As the 31st of December CPD submission deadline fast approaches, our Member Services team have pulled together their list of the five most common mistakes that members have made over the years when it comes to CPD submissions and more importantly, what you can do to make sure you avoid them!
Number 5:
More of an inconvenience for the individual rather than a mistake, in at number 5, is forgetting to apply for your Pro-Rata reduction. This reduction applies to any member who will not be providing financial advice during a defined period of time, such as maternity leave.
Not notifying us before the deadline could find you in a first fail scenario and could result in an unnecessary amount of hassle. If this is you and you haven’t yet applied for an adjustment, you can find the form here and if you are unsure about anything, just contact a member of the member services team.
Number 4:
Our next entry, number 4, is an unfortunate, recurring mistake from one main cohort; our newly qualified members. Every year we notice a significant batch of these members who have accepted their designations but think that CPD is optional. It isn't unfortunately.
Because we anticipate this happening, we email all CPD members each quarter with their CPD health check. This shows what you have recorded so far, against your requirement. Most importantly, it alerts anyone still at zero hours at this late stage in the year that the options for recording and submitting CPD ahead of the deadline are significantly reduced.
If you haven’t started yet. Don’t panic, but make sure that you start now. Visit your member area now to look at what is available for you, including our eLearning catalogue and start racking up those all-important hours!
Number 3:
This leads us nicely into our 3rd entry – the bulk offenders! There are a small number of members who do nothing throughout the year and then try to cram in all 15 hours in the one day. (There is a genuine reason that the C in CPD stands for Continuing!). This practice is seriously frowned upon by the Central Bank, as their MCC guidelines clearly state that the maximum number of hours that can be completed in any day is eight and the maximum you can claim for any single topic in any day is four (MCC Section 1.7.2 CPD Hours). Not adhering to this, could lead to a lot of unnecessary stress in the New Year.
What is the best way to avoid this? Start sooner and get your minimum requirement completed earlier in the year (if possible). That way, anything that comes up of interest to you later in the year is simply a bonus.
Find out more about how to make your CPD work for you, here.
Number 2:
At number 2 are those of you who don’t pay attention to your specified function and/or ethics requirements. One of the hardest things to have to tell a member, particularly when they have done the required number of hours, is that they haven’t completed their annual requirement because they didn’t tie it in with their specified function or compulsory ethics requirement.
If you aren’t sure what your specified function requirements are, you can find out more on the Central Banks website and if you haven’t yet completed your ethics hour, hop over to our on-demand ethics content in your member area.
Number 1:
And finally …. The most common mistake of all? Not clicking submit!
Don’t forget that in order for us to receive your CPD submission for the year, you have to press that big shiny submit button! If you don’t, you might find yourself in a first-fail scenario for no reason other than you forgot to click. Watch our latest explainer video here if you are unsure of the online submission process.
You can read some of our other CPD FAQ’s here and as always, if you have any questions, call (01 645 6670) or email (memberservices@iii.ie) the Member Services team for further advice as they are always happy to help.
