The Institute of Solomon Islands Accountants (ISIA) has initiated implementation of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) requirements on its public practitioners starting in 2024 onwards. 

This means that members of the Institute who are registered as public practitioners will be required to submit records of their CPD activities and hours at the end of this year to be assessed for re-registration for 2025. 

Public practitioners are members of the Institute who are lawfully registered by ISIA under the relevant requirements of the Accountants Act 2010. 

Under this Act, only those who are registered with ISIA are lawfully permitted to provide book-keeping, accounting and auditing services to the public in Solomon Islands. 

Anyone who is practicing book-keeping, accounting and auditing services in Solomon Islands without proper registration with ISIA is unlawfully doing so and not complying with the Accountants Act, including oversea-based consultants/accounting firms providing such services in the country. 

For the start, ISIA public practitioners are required to complete 20 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours before the end of 2024. 

This requirement applies to all registered CPAs and Book-keepers who are currently registered by ISIA. 

This is the first time ISIA is implementing this practice to ensure its members meet this requirement annually and going forward, the Institute will be monitoring this as part of the re-registering process each year.

The CPD requirement enhances the professional and technical knowledge of accounting professionals and allows them to remain up to date with relevant legislative, ethical and business practices, and technical accounting standards changes.

“CPD is lifelong learning for professionals, and includes activities that expand our members’ technical, ethical, business, and professional knowledge to ensure that they are kept abreast of relevant changes that are happening not only in Solomon Islands but around the world”, according to ISIA CEO,Pamela Naesol-Alamu.

“In a dynamic business environment where business practices keep changing, continuous learning for accountants is critical,” Alamu added.

“Therefore, to maintain professionalism in their practices, accountants are expected to keep themselves abreast of relevant changes in the environment. 

“This means they need to keep learning new knowledge and skills to be able to provide sound professional advice and services to their clients and employers to be able to add value to support businesses develop and grow.

“As the professional accounting organisation in Solomon Islands, ISIA has an obligation to uphold and protect public interest therefore as an Institute, we are obliged to ensure that our members are actively developing and maintaining professional and ethical integrity.”

This is the beginning of the Institute’s plans to raise the professional standards of the accounting profession in Solomon Islands. 

Going forward, the Institute will be undertaking a series of initiatives to assist its members with this very important requirement. 

A series of correspondences had already been issued to public practicing members informing them of this requirement and how ISIA will be supporting them to enable them to meet their CPD obligations. 

This includes a log (record) that they can use to record (list) their CPD activities and their respective hours including instructions on the lodgement process and the due date for ISIA’s review.