Tuesday 8 July 2008 - CPD Results

Passed with flying colours and got the cerificate to prove it. Now decided to step the CPD up a gear and go for a more intensive level from January 2009.

Thursday 20 March 2008 - CPD and CLC

The CPD documentation was eventually sent off with one day to spare – primarily my fault for putting it off but also because at the last minute I had problems logging into the new CIPFA CLC to obtain one of the covering documents.

However, the CIPFA technical team was superb and had me logged in within a 24 hours period after allowing the system to update itself – so full marks to them. The CLC has recently come in for a bit of stick from students and I can see that if they were experiencing the sorts of problems I was it could be frustrating. However, the majority of the problems have been ironed out and although some lessons have probably been learnt on the way (e.g. checking cross browser compatibility) the actual resource is excellent.

Just have to wait now to see if the CPD assessors are satisfied with the documents - results due back within four weeks.

Thursday 31 January 2008 - Selected for CPD audit

Well here we go - a new blog for a new site and what a way to start!

Just when I thought all the usual year end deadlines had been met, tax returns were safely filed and new year resolutions were all but a distant memory – an unassuming looking letter dropped through the door announcing that  “you have been randomly selected to submit your Portfolio of Evidence” in relation to Continuing Professional Development.

Hmmm….why do I manage to get ‘randomly selected’ for CPD audit and the next stage of the Readers Digest prize draw but the national lottery doesn’t manage to ‘randomly select’ my numbers?

Anyway, as it uses the word “randomly” I least I know it isn’t anything personal - not yet anyway.

So off went the email to confirm receipt of the letter and a promise of sending the information within the required timescale (6 weeks) – now where did I file those verifiable hours certificates?

I will post more on the process and of course the outcome as it progresses.

On a serious note though, the compulsory nature of the CPD is a long overdue concept that can only hopefully improve the knowledge and technical abilities of qualified accountants whom for some studying is but a distant memory and ethics is a county in England.