Continuing Professional Education | CPE Hours | ICAI Guidelines

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Dear Professional Colleague

As we all know that we are required to learn constantly throughout our life so as to maintain our knowledge base, you must be hearing about the CPE hours required to do by member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India so here is the complete information about the same.

Our respected Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has mandated to each member to complete certain hours of CPE study so as to maintain the knowledge of the professionals registered as member of the institute. It is mandatory for the Member of the Institute whether he is holding Certificate of Practice (COP) or not, members not holding COP is generally have relaxed directions related to CPE hours.

There are two types of learning prescribed by the institute i.e. Structured and Unstructured, under structured learning coverage is Any CPE learning activity as specified in the Advisory on Structured CPE Learning Activities such as various post qualification courses from ICAI, Seminars conducted by Study circles etc. as far as unstructured learning coverage is concerned is it basically self learning by the member itself by reading various topics from books, newspapers, social media, newsletters etc.

Following is the CPE hours requirement for block period of 3 years (01.01.2020 to 31.12.2022) – (Copied from CPE Directorate Website link:- https://www.cpeicai.org/cpe-hours-requirements/)

  1. All the members (aged less than 60 years) who are holding Certificate of Practice (except all those members who are residing abroad) are required to:
    1. Complete at least 120 CPE credit hours in a rolling period of three-years.
    2. Complete minimum 20 CPE credit hours of structured learning in each calendar year.
    3. Balance 60 CPE credit hours (minimum 20 CPE credit hours in each calendar year) can be completed either through Structured or Unstructured learning (as per Member’s choice).
  1. All the members (aged less than 60 years) who are not holding Certificate of Practice; and all the members who are residing abroad (whether holding Certificate of Practice or not) are required to:
    1. Complete at least 60 CPE credit hours either structured or unstructured learning (as per Member’s choice) in rolling period of three-years
    2. Complete minimum 15 CPE credit hours of either structured or unstructured learning (as per member’s choice) in each calendar year.
  1. All the members (aged 60 years & above) who are holding Certificate of Practice, are required to:
    1. Complete at least an aggregate of 90 CPE credit hours of either Structured or Unstructured Learning (as per member’s choice) in a rolling period of three years
    2. Complete minimum of 20 CPE credit hours being an aggregate of either Structured or Unstructured Learning (as per member’s choice) in each calendar year
  1. The following class of members are exempted from CPE credit hours requirement:
    1. All the members (aged 60 years and above) who are not holding Certificate of Practice.
    2. Judges of Supreme Court, High Court, District Courts and Tribunal
    3. Members of Parliament/MLAs/MLCs
    4. Governors of States
    5. Centre and State Civil Services
    6. Entrepreneurs (owners of Business (manufacturing) organizations other than professional services)
    7. Judicial officers
    8. Members in Military Service
  1. Temporary Exemptions:
    1. Female members for one Calendar year on the grounds of pregnancy.
    2. Physically disabled members on case to case basis having permanent disability of not less than 40% and above (Supported with medical certificates from any doctor registered with Indian Medical Council with relevant specialisation as evidenced by Post Qualifications (M.D., M.S. etc.).
    3. Members suffering from prolonged critical diseases/illnesses or other disability as may be specified or approved by the CPED. (Supported with medical certificates from any doctor registered with Indian Medical Council with relevant specialisation as evidenced by Post Qualifications (M.D., M.S. etc.).

Further new guideline has been issued from the institute to mandate has been made by the institute on the certain topics which are required to be covered by the Member which are ‘Standards on Auditing’ and ‘Code of Ethics’, each member is required to mandatory completion of 2 Structured CPE Hours, each on both the topics during every Calendar year, from Calendar Year 2020 onwards in Online/Virtual mode for COP holders and grant of structured CPE hours through Virtual CPE Meetings.

COVID-19 relief by ICAI:- Now due to COVID-19 outbreak the institute has relaxed the requirement of Structured learning as these are required to be done in Auditoriums and other study halls so as a relief out of 20 hours Structured CPE hours which is mandatory to be completed by Members below 60 years holding COP, in each calendar year, 10 Structured CPE hours could be granted through online mode (either through Digital Learning Hub or through above Virtual CPE meetings including mandatory CPE hours on “Code of ethics” and “Standard on auditing”) till 30th June 2020. (It is not extended yet but as per the current circumstances it probably will extend).

For structured learning your CPE hours will automatically reflect on the Members Login on the CPE directorate website (https://www.cpeicai.org/) vide your attendance with the institute and study circle in which you are attending the learning seminars now onwards webinars and Virtual meetings. Further the unstructured learning CPE hours member is required to upload the details of the learning activity done by him/her with topic and date of activity only then the same will be reflect in the portal.

How to First Login to your Portal:-

As I was not aware of how to login for first time on the portal, so am sharing with you the details:-

Step-1 Go to website https://www.cpeicai.org/

Step-2 Then click on Members Login

Step-3 Type your membership Number

Step-4 your first time default password would be cpe + membership number (Ex:- If your membership number is 123456 then your password would be “cpe123456”).

For more details on this please connect to the website and explore.

Stay Safe Stay Updated !!

Disclaimer: – The information compiled are my personal observation and Interpretation of the Guidelines issued by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, any further changes due to subsequent guidelines/notifications shall accordingly be applied Also this information is not published to disrespect anyone, The Author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with use of this information.

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