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New regulations governing the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland came into force on July 1st, 2008. The regulations apply to all ICAI members and compliance will be subject to monitoring by the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB).

At the end of this year, every member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland will be required to submit a Declaration of Compliance confirming that they have reviewed their responsibilities, undertaken appropriate CPD activities and considered the impact of these activities on their professional development.

This Annual Declaration of Compliance can be completed online in the annual return section of the CARB website, www.carb.ie Members who cannot show that they comply will be expected to explain the reasons and to show how they otherwise meet the requirement to sustain their professional competence. CARB has wide-ranging powers to impose sanctions including:

- Refusing, restricting or withdrawing any licence it has issued; - Agreeing a regulatory penalty; - Referring the member to the Complaints Committee for possible disciplinary action.

Continued or wilful failure to comply could result in a member being excluded from membership of the Institute.

Accountancy Ireland asked Becky Bristow, Director of Lifelong Learning at the Institute, about the supports being put in place to help members comply with the new requirements.

Where can readers find out what exactly the new Regulations require of them? There is information available on the Institute website including a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that addresses a lot of the issues that come up when we talk to members. It explains how to meet the requirements. We have also circulated information in the regular mailings to members.

The Regulations apply to all members. Does that include members who have retired? Members who have retired and are not carrying out any professional work of a business or financial nature (paid or unpaid) are exempt from the requirements. But retired members who act as directors or who carry out voluntary or part-time work where they are engaged in activities of a business or financial nature are not exempt and are required to comply with the CPD regulations.

If I have not attended any CPD courses recently, what will that mean? Attending courses is not the only way to keep your competence. You might maintain your competence by research conducted at work, reading professional journals or even reading the newspaper. As with any new system, there will be a bedding down period and we will be working to support all our members in meeting the new requirements.

What about members based overseas? The CPD Regulations apply to all members, but if someone is also a member of another professional body and is complying with their CPD requirements then CARB may consider this acceptable and allow a waiver, provided the requirements of the other professional body are equivalent to those of ICAI. And of course, we also provide online training for members who want to avail of ICAI training.

At the other end of the scale, what about newly-qualified members? From the date you join ICAI as an associate you are required to comply with CPD requirements. If you have studied for your final exams in the year in question you are unlikely to need to undertake any additional CPD. However, if you had previously completed your studying then you will need to comply with the CPD Regulations in full in the year in which you become a member. The actual requirements applicable to you will depend on which CPD approach you adopt – that is the ‘input’ and ‘output’ approaches described in the various support literature that we have circulated. These approaches are also described in detail on our website.

How should I keep my records? You are responsible for maintaining your own CPD record and the regulations do require that you be able to produce evidence to support the record. Evidence might be course outlines and teaching materials, an attendance record, registration forms or confirmation of registration from a provider, independent assessments that a learning activity has occurred. It could be confirmation by an instructor, mentor or tutor of participation or confirmation by an employer of participation in an inhouse programme. If you have attended an ICAI course, we can provide the details for your records.

How long do these records have to be kept? You must keep your records for 5 years and you will need to ensure that if your firm maintains the CPD records that these are retained for 5 years and can be made available for inspection.

And the inspections will be done on asampling basis? Yes. CARB will begin monitoring straightaway. All members will be required to complete the annual declaration confirming compliance with the CPD regulations and then a sample will be selected by CARB and asked to provide their records for review.

So are you going to be seeing a lot more members between now and Christmas? I hope so! We have been working to develop a much wider range of appropriate and relevant CPD – particularly on the business side where we’ve launched new programmes in areas like Managing People and Directors’ Responsibilities and obtained a grant to subsidise non-technical skills courses. Members decide themselves on their own CPD requirements and they’re not obliged to attend our courses. They might be attending inhouse programmes, or sourcing appropriate programmes from a wide variety of potential providers, or even meeting their needs according to the other approaches described on the website. There are lots of ways in which they can choose to maintain their competence. My advice for anyone who is worried about what’s involved, or about complying with the requirements, would be to start by visiting the CPD area of the Institute website. All the information that you are likely to need is there. We’ll be doing everything we can to continue to provide varied, top quality CPD with better value for money and will respond quickly to any needs that emerge as the new regime beds down.