Continuing professional development (CPD) keeps your skills current and your practice ahead of the market.
Under the Mandatory CPD Policy, every activity you claim must be relevant and appropriate to your professional and work responsibilities.
Who needs to complete CPD?
CPD applies to all Members, and to Registered Students who have passed the Membership Qualification Examination (MQE) but haven’t yet received the CBV designation. For those Registered Students, the requirement begins the year after you pass the MQE.
The basic rules
- Activities must relate to your professional responsibilities and be pitched at an appropriate technical, practical, or intellectual level for your experience
- A minimum of 50% of your CPD hours must be verifiable, supported by evidence you can produce if audited
- You must satisfy an annual minimum of 10 hours and a three-year (triennial) minimum of 60 hours.
- Responsibility for maintaining compliance with CBV Institute By-laws and Policies and keeping supporting documentation rests with each Member and Registered Student
CPD can be technical or practice-related, in areas where you are generally active. Qualifying topics include:
- Business valuation, litigation support, and quantifying economic losses
- Investment advice or management, pricing, negotiation, and structuring transactions, including M&A
- Topics specific to the industry in which you or your clients operate. For example, economic updates, tax updates, applicable laws and regulations, debt or equity markets, or accounting standards
- Practice management, ethics, and professional standards
- Personal or soft skills, where they enhance your abilities as a valuator
CPD falls into two types, and both count toward your hours. The difference is whether you can document them.
Structured CPD:
Organized learning delivered by a provider, with a clear record of your participation. Structured activities are almost always verifiable. Examples: attending a course, webinar, seminar, or conference; completing a post-secondary course; presenting or teaching; or serving on a professional board or committee where you are learning.
Self-study CPD:
Learning you do on your own. Whether it counts as verifiable depends on the evidence.
- Verifiable self-study: A formal self-study program with proof of completion and time spent, such as a certificate, transcript, or exam result.
- Non-verifiable self-study: Informal learning with no formal record, such as reading technical publications, journals, valuation standards, or case law, or independent research. This still counts as CPD, but only toward the non-verifiable portion of your hours.
Because at least 50% of your hours must be verifiable, keep the documentation for any activity you intend to claim as verifiable.
Most verifiable CPD falls into three categories. For each, keep the documentation noted so you can support your hours if you are audited.
Attending an activity:
Courses, webinars, seminars, and conferences, post-secondary courses, and formal self-study programs that come with evidence of completion. You can claim the time you spend attending or completing the activity. Keep any one of the following: a certificate of completion or official transcript, confirmation of participation from the provider, your assignment or exam results, or a copy of the course payment or invoice.
Instructing or speaking:
Delivering a course, seminar, conference session, or post-secondary course. You can claim the time you spend presenting, plus a reasonable amount of preparation time. Keep a copy of the course or presentation material showing the date and speaker details, along with a log of your preparation hours by date.
Professional involvement:
Taking part in CBV Institute education and accreditation programs, or serving on a business or professional board or committee where you are learning. You can claim the time spent in meetings, provided you are learning. Keep any one of the following: an email confirming your membership, the meeting agenda or minutes, or a letter from the organization or employer confirming your role.
CBV Institute offers an optional CPD Tracking System to help you record and monitor your hours. Note that entering hours in the tracking system does not count as reporting. All Members and Registered Students must complete an annual CPD Compliance Report, made available each January.