Professional development for auditors

Continuing professional development (CDP) is an activity that can assist in expanding

● one's knowledge, maintaining

● or updating technical skills, and advancing

● one's auditing career.

It is important to note that CPD activities should be directly related to the improvement of one's professional knowledge. It is recommended that business-as-usual activities, such as daily tasks, paid consultancy work, and standard administration duties, not be counted as CPD. 

What is Continuing Professional Development?

Requirements for the auditor

Within each 3-year registration period, it is required to complete 15 days or 120 hours of CPD. 

It is recommended that your CPD reflects your specialization in auditing specific industries. For auditors who specialize in landfill auditing, it is recommended to prioritize the development of technical knowledge in landfill audits during their CPD.

For all auditors, it is suggested that CPD should primarily focus on maintaining skills in audit and assurance, while also continuing to develop technical knowledge in the schemes administered.

Types of development activities

There are several activities that are generally accepted as CPD, and for some of these activities, you may report a limited number of hours. It is important to note that this list is not exhaustive, and we may accept other types of activities as CPD. If you are unsure whether a particular activity will be accepted, we kindly ask that you please contact us for further guidance.

Reporting development

As part of your registration, we kindly request that you submit an annual report to us on the anniversary of your registration.

This report should include a record of your completed CPD activities from the previous 12 months. This includes:

● a description of each CPD activity

● date(s) the CPD activity was undertaken

● the organisation that presented the CPD activity, and

● the number of CPD hours you are claiming.

Regarding the number of hours claimed for the activity, it is not necessary to record a minimum number of hours each year. However, it is required to report at least 15 days or 120 hours in a 3-year period.

Please note that failure to demonstrate CPD may result in suspension or deregistration as an auditor

Requests for additional evidence

Every year, we select a sample of auditors to provide additional evidence to support their CPD claims. 

The evidence required includes

● agendas

● assessment reports

● attendance lists

● certificates

● detailed diary notes

● employer records

● enrolment records

● receipts

● statutory declarations

● syllabuses, or

● transcripts

and may request additional evidence under certain circumstances. For example, if your CPD involves technical reading, you must clarify how the reading contributed to your professional development.

Evidence submitted to other professional bodies

You can submit the same evidence you provided to another professional body to meet their CPD requirements to us as well, as long as it is relevant to the schemes we administer.

Record keeping

It is recommended that CPD evidence be retained for a minimum of 5 years after the end of the 3-year period in which the activities were completed.

For more information on record keeping requirements, see section 4.2 of the Audit Codes of practice handbook.