Year-end CPD deadline

CPD deadline 31 December: how to find last-minute verifiable hours

I built CPDProof because of the December scramble. Every year I’d find myself in the last weeks of December sitting through webinars I didn’t care about, just to hit my verifiable hours, while the videos and articles I’d actually learned from all year counted for nothing.

If that’s where you are now, here is how to work out exactly what you’re short and close it properly.

Who has a 31 December deadline

ICAEW’s year ends on 31 October and CA ANZ’s on 30 June, so this guide doesn’t apply to them. For ICAEW, see our 31 October guide [link: /blog/icaew-cpd-deadline-31-october].

Hours you complete on 1 January count toward the new year, not the one you’re short in.

Step 1: Work out your real shortfall

Most people check one number. There are up to four:

1.          Total hours this year

2.          Verifiable hours this year

3.          Hours over three years, for CPA Ontario, CPA BC and CPA Australia

4.          Ethics hours

The three-year total is the one that catches people. Here is an example.

A CPA Ontario member at the end of a three-year period:

Checked year by year, this member looks fine: every year beats the annual minimum of 20 hours and 10 verifiable. Checked over three years, they are 43 hours short, 25 of them verifiable, and have no ethics hours at all.

If you’re a CPA BC member, add one more check this year: the 1.5 hours of anti-money laundering training due by 31 December 2026.

Step 2: Fill the gap in the right order

Ethics first. Only ethics content counts toward ethics hours, and it counts toward your verifiable total as well. If you’re short on both, an ethics hour does double duty.

Verifiable second. This is where you need evidence, so it takes the most care.

Everything else last. Non-verifiable hours are the easiest to find. Reading, podcasts and videos all count, as long as they’re relevant and recorded.

Step 3: A realistic week

Ten verifiable hours in a week is achievable. Two hours on each of five evenings is ten hours. Add a Saturday morning and you have thirteen.

What works in that time:

• On-demand webinars that issue certificates, including your own body’s library

• Recorded courses with an assessment at the end

• Long, substantive videos on topics you need, turned into assessed, certified hours

What doesn’t:

• Claiming more than the time you spent. Bodies expect actual hours, and reviewers notice hours that don’t fit the activity.

• Backdating. An hour completed in January belongs to January’s year.

• Learning with no evidence when what you’re short of is verifiable hours.

Step 4: Record as you go

Add each activity to your CPD record on the day you do it, and attach the certificate or record straight away. On 31 December you want to be checking a total, not rebuilding a year from memory.

Closing the gap this week

CPDProof is built for this situation. Choose videos and articles on topics you need, pass a short quiz on each, and download a certificate for your record. Each one records the content, date, hours and your pass, and can be checked through a QR code. Acceptance is always your body’s decision.

The Essential plan, 15 hours for $39, is sized for exactly this: a verifiable gap that has to close before 31 December. Get your hours [link: /buy-credits]

And next year

Forty hours a year is under an hour a week. Start in January and December becomes a check rather than a scramble.

Sources: CPA Ontario, Continuing Professional Development · CPABC, CPD requirements · CPABC, CPD FAQs · ACCA, CPD quick guide (PDF) · CPA Australia, CPD review process