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CPD monitoring is moving online from September
As a member and qualified professional, you are required to undertake continuing professional development (CPD). CIMA's CPD scheme provides a framework to help you consider your learning needs, develop a plan to meet your personal development goals, and reflect upon your achievements.
Moving CPD online
To ensure CIMA's CPD scheme continues to meet CIMA's and your needs, we have made improvements to it. From September 2018 members selected for monitoring will be required to log their CPD online using the Competency and Learning website (competency.aicpa.org). CPD submissions by any other method will not be accepted.
The Competency and Learning website is a professional learning and development experience built for CGMA designation holders. The website brings together a variety of learning resources and a self-assessment tool, enabling tracking and reporting of progress towards learning goals. It empowers you to take control of your career development to discover and learn new skills when, where, and how you want.
How will this impact me?
Please familiarise yourself with the Competency and Learning website and start logging your CPD now. This will make it easier for you to keep track of your achievements and submit your record to CIMA when requested.
CPD will remain output-based and continue to place an emphasis on benefit and development aspects of the activity as opposed to the activity itself. You will also still be required to use the CIMA professional development cycle of "Define, Assess, Design, Act, Reflect, and Evaluate".
Further information about the changes, FAQs, and a free webinar on how to use the Competency and Learning website can be found at www.cimaglobal.com.
Monitoring of 2017 records
If you have been selected to submit your 2017 CPD record, please do so by the deadline given in your notification email.
It is essential that you receive all key communications around monitoring and compliance. Please therefore ensure you keep your contact details up to date with CIMA.
Should you have any queries, please contact www.cimaglobal.com/Contact-us.
CIMA governance: Getting involved
Have you ever wondered how CIMA is governed and ever thought you would like to be involved? Well, you can — your professional institute has a wide range of committees and boards on which members and students can participate.
The Council is CIMA’s governing body and is made up of 58 CIMA members, with 38 directly elected by members. The remaining 20 are the president, deputy president, vice-president, immediate past president, and 16 co-opted members. The Council meets four times a year to discuss and set policy (one meeting is held by videoconferencing), and governance and policy committees meet at least three times a year. Council’s full remit can be found within our Royal Charter.
Elections to Council
All FCMAs are encouraged to consider applying to become a Council member. Council has members from 19 global electoral constituencies. The election process begins each October and nominations close in December, with elections taking place in February or March of the following year. Corporate Affairs will review the nominations and your application, and once your nomination is confirmed, an open election is held using our election partner, ERS, if there is more than one candidate for a vacancy. Nominees can canvass members in the constituency, and CIMA will provide you with guidelines for that. A successful nomination must include six nominations (at least three must be other FCMAs), and all must reside in your constituency. Once elected, a member will be inducted and will then represent CIMA members at the organisation’s strategic level.
Committees
Council has four committees reporting directly into it.
Appointments Committee (Council members only) is responsible for the selection of members and individuals to serve on the committees. It also appoints chairmen and vice-chairmen, and approves external (nonmember) members of committees who bring specialist skills.
Professional Standards Committee (open to members and nonmember specialists) is responsible for reviewing the CPD monitoring process and ensuring it is always fit for purpose. The committee also monitors the regulatory framework in which members and CIMA operate, and ensures that the standards and conduct of CIMA’s members remain at the core of its public interest obligation. The committee has oversight of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) function to ensure CIMA’s obligations as an AML supervisor are met.
Membership Committee (open to members) oversees the policies, criteria, and standards that govern membership of CIMA. The committee has worked on the implementation of a new ACMA application tool and on the academic route to membership and has also created a working group to review the FCMA application process.
Benevolent Fund Committee (open to members) works to ensure the charity is administered well and that its work to support members and former members in times of hardship is maintained.
If you are interested in the governance of CIMA and any of the committees, please contact us at Corporate.Affairs@aicpa-cima.com.
2018 elections to CIMA Council
The following members have been elected for their first term or re-elected as Members of Council to serve from the close of the Annual General Meeting on 1 June 2018 until the close of the Annual General Meeting in 2021:
Newly elected members
- Jill Baldwin — North East England constituency (EC5)
- Helen Smith — Scotland constituency (EC7)
- David Lynch — Central Southern England constituency (EC11)
- Rebecca Bennett — Australasia constituency (EC19)
Re-elected members
- Amarjeet Hans — Central London and North Thames constituency (EC1)
- Nigel Davies — South West England and South Wales constituency (EC2)
- Kevin Bragg — East Midlands and East Anglia constituency (EC3)
- Andrew McGunnigle — East Midlands and East Anglia constituency (EC3)
- Sue Stapleford — East Midlands and East Anglia constituency (EC3)
- Bina Kakad — West Midlands constituency (EC4)
- Bob Beedham — North West England and North Wales constituency (EC6)
- Richard Sharp — Central Southern England constituency (EC11)
UN Sustainable Development Goals: Management accountants' role
Business has a fundamental role to play in delivering the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a recent report by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. The SDGs have been developed to address the world's social and economic development issues, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment, and social justice.
The report suggests that management accountants' skillsets, organisational role, and ethical commitment equip them well for SDG planning and implementation. Areas they can influence include developing new programmes of activity, evidencing successes, highlighting risk, and proposing alternative courses of action.
To read the report, go to www.cgma.org.
Disciplinary decision
The Investigation Committee found a prima facie case of misconduct against Mohammed Shohaib Shafiq, ACMA, CGMA, of Studley, Warwickshire, United Kingdom, in relation to a complaint that he had shared an email address and phone numbers without his client's prior consent. Information was also disclosed in professional clearance letters not intended for the recipients. This was a breach of the terms and conditions of engagement. The committee was satisfied that the respondent's actions were in breach of the professional competence and due care and professional behaviour requirements of the CIMA Code of Ethics. The committee therefore determined that his actions could amount to misconduct as alleged. Shafiq agreed by way of a consent order that he receive the sanction of a reprimand and pay a £250 fine together with a contribution to CIMA's costs of £456.
Future of Finance research
In the run-up to the autumn launch of its Future of Finance white paper, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants has set out in separate papers the four major themes arising from the research. They are available at cgma.org/future-of-finance.
The first, The Changing Role and Mandate of Finance, looks at how finance has a mandate to go beyond its core accounting role to be a more influential player within an organisation.
Changing Technology and Finance discusses the seven technologies identified by Deloitte that finance needs to have on its radar. These divide into "core modernisation tools" of cloud, process robotics, and visualisation; and "exponential tools" that deliver new capabilities to finance — advanced analytics, cognitive computing, in-memory computing, and blockchain.
The Changing Shape of the Finance Function identifies how a process of fusion is bringing together different internal areas of the finance function, as well as fusing finance with the rest of the business. It also highlights a need to identify skills gaps and develop plans to close them.
And finally, Changing Competencies and Mindsets explores how automation is causing a shift in the skillset that finance professionals need. It also encourages the profession to consider developing skills around empathy, and social and emotional intelligence — these skills are currently underused and are difficult to replicate in machine-learning technologies.