The most valuable resource of any firm is the people who work within it. An accountancy qualification from a professional body is something to be proud of and considerable effort is required to ensure that this hard-won qualification is maintained and developed to meet the ever-changing needs of clients and personal aspirations.

Firms therefore need to give considerable thought to the continuing professional development of their staff to ensure that technically, professionally and personally they are capable of fulfilling their roles and helping the firm to move forward, whilst improving their own career prospects..

The onus should be on firms to create a culture in which CPD is an integral part of their business development strategy and therefore to define the needs of every individual and create appropriate programmes to develop their skills and maximise their potential.

Practices can choose from a wide variety of training methods to ensure that they meet the CPD guidelines laid down by the various professional bodies. The mix will include structured CPD (training derived from course attendance, meetings and seminars or wherever participants receive some form of formalised professional training) and unstructured CPD (informal study, reading, research or lecture preparation).

Assessing training requirements should not be left to the individual. It should be part of the firm’s human resources function to consider personal career development paths and needs. It is particularly important that both partners, and prospective partners, are equipped with the necessary skills to manage the business successfully.

For all but the very largest firms, the majority of their structured training requirements will need to be bought in. The various professional bodies provide a wide range of technical as well as management and development courses as do a number of commercial organisations such as CCH, Mercia, SWAT etc. In addition, there are specialist consultancies who can gear programmes to the specific needs of the firm and its staff.

The comprehensive course providers usually have a range of ticketing options, from one-off purchases to ‘season tickets’ which can be mixed and matched depending on the firm’s requirements.
These providers will often run schemes for groups of firms in regions, networks of firms as well as individual firms. Discussions with them will help identify the right purchase options.

Key skills in the CPD mix

CPD TRAINING Providers: what to look for

1 Everyone in the firm is involved in business (the business of accountancy) and all require skills to manage, whether it be people, situations, assignments or clients or develop marketing, networking, finding new business, closing new sales etc.

2 Few of the organisations specialising in technical courses for accountants also provide a comprehensive choice of general business management courses, possibly only on some soft skills.

3 More specialised courses in sales and marketing or people management will require a different provider. For smaller practices with limited budgets, there are a number of ways in which their training requirements can be met in a very cost effective fashion (see below).

Schemes/ Forums/ Programmes

Shared training schemes: These are mainly operated by subscription based networks such as the UK200 Group and CharterGroup, enabling firms to obtain training at a lower cost by sharing with others. Provides good value for money as
well as flexibility and allows firms to budget effectively with fixed monthly payments. These networks may also offer technical support via their training groups, thereby enabling a second opinion on complex issues.

Institute district society courses and forums: Local areas may incorporate a number of courses for members in their diary of events, primarily on technical topics. Joining a forum group where local practitioners get together and members have the opportunity of discussing common problems experienced in practice and how they should be overcome.

Bespoke courses/management development programmes: Delivered in-house these can be particularly useful for firms where a number of people require training on a topic or subject outside the scope of the usual training providers and can be tailored to suit the needs of the both the individuals and the firm (such as client development, personnel management etc). Development of people is so important that to ensure that CPD programmes are tailored to the needs of the firm, its partners and staff, every practice should have an ‘education partner’ who is specifically tasked with responsibility for training.

Andrew Jenner is a director of Kato Consultancy