Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Policy
Continuing Professional Development is the assurance of commitment to a lifelong process of learning.
What is Continuing Professional Development (CPD)?
In the fast-changing world of regulatory and financial crime compliance, it has never been more important to keep your knowledge up to date.
Creating a working plan to continuously develop your abilities will ensure that you perform at your best and will prepare you to fulfil your current and future roles with confidence.
What is the ICA CPD scheme?
The purpose of the ICA Continuing Professional Development scheme is to ensure that our members continue to maintain and enhance their expertise.
How is CPD measured?
CPD is measured by the time spent undertaking a learning activity. The table below provides the number of learning hours members are recommended to achieve annually. ICA recommends a professional standard of 35 hours per year to maintain and enhance your expertise.
| Membership level | CPD requirement | Annual CPD (hours) |
| Associate (AICA) | Recommended | 35 |
| Professional (MICA) | Recommended | 35 |
| Fellow (FICA) | Recommended | 35 |
A CPD year runs alongside your annual membership year. This starts and ends on the same day as your membership subscription year. Only CPD completed within this year will be considered as CPD achieved for that year. CPD hours carried out over the recommended annual requirement cannot be carried forward to the next CPD year.
How do I decide what CPD to undertake?
When approaching CPD activities, we expect members to form their own professional judgement as to the best way of assuring that they are making a meaningful contribution to the development of their knowledge, competencies, and skills. However, we strongly recommend our members undertake CPD that is verifiable and relevant to their role.
A crucial aspect of your role is to be up to date with current trends, topics, legislation and regulations and we are committed to providing ample opportunities, tools, and resources to help you meet your CPD goals and demonstrate the highest level of professionalism and competence.
What types of CPD does ICA recognise?
ICA recognises any piece of learning that is directly related to the profession and supports your development as a Risk and Compliance professional. This includes any piece of learning related to your area of expertise: AML, compliance, risk, fraud, etc. These help you to maintain or develop the knowledge and skills that are essential to perform the technical/practical/functional aspects of your current or desirable role and may include professional qualifications, conferences, online learning, writing/reading a technical article, report, etc.
You can also log soft skills development, i.e., learning that can be applied in any industry: management, leadership, strategy development items. These aid in the development of your overall skills and knowledge, and may include undertaking soft skills training, giving a presentation, etc.
Does CPD gained from other professional sources count?
We recognise that many ICA Members may access learning resources from many sources including their employers, other professional bodies, associations, and external online sources. Any learning resource can be used as CPD if it is relevant to your role and supports your development as a Risk and Compliance professional.
Do I have to log my CPD with each professional body I am associated with?
ICA members are often members of other professional bodies and may already comply with other CPD schemes. ICA Members can ‘double count’ CPD completed through other professional bodies towards completion of their CPD obligation, provided all the other conditions of the ICA scheme are met. Simply upload a summary of your learning into your ICA CPD log with the total duration and a summary of the activities.
What sources of CPD does ICA provide?
ICA Membership offers a wide range of CPD activities for our members, including online resources in our Learning Hub. You will enjoy access to a vast range of events, publications, videos, and a library of online resources that are constantly updated, making it easy for you to gain the required number of CPD hours.
Does completing an ICA Qualification count as CPD?
Yes, upon successful completion of any of the ICA qualifications, CPD hours can be logged as set out below:
| Course level | Course format | CPD Credit in hours |
| Short Courses (including ICA Essentials) | Online course | 3 |
| ICA Auditor Training | Online course | 15 |
| Certificate | Introductory/ Specialist | 20 |
| Certified Financial Crime Investigator | Practitioner | 30 |
| Certified Money Laundering Reporting Officer | Practitioner | 50 |
| Advanced Certificate | Intermediate | 100 |
| Diploma | Advanced | 130 |
| Executive Diploma |
Advanced |
130 |
| Professional Post Graduate Diploma | Expert | 200 |
How do I record my CPD?
We provide all members with access to a simple online CPD log which should be updated on a regular basis. The log is designed for you to quickly record all your CPD activities with ease and keep track of progress. You can even store evidence of activities undertaken, such as event attendance certificates, alongside each record.
What kind of evidence will I need to submit?
We recommend adding evidence that supports your CPD records, such as:
- A certificate of attendance
- Course or event agenda showing what was covered and the learning objectives
- Meeting agendas and papers
- Minutes of the meeting/discussion which confirm your participation
- Discussion papers you prepared
- A summary of learning if you are updating from external sources
How do I log external CPD activities?
External CPD activities must be logged manually on the CPD log page using the add to CPD option. Below are some examples of fulfilling your CPD requirements through external sources, and how to enter them into your CPD log.
Example 1: You spent 15 minutes reading a technical article. You need to enter this activity into your CPD log, mentioning the title of the article and all other necessary details, and the CPD value as '15' (in minutes). This will equal 0.25 CPD hour.
Example 2: You attended a one-hour AML workshop. You need to enter this activity into your CPD log, mentioning the details and attaching the proof of attendance, and CPD value of '60' (in minutes). This is equal to 1 CPD hour.
External CPD activities must be logged manually on the CPD log page using the add to CPD option. Below are some examples of fulfilling your CPD requirements through external sources, and how to enter them into your CPD log.
How to log CPD hours:
Where can I access CPD from ICA?
What sources does ICA provide?
ICA Membership offers a wide range of CPD activities for our members including online resources, conferences and events, as well as providing discounted access to external events. You will enjoy access to a vast range of events, publications, videos and a library of online resources that are being constantly updated, making it easy for you to gain the required number of CPD hours.
ICA CPD content includes:
- Online learning: including our new Learning Hub, live and recorded webinars, videos and podcasts.
- Articles/reports: including articles, reports, white papers and quick guides.
- inCOMPLIANCE®: our bi-monthly magazine is packed with articles from experienced practitioners on various hot topics.
- Webinars and events: members can benefit from a range of events organised by recognised providers, including role-based and personal skills-focused events.
- ICA Qualifications: upon successful completion of any of the ICA qualifications, CPD hours can be claimed.