Necessity is said to be the mother of invention. Under the current Continuing Professional Development law, the CPD has become a necessity and hence, we now feel an impetus for invention.
Some quarters call for abolishing the CPD law, thereby doing away with the “necessity.” But the problem with this “solution” is that we can only abolish the law within the jurisdiction of our own country—the Republic of the Philippines. The CPD law, however, was crafted pursuant to the International Education Standards (IES) of the International Federation of Accountants, and in support of Asean Mutual Recognition Arrangements—which cover all Asean members. In the case of the accounting profession, the Ifacies requires 120 hours of CPD training for CPAs of all member- countries. In other words, this is not a localized need that can be practically and unilaterally addressed by a localized “solution.”
In reality, the 120 CPD hours are not the ultimate necessity. The 120 CPD hours are just a means to the end of becoming an Asean Chartered Professional Accountant who is professionally mobile and recognized within the Asean integration. Philippine CPAs face the necessity to level up, together with the CPAs of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, lest they be dismissed as below par in the global stage.
The question then is how do we innovate our way to addressing the 120-hour CPD necessity? How do we make CPD training accessible in terms of schedule and location? How can we make the cost fair and not prohibitive? Last, how do we make sure we are upholding the intent of the CPD law—producing CPD seminars that actually increase the international competitiveness and really sharpen and upgrade the knowledge, skills and expertise of the Filipino CPA community?
Ever since the Internet was introduced to the public in 1991, we have seen an unprecedented acceleration in innovation. Today the typical Filipino has reaped the benefits of Internet innovation even in day-to-day activities like shopping (Lazada), commuting (Grab), navigating through traffic (Waze), doing homework (Google), vacationing (Airbnb), and socializing (Facebook). Previously unheard-of concepts such as a “sharing economy,” “blockchain verification” and “crowdsourcing,” are now gaining traction. It is expected that the rate of disruption and innovation will only keep on increasing through the years. It is this same spirit of innovation that must spark our solutions to the CPD dilemma.
A number of CPD providers are already standing up to the call for innovation. One such company, Accelera Inc., is a Board of Accountancy-accredited CPD provider currently working to bring about innovative solutions for Filipino CPAs by utilizing technology to deliver its courses. It launched its courses in early-2018 on its web site www.accelerapro.com and now provides quality, reasonably priced seminars to CPAs through an Internet-based platform. Accelera believes that the cost of CPD training can go lower and lower as more professionals adopt the online platform.
Once a person enrolls in the online courses, the training modules can be accessed in “bite-sized” portions anytime and anywhere—at the convenience of the enrollee. Upon completion of a course module, a tamper-proof, independently verifiable, shareable, blockchain-based certificate is immediately e-mailed to the enrollee.
This is just the beginning of innovation and there’s a pervading outlook of excitement over what the future holds for the CPD trainings of the future. Accelera foresees more convenient, easy access to a shared pool of knowledge and expertise—made possible through technology —ultimately leading to even more growth and innovation.
John Michael Angelo Lopo is a lecturer of Accelera, a senior financial analyst at San Miguel Brewery, an assistant professor at San Beda-Alabang and a part-time Lecturer at University of Asia and the Pacific.
This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.