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| The guidelines are issued for the purpose of endorsing providers of Continuing Professional Development courses to members of The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) and endorsing individual courses provided by endorsed course providers. Endorsed providers can state in their promotional material the number of CPD hours being approved for the course endorsed by HKICPA. |
| Definition: |
A course is defined as a training session of at least 3 hours in duration. It may also consist of a series of related sessions. |
| Endorsement Criteria/Conditions for CPD Course Provider |
| 1. |
The course provider should be financially sound, adequately staffed and be able to demonstrate good track record for conducting courses relevant to the members of HKICPA. |
| 2. |
The course provider shall have a sound quality assurance mechanism at course and institutional levels. |
| 3. |
The course provider should have suitable and adequate training venues and equipment. |
| 4. |
The fees charged should be reasonable. |
| 5. |
Granting of the endorsement status to a course provider does not confer automatic endorsed status to individual courses offered by the course provider. Therefore, each course offered by the course provider must be endorsed separately by HKICPA. |
| 6. |
The course provider must notify HKICPA well in advance the time schedule of their course offerings. |
| 7. |
Endorsement of the course provider is subject to annual review. |
| 8. |
The status of an endorsed course provider may be suspended or withdrawn at the discretion of HKICPA. |
| 9. |
The course provider is to pay the endorsement fee as levied by HKICPA. |
| 10. |
The course provider will agree to include in all its promotional materials which use or make reference to the name of HKICPA, that the "Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants will not be responsible for any financial loss incurred by member(s) of the Institute or member(s) of the public, through their dealings with the course provider endorsed by the Institute ", and to submit such advertising and promotional materials to the Institute for record purpose. |
| 11. |
The course provider will agree to include in all its promotional material which use or make reference to the name of HKICPA and any other materials related to the endorsed course, that the "The views expressed in the course and herein remain those of the presenter(s) and cannot be considered to be the official views of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants ". |
| 12. |
The course provider will agree to allow members or representatives of the Committee or nominated HKICPA staff to attend any of the classes free of charge, for quality assurance purposes. |
| Guidelines and Conditions for the Endorsement of CPD Courses |
| 1. |
The courses offered must contribute directly to an accountant's professional competence and be set at the appropriate level. However, the topics of the courses should not be on the exposure drafts, standards, practice notes and guideline issued by the Institute. |
| 2. |
The level of the course and whether it is substantially a repeat of a previous course must be noted in all promotional materials. |
| 3. |
The maximum number of participants per class for a course will be determined and agreed on a case by case basis between HKICPA and the provider. |
| 4. |
The course must be taught by experienced speakers with the necessary practical or academic skills or both, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the course. |
| 5. |
Experienced accountants or other professionals must contribute to the development of the course. |
| 6. |
The method of presentation used for a course must be appropriate to meet its aims and objectives and, wherever possible and appropriate, should be varied and include participatory elements in order to encourage learning. |
| 7. |
Written information on how the course is developed should be provided to HKICPA for assessment of its suitability for endorsement as an HKICPA endorsed CPD course. Such information should be of high quality and quantity, which indicate that adequate time has been devoted to the preparation of the course and that it will be of value to the participants in the course of their practice. |
| 8. |
It generally takes 14 working days for the HKICPA to process an application for endorsement of CPD courses offered by the course provider. |
| 9. |
A set of course materials must be provided to HKICPA and to each participant before or at the course. |
| 10. |
The course must be presented in suitable setting, conducive to good training/educational experience. The course must be scheduled at such time and location to ensure freedom from interruption from telephone calls and other office matters. |
| 11. |
Opportunities for participants to ask questions to the course instructor(s) must also be made available during or after classes. |
| 12. |
The following reports are to be submitted to HKICPA within 7 days after completion of each course: |
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| (i) |
participants' attendance list for each class |
| (ii) |
summary of participants' assignment marks, if appropriate |
| (iii) |
participants' post-class evaluation feedback on: -
| (a) |
the course |
| (b) |
the course materials |
| (c) |
the trainer(s) |
| (d) |
facilities and |
| (e) |
the general organisation of the programme |
|
| (iv) |
the presenter's assessment of the course and participants |
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| 13. |
A half-yearly report on the number of HKICPA members enrolled on each of the endorsed CPD programmes shall also be submitted by each course provider to HKICPA by the end of June and December each year) |
| 14. |
HKICPA reserves the right to obtain independent feedback from participants during or after the course. |