Bookkeeping is a regulated profession and ICB members are committed to the continuing development of their professional skills, ensuring they maintain their status as the UK's leading bookkeepers.
Continuing Professional Development is defined as the systematic maintenance, enhancement and continuous improvement of the knowledge, skills and ability, often termed 'competence', that one needs to work as a professionally qualified bookkeeper. There are two strands to CPD:
It is the responsibility of the individual member to develop and maintain the competence demanded by their role and the needs of those to whom they provide a service.
ICB recommends that members complete a minimum of 30 points of CPD per year of which at least 15 should be structured and a maximum of 15 should be unstructured. Each hour of structured CPD equates to one CPD point, whilst an hour of unstructured CPD equates to half a CPD point. Any activity that is verifiable, such as attending a conference or webinar, or achieving qualifications, is considered structured CPD. If your activity is not externally verifiable or monitored, such as reading the newsletter, this is considered unstructured CPD.
The online portal to record and track CPD activity is available in MyICB. Your should log your CPD work as an Activity and judge for yourself how many points you have achieved in its undertaking. We recommend that you also use the log to set Goals for yourself and you can assign individual activities to an overarching goal.
ICB's online CPD Portal will show a running total of your achieved CPD points according to the activity you have recorded. Your total points will be made up of a maximum of 15 unstructured points and as many structured points as you have recorded.
Structured CPD examples |
Unstructured CPD examples |
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Internal training courses |
Reading educational or technical materials including textbooks, financial press, manuals and ICB's newsletter |
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External training courses |
Taking on a new client or discussions with colleagues |
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Attendance at ICB Branch Meetings |
Developing/editing a website |
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Open learning courses |
Preparing presentations |
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Achieving ICB qualifications |
Branch committee work |
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Attendance at the Bookkeepers Summit |
Taking on a new project within your employment |
Each year ICB hosts 100s of events that contribute towards CPD including webinars, branch meetings and our annual Bookkeepers Summit.
Book your place at an ICB event and receive CPD automatically added to your record.
Annual CPD is measured by your subscription year as opposed to the calendar year, so we recommend uploading activities from the time of your last membership renewal.
Although we would advise members to log CPD activity on the online portal as soon as possible, you are able to upload previous activities from up to the last 6 months.
ICB would recommend uploading your Goals at the start of your subscription year and uploading CPD activities regularly over 12 months. You are also able to upload numerous activities in one session.
The online portal will enable you to upload any documentation to prove attendance at any event or course that can be counted as Structured CPD.
One hour of Structured CPD equates to one CPD point, whilst one hour of Unstructured activity is worth half a CPD point.
CPD is about your professional development, so it is up to you to regularly update any CPD activity and measure this against your initial objectives.
