPD

Each Member should undertake continuing professional development relevant and appropriate to the Member’s work and professional responsibilities to develop and maintain the Member’s competence necessary to provide high quality service to clients, employers, and other stakeholders. To be recognized towards your CPD requirement the activity shall:

• 1. be quantifiable, meaning that it must be specifically identifiable and be able to be expressed in terms of a specific time requirement;
  2. be directly related to the competencies needed to carry on the Member’s employment or practice;
  3. be relevant to the Member’s current professional needs and/or long-term career interests; and
  4. contain significant intellectual or practical content.

A licensed public accountant must ensure that their CPD activities directly relate to the competencies needed to provide public accounting services.

Verifiable CPD (Regulation 4-5, s.1.6)

Verifiable continuing professional development means that the learning can be objectively verified by a competent source and may include:

• participation in courses, conferences and seminars;
• organized employer-based in-house training sessions;
• research or student projects in areas that expand professional knowledge of the Member and that result in presentations, reports or similar documentation;
• research, including reading professional literature or journals for specific application in a professional role;
• participation and work on technical committees;
• published professional writing or academic work;
• writing technical articles, papers or books;
• teaching a course or a continuing professional development session in an area that is relevant to a professional role;
• participation as a speaker in conferences, briefing sessions or discussion groups;
• formal study such as leading to a degree or diploma;
• pre-professional re-examination or formal testing;
• self study involving successful completion of an examination or leading to a designation.
  

Unverifiable CPD (Regulation 4-5, s.1.5)

Unverifiable continuing professional development means independent and informal learning activities and may include:

• on-the-job training for new software, systems, procedures or techniques for application in a professional role;
• self study that does not involve an examination or other objective certification of completion, such as conference reference material or self-study by electronic media or device;
• casual reading of professional journals or magazines that is not part of research for a specific application in a professional role.

Tracking and Reporting CPD

Each year, in conjunction with the Annual Membership Dues process, Members must submit a CPD Declaration form, declaring whether they met the CPD requirement, did not meet the requirement or are exempt from the requirement. Members are required to retain professional development supporting documentation (for example, the course description or outline) and records of enrolment. It is recommended that records be kept for a total of seven years for possible review or audit by the Institute. 

There is an online tracking tool to assist Members in keeping track of CPD hours available at www.icao.on.ca on the Home page. At any time during the year Members may enter, update and track their professional development information and save it in the Online CPD Log. Hours earned through attendance at ICAO courses will be automatically populated. The CPD log is available in paper format at www.icao.on.ca under Resources, Forms, Member Forms.

On an annual basis the Institute will select Members to be audited for compliance with the CPD requirements. 

What Happens if I Fail to Comply with the CPD Requirement

If you don't meet the CPD requirement, a plan of action form or an exemption request must be filed. The plan of action indicates that you agree to complete the minimum verifiable and unverifiable CPD requirement within 120 days of the acceptance of the plan of action AND that you agree to notify the Institute once the required CPD has been completed. Failure to complete an approved plan of action within 120 days or failure to file the compliance declaration within 120 days of the plan’s acceptance date will result in membership suspension. In order to apply for reinstatement, the applicable reinstatement fee and compliance declaration attesting to having completed the required amount of CPD must be provided to the Institute. The Institute’s bylaws regarding reinstatement also apply.

Exemptions, in certain situations, may be approved if a Member was not working for a total of 6 months or more between January 1^st to December 31^st of the previous year and was not involved in any activity in which it was reasonable to believe that another party relied upon the Member’s skills as a Member for a total of 6 months or more during that time. This would include situations such as parenting, family care, medical leaves, unemployment or other extraordinary circumstances.

Printed on Wed, June 19, 2013 - 3:28:58 EDT
http://www.icao.on.ca/PD/CPDRequirements/1008page7120.aspx

© 2013 Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario