ACCA CPD Requirements 2026: Units, Routes, Records and Declarations

ACCA members are required to complete relevant CPD every calendar year and submit an annual CPD declaration by 1 January of the following year. Most members follow the unit route: 40 units a year, at least 21 of them verifiable. This article sets out who the rules apply to, the four CPD routes, what counts, where online learning fits, what records you keep, and the waivers and exemptions ACCA allows.

1. ACCA CPD Requirements at a Glance

Everything in that table is a rule, not a suggestion. Where something is guidance rather than an obligation, this article says so.

2. Who Must Comply with ACCA's CPD Requirements

ACCA's CPD guidance states that all members complete CPD on an annual basis, wherever they live and whatever sector they work in. Two groups sit outside it:

• Newly admitted members: You begin CPD from 1 January after you become a member. Your first calendar year of membership carries no CPD requirement and no declaration.
• Lifetime members: Members on ACCA's register of lifetime members don't have to complete CPD.

Every other member completes CPD and submits a declaration, including members who hold a waiver.

Practising members and regulated roles

ACCA's CPD declaration guidance states that members holding practising certificates or insolvency licences, or carrying out exempt regulated activities in the UK or investment business in Ireland, must be able to show they have maintained competence in the specialised areas of their practice. Further rules apply to specific roles:

• Responsible Individuals: maintain audit competence even when they aren't doing audit work, and must be able to justify why the amount of audit-related CPD they completed is sufficient. ACCA's guidance on CPD for practising members states that this is checked during a CPD review.
• Holders of an ACCA Irish practising certificate and audit qualification: keep up to date with the Irish audit framework, the financial reporting standards used in Ireland, and relevant Irish and EU legislation, under ACCA's guide for practising members.
• Members registered as tax practitioners in South Africa: also comply with the South African Revenue Service's own tax CPD requirement.

3. How Many Units You Need, and How They're Counted

ACCA measures CPD in units, and one unit equals one hour of development. ACCA's guidance on CPD routes sets out four of them, and the amount you need depends on which one you follow. You choose the route each year.

A few points on counting:

• The 21 verifiable units are part of the 40, not additional to them.
• Non-verifiable learning can't replace verifiable learning.
• Units are counted by time spent learning. Only sessions relevant to you count, so a full-day event may produce fewer units than its running time.
• The 770-hour threshold works out at 17.5 hours a week. It can also apply to members who are only active in the workplace at certain times of year.

The part-time or semi-retired route doesn't apply to everyone under 770 hours. Under ACCA's part-time or semi-retired guidance, practising members can only follow it if they aren't responsible for audit or other regulated report work, and members who prepare or present accounts that investors may rely on, and non-executive directors of listed companies, follow the full unit route.

On the IFAC member body route, you remain eligible while you stay a member of the other body and meet its IFAC-compliant CPD policy. The Members' CPD FAQs state that ACCA respects any amendments, variations or waivers that body makes.

4. The ACCA CPD Year and Carrying Units Forward

The ACCA CPD year is the calendar year, and each year is assessed on its own. There is no multi-year cycle and no rolling period. Your first CPD year starts on 1 January after you are admitted, and the declaration for each CPD year is due by 1 January of the following year.

On the unit route, if you complete more than 21 verifiable units in a year, you can carry forward up to 21 of the additional units to your next CPD year. ACCA gives intensive study for an MBA or another qualification as an example. The carry-forward rules are:

• Only verifiable units can be carried forward. Non-verifiable units can't.
• The maximum carried forward is 21 units.
• You cannot carry forward CPD units in your first year of CPD.

5. Verifiable, Non-Verifiable, Ethics and Practice-Area Requirements

Verifiable CPD

ACCA's guidance on what you need to do sets three questions. On the unit route, any learning activity can count as verifiable CPD when you can answer yes to all three:

1. Was the learning activity relevant to your career?
2. Can you explain how you applied the learning in the workplace?
3. Can you provide evidence that you undertook the learning activity?

All three answers need to be yes. A relevant activity with no evidence of completion does not count as verifiable CPD.

Non-verifiable CPD

Non-verifiable CPD is general learning not related to a specific outcome, or learning that is difficult to provide evidence for, such as reading technical journal articles in AB magazine. You do not need to provide evidence for it, but it still has to be relevant to your role or career.

Ethics

ACCA's unit route is defined by total units and verifiable units. It does not set a separate minimum number of ethics units. ACCA describes professional ethics as being at the heart of its CPD, and ethics learning counts towards the 40 units in the same way as any other relevant learning.

Practice-area requirements

For practising members, the specialised-area rule described earlier is a requirement, though the amount of CPD in each area is not fixed in units. Responsible Individuals also justify the amount of audit-related CPD they completed.

6. What Counts as Eligible ACCA CPD

A learning activity can count as CPD if it is relevant to your current role or future career aspirations. The Members' CPD FAQs list work-based learning, coaching, mentoring, e-learning, networking, discussion groups, reading and research among the accepted forms. ACCA's employer guidance states that it recognises on-the-job learning such as informative meetings, mentoring, coaching and networking as verifiable CPD, and its member guidance adds in-house training and briefings.

What doesn't count

• Routine job responsibilities: ACCA distinguishes a learning activity from your routine job responsibilities. Only the learning counts.
• Irrelevant learning: If an event or course is not relevant to your role, it does not count as CPD.
• Unevidenced activities as verifiable CPD: Without evidence of completion, an activity can only count as non-verifiable CPD.
• Non-verifiable units in place of verifiable units: The 21 verifiable units apply regardless of how much non-verifiable learning you complete.
• Carried-forward non-verifiable units: Surplus non-verifiable units expire at the end of the CPD year.

7. Online Learning, Self-Study, Webinars and On-Demand Education

ACCA accepts online learning. Its guidance names e-learning, online learning on demand, and webinars attended live or accessed later. While ACCA features its own catalogue of online CPD courses through industry partners, it permits its members to earn their verifiable CPD from any external provider as long as the verifiable learning meets the three core requirements, namely:

1. Is the learning activity relevant to your career?
2. Can you explain how you applied the learning in the workplace?
3. Can you provide evidence that you undertook the learning activity?

Format doesn't decide how an activity counts. The same three questions apply to an online course as to a classroom course, so an online course with a completion record can count as verifiable CPD. Where you have a certificate, ACCA's practising members guide states that you should also think about the learning outcomes of the activity. That part is guidance.

EverCPE.com offers online self-study learning built for accountants, and it may help you meet your CPD requirements: the certificate of completion proves you completed the learning, the stated learning objectives give you the outcome to describe, and the handout keeps a record of the materials learned.

EverCPE.com is interactive, structured self-study rather than passive reading. Each learning session comes with:

• Content shaped around the exact accounting and auditing questions you have, instead of generic off-the-shelf courses
• Substantive material organised around clear learning objectives
• Knowledge checks with feedback as you go, so you fix any misunderstanding while you work through the learning session
• Scored multiple-choice questions that check whether you understand the material
• A certificate of completion once you complete the learning session, naming you, the session and the hours
• A full downloadable handout covering the session, its learning objectives, and its content

In short, EverCPE.com leaves you with documentation and evidence of the learning you completed.

8. Records, Declarations and CPD Reviews

The annual declaration

Every member subject to CPD submits an annual declaration, whichever route they follow. You submit it through the Professional Development area of myACCA, at any point in the year, and no later than 1 January of the following year. A member holding a waiver still submits one. A submitted declaration cannot be deleted, and ACCA's guidance on understanding your CPD declaration states that an error is corrected by making a further declaration.

Keeping a record

You can record CPD using ACCA's recording tool in myACCA, your employer's system, or another professional body's format, so there is no need to duplicate records. For each activity, ACCA's membership FAQs ask for a brief outline of what it was, what you learned, and how you have applied or will apply the learning. You keep your evidence and send it to ACCA only if asked.

CPD reviews

If you are selected for a CPD review, you provide your records by the deadline in the request. Under the Membership Regulations, that deadline is no sooner than seven days after the date of the request.

Members holding an ACCA practising certificate and audit qualification submit their full CPD records if selected, and members on the part-time or semi-retired route also evidence the hours they worked and that their role meets the route's conditions. ACCA's page on help with your CPD declaration adds that on the IFAC member body route, ACCA can check with the other body that you took part in its programme and ask for your records.

Consequences of non-compliance

If you haven't met the requirement, you still make a declaration confirming that. ACCA's page on managing your CPD states that it then contacts you about making up the shortfall and asks for a replacement declaration once you have completed it.

Members who do not comply are removed from the ACCA register and lose the right to use the ACCA letters after their name, under Regulation 12 of the Chartered Certified Accountants' Membership Regulations. Readmission after removal for CPD non-compliance includes completing the outstanding declarations.

9. Exemptions, Waivers and Special Circumstances

Only two groups are fully exempt: members on the lifetime members register, and newly admitted members for their first year of membership.

ACCA's waiver guidance states that waivers of some or all of the verifiable CPD requirements are considered if you have been off work for at least one month for long-term or serious illness, maternity or paternity leave, unemployment, or a career break. Waivers are granted pro rata to the length of absence. In exceptional circumstances, ACCA can grant a discretionary waiver of 7 verifiable units for onerous caring duties, even if you have not been off work. Applications can also be made for a previous year.

A waiver reduces the verifiable requirement. It does not remove the rest:

• With a waiver of all 21 verifiable units, the non-verifiable requirement still applies.
• With a partial waiver, you complete the remaining verifiable and non-verifiable units and declare on the unit route.

Route-specific rules

• Practising certificate holders, insolvency licence holders and members on the register of practitioners: can apply for a waiver, giving their reasons.
• Irish statutory auditors: are unable to apply for a waiver.
• Members on the part-time or semi-retired route: set their own verifiable level, so ACCA expects no need for a waiver, and asks them to record any exceptional circumstances that stopped them completing verifiable CPD.
• Members on the Approved Employer route: have no need for a waiver. After maternity leave, for example, ACCA expects the employer to reassess your development needs on your return.
• Members on the IFAC member body route: apply to the other body for any waiver.

The part-time or semi-retired route does not replace the waiver process. A member who normally works more than 770 hours a year, but loses an extended period to illness, leave or caring duties, applies for a waiver instead.

10. Official ACCA Sources and Member Responsibility

This article sets out ACCA's published rules as at the research date in the verification log below. It doesn't replace the Chartered Certified Accountants' Membership Regulations, ACCA's own guidance, or advice about your situation.

Research verified: 22 September 2026, against ACCA's published CPD guidance and the Chartered Certified Accountants' Membership Regulations (version effective 1 January 2020).

Disclaimer: CPD requirements can depend on individual membership status, professional circumstances, jurisdiction and other factors. Requirements may also change over time. Members are responsible for confirming their current CPD obligations directly with ACCA and, where applicable, their local jurisdiction, employer, regulator or other relevant authority. EverCPE.com does not guarantee that completion of any particular learning session will satisfy a member's individual CPD requirements.