Perspective
Lifelong Learning
Fashions may change but education never goes out of style. That maxim holds especially true for all professionals operating in the world today. And professionally designated accountants are no exception. The world of business and finance is constantly evolving. Each week brings new challenges, new circumstances, new products, new services, and new standards. So we, as CGAs, as professional accountants, must remain firmly at the leading edge of that evolution. And how do we do that? Through diligence, hard work, and a solid commitment to lifelong learning.
Today a great deal of attention is paid by our professional CGA Associations to the matter of educational competencies and continuing professional development. The CGA Associations — both national and provincial/territorial — have always recognized and valued the importance of lifelong learning and this principle has been formalized into a rigorous guideline that establishes the benchmark for all CGAs regardless of their area of practice.
Recently we set the bar even higher with an enhanced new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) standard that ensures our international leadership in this regard. Today this standard applies to all CGAs, not just public practitioners. It aligns fully with the recently adopted International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) standard. It supplements the CGA Code of Ethical Principles and Rules of Conduct. And it requires CGAs to undertake a minimum of 120 hours of continuing professional development in a moving three year period with a minimum of 60 hours of verifiable activity.
But even before we get to the point of considering the post-certification continuing educational needs of our CGAs, we have to think about what competencies go into the making of a CGA in the first place. What are the skills and abilities CGAs need to excel in the new millennium? What do they need to master, so they can meet the challenges of business today?
Recently we introduced enhancements to the CGA Program of Professional Studies to ensure that CGAs have those competencies now and for the future. The enhancements follow two years of research into the evolution of accountancy and focus on the dual role accountants play — upholding the public trust and acting as strategic business leaders. (For more on the enhanced CGA certification model visit our Web site at www.cga-online.org/canada.)
Competency-based education and lifelong learning will never go out of style. You can be sure that CGA-Canada and its affiliate partners are working hard to ensure that CGAs are and always will be educated to the highest global standards now and in the days to come.
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