CA ANZ CPD Requirements 2026: 120 Hours Over Three Years

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) sets CPD by three-year period. A Chartered Accountant (CA) needs 120 hours, of which at least 90 must be verifiable, at least 20 must be done in each year, and at least 6 must be verifiable ethics hours. Members who hold the ACA or AT designation have lower totals. This guide sets out the numbers by designation, how exemptions work, and what happens if you do not comply. It sits alongside our CPA Australia CPD guide and our comparison of ACCA and CA ANZ in Australia.

At a glance

Hours by designation

The CA ANZ managing-CPD page, last modified in March 2026, gives the totals for each designation. A CA, Affiliate or approved non-member principal needs 120 hours in the three years, at least 90 of them verifiable and at least 20 in each year. An ACA needs 90 hours, 67 verifiable and at least 15 a year, and an AT needs 60 hours, 45 verifiable and at least 10 a year. Members of the same designation have the same requirements regardless of where they live.

Verifiable and non-verifiable CPD

Verifiable CPD is learning you can prove with a record, such as a course with a certificate. For a CA the Members' Obligations page describes at least 90 verifiable hours, including 6 on ethics, and up to 30 non-verifiable hours. Up to half of the verifiable hours can come from on-the-job training, so a chartered accountant who learns mostly at work still has to prove the other half with external or structured activity.

The ethics increase

For trienniums beginning on or after 1 July 2024, CA ANZ requires at least 6 hours of verifiable ethics-related CPD, up from 2 hours before. All designations must do ethics CPD. The ethics hours are not pro-rated if you qualify for an exemption, which is the point where members most often come unstuck.

Exemptions

CA ANZ gives a full exemption to members who have fully and permanently withdrawn from the workforce. Pro-rata exemptions are available for parental leave, a career break or sabbatical, unemployment or illness, and part-time or casual work. You calculate the exemption yourself and keep it with your records, and only exceptional circumstances need an application to CA ANZ. If the calculated minimum comes to less than 10 hours per triennium, no minimum applies. Holders of a Certificate of Public Practice are not eligible for the pro-rata exemptions, and Affiliates and non-member principals can only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Annual notification and monitoring

You notify CA ANZ of your CPD each year when you renew your subscription. The notification is mandatory even if you have an exemption, and if you did no hours you enter 0. CA ANZ monitors a sample of members, and members must supply evidence of completed CPD if they are selected.

Consequences

CA ANZ says failure to meet your obligations may result in disciplinary action, and its practical ethics advice says non-compliance may result in exclusion from membership. The older rule document refers to exclusion under a by-law or referral to the Professional Conduct Committee.

Planning your triennium

Divide your target by the three years: for a CA, that is at least 20 hours a year, so that nobody can fall behind and then be unable to catch up. Book your ethics hours in the first year, because they cannot be pro-rated. Keep every certificate, because only verifiable hours count towards the 90.

What we could not confirm

The July 2025 CPD FAQ and the Key changes to CPD document were closed to our reader, so we cannot say whether anything changed in 2025 or 2026 beyond the ethics increase. A 2019 CA ANZ rule document is still online and shows different figures, including 4 ethics hours every five years, so treat it as superseded. The sources also disagree on how long to keep records, with one page saying six years and the older document five, so keep them for at least six. The first triennium start date of 1 July after the financial year of admission comes from that older document, so confirm it with CA ANZ.

Frequently asked questions

How many CPD hours does a CA ANZ Chartered Accountant need?

A CA needs 120 hours every three years, at least 90 verifiable and at least 20 in each year.

How many ethics hours are required?

At least 6 hours of verifiable ethics CPD per triennium, for trienniums beginning on or after 1 July 2024.

How many hours do ACA and AT members need?

ACA members need 90 hours (67 verifiable) and AT members need 60 hours (45 verifiable) per triennium.

Can I be exempt from CA ANZ CPD?

Yes. There is a full exemption for those permanently withdrawn from the workforce and pro-rata exemptions for leave, career breaks, illness or part-time work, though ethics hours are not pro-rated.

How does CA ANZ check CPD?

You notify it each year at renewal, and it monitors a sample of members who must supply evidence if selected.

Finding courses that count

Learnsignal publishes accounting, tax, audit, ethics and finance courses in its CPD and CPE library. Before you pay for any course, check the awarding body's own rules on what it accepts, and keep the certificate and the course details. For the wider picture, see CPD for accountants and the CA ANZ graduate diploma explained.

Source: CA ANZ Managing your CPD (modified 26 March 2026), CPD exemptions (10 December 2025), Members' Obligations (18 November 2025) and the practical ethics advice article on CPD requirements (charteredaccountantsanz.com), checked October 2026.