The tool, which helps advisers meet their 35 hours of development necessary to remain compliant, has been designed to complement the existing CPD support which is provided with the society’s membership.
Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, said: “CPD is a cornerstone of professionalism which Personal Finance Society members have been conversant with for many years. Members recognise the value of working to keep knowledge current and relevant from a business perspective and therefore new regulation simply serves to increase focus.”
Richards said CPD is more than a regulatory box-ticking exercise and he added:: “It goes beyond simple compliance and straight to the heart of what it means to be a professional. It’s our job as a professional body to proactively help to facilitate ongoing development and provide members with a wider range of support options.”
The tool is split across six key subject areas; financial services, regulation and ethics, investment principles and risk, personal taxation, pensions and retirement planning, financial protection and financial planning practice.
Within these subject areas are 28 individual e-briefing programmes providing concise, current, straightforward guidance created and maintained by subject experts.
Powered by the Chartered Insurance Institute the system allows members to assess their developing knowledge structure their CPD activity over the course of the year and record what they have done for auditing purposes.
There are regular monthly updates and, as well as automatically recording CPD activity undertaken within CPD Essentials, the tool provides the option to record activity undertaken outside system. Members also benefit from a self-test facility to allow them to gauge their knowledge and CPD progress.
