Recent developments and changes to Statement 1.500

Reasons for change – compliance with international standards

In May 2004, the International Federation of Accountants issued IES 7 (International Education Standard for Professional Accountants 7) Continuing Professional Development, requiring member bodies, of which the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs is one, to prescribe the same mandatory CPD requirements for all members, as from January 2006.

The Institute consulted members on this standard for three months, considered the comments received and incorporated them into the new CPD scheme. Statement 1.500 (July 2014) Continuing Professional Development, which contains the Institute’s CPD scheme for its members was revised to reflect this change in requirements. Statement 1.500 has since been updated in November 2007, October 2008, August 2010, December 2010 and April 2012, March 2013 and July 2014.

Statement 1.500 Continuing Professional Development is redrafted to reflect the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB)'s redrafted IEST 7 and is effective for CPD reporting periods beginning on or after 1 December 2013. The IAESB's redrafted IES 7 aims to improve clarity, ensuring consistency with the concepts of the revised IAESB framework document, and clarifying issues resulting from changes in the environment of accounting education and the experience gained from implementation of the Standards by IFAC member bodies.  

All Hong Kong Institute of CPAs members should note that the reporting period for each year commences from 1 December. Pursuant to Section 28(2)(c) of the Professional Accountants Ordinance, compliance with the requirements of Statement 1.500 is a condition for annual membership renewal.

Changes made in April 2012 and earlier

• Guidance on CPD exemptions
  Statement 1.500 Continuing Professional Development (revised in August 2010) is to provide new information about the criteria for granting exemption from the Institute's CPD requirements.  Click here to read the message from the Institute's Director of Professional Development about the changes.  Further details are available in the Appendix of Statement 1.500 (July 2014), the Consolidated table of changes and paragraphs 26, 27, 28 of our Frequently Asked Questions (updated August 2018). 

• Recognition of CPD Requirements of a U.S. State Board of Accountancy or GAA institutes 
  Except for a holder of the Institute’s Practising Certificate or Specialist Designation, for member who is a holder of an active license issued by a State Board of Accountancy (State Board) of the United States of America or a current member of one or more of the following Global Accounting Alliance (GAA) institutes: CA ANZ (amalgamated from the former ICAA and NZICA), CPA Canada (formerly CICA), ICAEW, CAI (formerly ICAI), ICAS and SAICA, that member may choose, from that State Board which issued the active license or from the above-mentioned GAA institutes of which he/she is a member, which CPD requirements/regulations to comply with. Click here to read the messages from the Institute’s Chief Executive and Registrar about these developments. GAA CPD recognition is effective for CPD reporting periods ending on 30 November 2009 while U.S. State Board CPD recognition is effective from 1 December 2011, further details are available in paragraphs A10 and A15 of Statement 1.500 (July 2014) and paragraph 29 of our Frequently Asked Questions (updated August 2018).

• Block declarations of CPD compliance 
  Member practices or organizations which keep training records which demonstrate the compliance of their staff with the Institute's CPD requirements may, provided certain criteria are met, make a block declaration to the Institute of that CPD compliance. Effective for CPD reporting periods ending on 30 November 2009, further details are available in paragraph A18 of Statement 1.500 (July 2014) and paragraph19 of our Frequently Asked Questions (updated August 2018).

Remarks: HKICPA has suspended the CPD block declaration arrangement since the 2016 membership renewal.  Members are requested to update their membership data such as employment and interests when they complete the CPD declaration in the Annual Return for renewal.  The aim is to enable the Institute to provide better membership services customized to members' needs and to improve member communication and efficiency.  To protect data privacy and minimize the risk of input errors of personal data by the Institute, all members are required to complete and submit the Annual Return individually online.

Changes made in April 2013

• Newly accepted CPD activities 
  "Networking" and "observation, feedback and reflection" are accepted as non-verifiable CPD activities effective for CPD reporting periods beginning on or after 1 December 2013. Members may claim up to 5 non-verifiable hours in total per annum for these categories together (not 5 hours individually) in addition to any networking time included in verifiable CPD events. Further details are available in paragraph 5 of Statement 1.500 (July 2014) and paragraph 17 of our Frequently Asked Questions.