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The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) has released for public exposure a proposed revision of International Education Standard (IES) 7, Continuing Professional Development: A Program of Lifelong Learning and Continuing Development of Professional Competence.

IES 7, drafted in 2004, introduces the concepts of continuing professional development (CPD)—learning that develops and maintains competence to enable professional accountants to perform their roles effectively—as relevant, verifiable, and measurable learning activities and outcomes. The proposed redrafting aims to assist the ongoing worldwide development of CPD systems and compliance mechanisms. IAESB expects to increase the opportunity for mobility of labour, and in so doing to contribute to the global economy through these revision efforts.

“The IAESB would like to encourage a more innovative approach to meeting CPD needs,” says Mark Allison, chairman of IAESB. “We believe we can achieve this by confirming the existing requirements of the standard and the recommended measurements for appropriate CPD activity, and emphasizing the range of available approaches to CPD systems.”

The exposure draft is the first in a series of planned revisions over the coming year. The IAESB plans to clarify the obligations of CPD through the revision of IES 7, and to draw international attention to prequalification education for accounting professionals and the competencies of an auditor through revisions of additional standards.

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