Source and application
Issued on 18 November 2021 and updated 1 July 2023, the direction changes the PAOC-approved CPE syllabus under the Accountants Rules Second and Third Schedules, referring also to Accountants Act 2004 section 13. It applies to registration applications received from 1 January 2023 and the 2023 renewal framework, but the IT minimum’s first renewal checkpoint is separately staged.
Two principal changes
New Category 5 Information Technology requires at least nine structured hours per rolling three years. Category 2 Ethics and Professionalism reduces from nine to six structured hours. IT supports audit analytics, risk assessment, anomaly testing, casting statements and confirmation automation. The ethics reduction offers learning flexibility and aligns with ISCA’s six verifiable ethics hours. Neither change reduces the overall totals.
Ordinary renewal: complete Annex A revised figures
Per rolling three years, total CPE remains at least 120 and structured at least 90, with core expertise at least 60. Category 1 reporting requires 18, Category 2 ethics six, Category 3 auditing eighteen and Category 5 IT nine. Category 4 insolvency/restructuring requires nine for accountants also approved liquidators. The remaining thirty structured hours may be Other Relevant Expertise. Minimum category figures do not eliminate the separate sixty core-hour total.
Judicial-manager-only legacy renewal
Annex A gives JM-PAs, registered solely as judicial managers and not auditing, 45 core hours, with Categories 1+4 together at least thirty including nine in Category 4, ethics six and IT nine. The other forty-five structured hours may be Other Relevant Expertise; totals remain ninety structured/120 overall. Since July 2020 IRDA implementation, ACRA stopped registering new JM-PAs. Post-IRDA work requires MinLaw insolvency-practitioner registration; only ongoing pre-IRDA cases permit PA renewal until completed, subject to renewal requirements.
Initial registration: complete Annex B figures
In the twelve months immediately before application, the revised framework applies to all PAs: forty total CPE, thirty structured and twenty core; Category 1 six, Category 2 two, Category 3 six and Category 5 three. The remaining ten structured hours may be other relevant expertise. Previously Annex B required three ethics hours and no IT category for the non-JM-PA column; the new ethics and IT figures are two and three.
The exact transition windows
For 2023 renewal, six ethics hours apply to 1 January 2020–31 December 2022; 2022 renewal retained nine for 2019–2021. The first IT rolling period is 1 January 2022–31 December 2024, so at least nine IT hours are needed for 2025 renewal. Do not treat the 2023 framework date as requiring nine IT hours retrospectively for 2020–2022. New-registration changes apply to applications received from 1 January 2023.
Qualifying IT learning and excluded demonstrations
Possible courses include robotic process automation, data analytics, interpretation/visualisation, business analytics/reporting, blockchain and AI. IT product demonstrations and reviewing digital solutions do not count as structured learning because they lack clear objectives directly improving technical knowledge and professional skills. Accountants should also study new reporting/auditing standards for Categories 1/3. The direction links the revised syllabus and ACRA enquiry channel for further details.
Official source
This article independently explains the substantive contents of the official PDF, including the relevant conditions, procedures and annexes. The linked document remains the authoritative source for its original wording, and later changes should be checked separately.
Read the official PDF ↗