THE ACCOUNTANT_AUTUMN_2018_VER-7-L

FEATURE
CPE FOR ACCOUNTANTS:
A NECESSARY BURDEN?
It is all a matter of trust! For many years, accountants have been the foundation of business interactions; providing information
to managers, shareholders, and investors for decision-making. This responsibility imposes multiple duties on accountants,
one being to remain relevant and up-to-date with changes taking place in their professional environment.
MATTHEW SCIBERRAS
MATTHEW SCIBERRAS
GRADUATED WITH A MASTER IN
ACCOUNTANCY DEGREE FROM
THE UNIVERSITY OF MALTA. HE
IS CURRENTLY WORKING WITHIN
THE COMPANY ADMINISTRATION
AND ACCOUNTING SERVICES
TEAM AT PWC.
Working in a Dynamic Environment
In the last couple of years, the accountancy world has
been characterised by an endless wave of changes in
accounting principles, standards and regulations. These
changes have placed a huge burden on accountants,
resulting in a challenge for professional maintenance
which, if not dealt with leads to outdated skills and
knowledge. One should also keep in mind that
accountants are not only concerned with changes taking
place in accounting standards, but also in any change that
takes place within their clients’ industry. This inevitably
imposes a duty on accountants to continuously update
their skills and knowledge, which requires commitment
from the accountants’ side, together with openmindedness
towards change.
Leaping the Hurdle of Professional Maintenance
With 90.7% of local accountants considering the duty to
maintain professional competence as a challenge in their
profession, there was a statistical significance indicating
that accountants need a proper professional maintenance
tool. Presuming that Continuing Professional Education
(CPE) fulfils its purpose in this regard, regulators adopted
CPE as a tool to equip practitioners for the dynamic
world out there. If CPE fulfils this purpose, the public
should benefit from peace of mind that accountants
are technically competent and up-to-date with changes
taking place in the profession. However, the question
arises; is CPE fulfilling this purpose?
The Undesired Reality
In reality, most accountants do not feel that the
mandatory CPE requirement is providing reasonable
assurance to the society that accountants are technically
competent. This lack of confidence in CPE among the
local accountancy profession can be blamed on the
common perception among practitioners that CPE has
become the hours one needs to secure his warrant,
rather than a means of professional development.
Although most professionals want CPE activities to confer
legitimacy on their learning, most of the practitioners
and their employers do not believe that compliance with
the current requirement could genuinely demonstrate
their competence. This issue relates to what is referred to
by most as the compliance mentality.
The main cause of this mentality was the shift
adopted by most regulators from voluntary to mandatory
CPE policies. The prevalent attitude among accountants
is that attendance at CPE sessions is happening just
for the sake of meeting the requirement. This shows
that in certain instances attendance at CPE activities is
not reflecting real competency, but rather regulatory
compliance. Besides this, accountants are highly sceptical
about the validity of course attendance certificates.
The majority believe that certificates of attendance
only indicate physical presence and not professional
development. Certificates of attendance are not a proof
that an individual has gained professional development
from a CPE activity; not even whether the individual has
even paid attention to the speaker.
Even though most practitioners blame the
mandatory nature of CPE as the cause for this mentality,
they still prefer and support mandatory policies. The
majority argue that without a mandatory requirement,
time and work pressures will suppress any motivation
for one to engage in CPE, which is the ultimate
drawback of a voluntary approach. Moreover, the
mandatory requirement strengthens the reputation of
22 Autumn 2018