Increased Continuing Professional Development (CPD) units for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs)

Quality should be more focused on than quantity. With this law that increases Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) units for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), it’s as if they are forced to just comply
and leave the “development” to experience.

It is not effective and it severely drops down to level in terms of efficiency.

The Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, under the Professional Regulation Commission
(PRC), resolved to increase the required CPD credit units from sixty (60) to one hundred twenty (120)
units within a compliance period of three (3) years for all CPAs in Public Practice, Academe, Commerce
and Industry and Government, and to change the Thematic Areas to Competence Areas which shall be
categorized into Technical Competence, Professional Skills and Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes.

CPD refers to the inculcation of advanced knowledge, skills and ethical values in a post-licensure
specialization or in inter- or multidisciplinary field of study, for assimilation into professional practice,
self-directed research and/or life-long learning.

From what the name suggests, it is needed for all professionals to continue developing their skills,
character and knowledge to ensure their capabilities to adapt to an ever-changing environment. It
would be very embarrassing to not even know how to use the basic Office tools (Microsoft Office Word,
Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) or other similar programs despite being a licensed professional, and that’s just
about technical aspects. Being updated to new laws, rules and regulations is equally important in being
an effective professional.

In what are changing times, with the advancement of technology and other changes such as the birth of
new laws and amendments of the existing ones, it is very important for CPAs\– or all professionals for
that matter – to ensure that they can still be competent in their respective fields.

The resolution to increase the CPD units from 60 to 120 hours for CPAs is not without reasonable basis.

Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), being a member of the International
Federation of Accountants (IFAC), has an obligation to comply with the Statement of Membership
Obligations (SMO) No. 2, entitled “International Education Standards (IES) for Professional Accountants
and other pronouncements.

IES 7 states that IFAC member bodies implementing an input-based approach shall require each
professional accountant to complete at least one hundred twenty (120) hours (or equivalent learning
units) of relevant professional development activity in each rolling three-year period.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ASEAN MRA) for
Accounting Services, to which the Philippines is a signatory, made it necessary for professional
accountants to keep and maintain competitiveness vis-à-vis their southeast Asian counterparts, in view
of the ASEAN Economic Integration. Such competitiveness is achieved through the continued acquisition
and updating of knowledge, the honing of skills, and life-long learning.
In other words, the resolution wants CPAs to be internationally competent. With the passing of the
resolution, CPAs are enabled to be competitive in the Southeast Asian region, a good way to increase
the standards of the Philippines, being a third world country.

But that’s just what it seems like in the surface.

If representatives from other Southeast Asian countries ever came to the Philippines to interview and
observe the CPAs, they will come to a point where they will think “Are they really CPAs?”

Is increasing the required CPD units for CPAs really that much needed?

It has its perks, being competitive with other countries and being able to match their pace but it has a
ton of unreasonableness, considering the individual income of every CPA. It’s like they are working,
practicing their profession just for the sake of license renewal – just for the sake of earning CPD units.

In terms of availability, CPD units can be easily earned, what with the existence of technology and many
other things.

Webinars (seminars on the web) are there for all to attend. You just have to spend $50 to $200 for one
webinar. Additional payment of $30 to $100 if you want to download their resources, not to mention
that they are raw, meaning the resources contain lots of grammar errors and other things not befitting
professionals despite being professionals themselves. Now it looks like providing webinars to interested
individuals is just a way or accumulating profits.

Webinars sure are a fast way to obtain CPD units, but are they really effective in providing “professional
development” to CPAs? Someone with enough money could just subscribe for webinars, download
resources and earn the CPD units, all the while doing something else not related to the said online
seminar. They can’t be seen by the speakers anyway. So, are the professionals engaged in the activity
really developing something?

They are not. To put it simply, it’s just a waste of money.

Even if they were to personally attend two-day or three-day seminars. Most of the time, registration
costs can even reach up to 20,000 pesos. The seminars may be worth the cost – registration, food and
other costs including the opportunity cost – considering the quality of knowledge, experience and
updates they get to acquire, but it’s not enough to ensure everyone’s professional development.
Attending such activities doesn’t guarantee professional development. For instance, someone could just
attend the seminar, find a comfortable chair, place their feet on another chair and eat some snacks,
then fall asleep. It will then be very embarrassing to call that person’s attention, not to mention
“disrespectful” considering the individual’s social and corporate standing.

These things are just not effective. Add the aforementioned costs then they become contradicting to the
cost-benefit principle that accountants are so familiar of. CPD units will become “the hours I need to
keep my license.” It is the very opposite of the goal of implementing the required CPD units for the
renewal of their licenses which is to require them to develop their technical competency, professional
skills and professional values, ethics and attitudes.
If the Board is to implement something that is theoretically sound and ideal, they should do so with the
goal of a 100% success or some rate that is as close as possible. They just made it harder for CPAs to
renew their licenses.