Do Webinars and E-Learning Count as CPD? It Depends on Proof

The honest answer to “does this webinar count as CPD?” is almost never about the content. It is about whether the platform can prove you were there for the whole thing. Several regimes say so explicitly, and one of them goes further and requires you to pass a test afterwards.

That reframing is the single most useful thing to understand about online CPD, because it means a genuinely excellent recorded session can fail to count while a mediocre live one succeeds.

Germany: e-learning counts only if duration can be evidenced

The German chamber by-law lists what qualifies as a formal continuing-education measure: lectures, seminars, discussion groups and similar events, in-house or external — and IT-based courses, expressly including e-learning and web-based training, if the duration of participation can be evidenced.

That conditional is the whole rule. A self-paced module with no attendance tracking is not a formal measure in Germany, no matter how long you spent on it.

It still has a home, though. German auditors owe 40 hours a year as a target, of which at least 20 must be formal and documented by type and subject. The balance may be Selbststudium — and the by-law says self-study includes, in particular, reading professional literature. So an untracked webinar is not worthless in Germany; it simply lands in the softer half of the obligation rather than the hard floor. Our guide to Germany’s CPD rules sets out the target-versus-floor distinction.

Germany also treats three non-classroom activities as equivalent to formal measures: writing scholarly technical publications, serving on internal or external expert bodies, and university teaching.

Spain: attendance control for the full duration

Spain is the most prescriptive of the regimes we examined, and its rules are about mechanics rather than subject matter.

• Online activities require attendance control for their full duration. Not a start-of-session check, not an honour declaration — the whole way through.
• In-person activities require identification and signature or equivalent, with morning and afternoon recorded separately for full-day sessions.
• A single day is capped at 8 hours however long you actually sat there.
• Attending the same activity again earns 50% credit for the second and third attendance, and 25% from the fourth.

And the sharpest rule of the set: for self-study, hours cannot be certified or counted at all if the auditor fails the assessment. You do not get credit for trying. That is unusual — most regimes credit the time regardless of outcome.

Spain adds a provider-side condition that quietly excludes a lot of international training: for accounting and audit courses, 20% of the teachers must themselves be registered auditors, covering at least 20% of teaching hours. A course can be substantively first-rate and still not qualify. See the Spanish regime for the rest.

Switzerland: provable attendance plus a personalised learning check

The Swiss fiduciary association goes furthest. Online courses count only where all three conditions hold: attendance is provable, the content qualifies, and a personalised, verifiable learning check takes place.

A test, in other words, tied to you individually. A completion certificate issued on a timer does not satisfy it.

And the Swiss regime does not have Germany’s softer half to fall back on: self-study does not count toward the obligation at all, in any amount. Internal training counts only if it runs at least half a day, has at least three participants, and has a written programme, written documentation and a written confirmation.

Where Switzerland is generous is in the other routes, each with its own annual cap: specialist publications at effective time up to one day a year; teaching and lecturing at double the actual time up to two days; examiner work up to two days; peer-exchange events up to one day — with a combined cap of three days a year across all of them.

Poland: the provider reports, not you

Poland handles the proof problem by moving it off the individual entirely. Training providers must notify the chamber of dates, locations and topics at least 30 days before a course starts, submit attendee lists within 10 days of an in-person course, and within 7 days after month-end for e-learning.

The practical consequence is that an e-learning course only counts in Poland if the provider is plugged into that reporting pipeline — and at least 72 of the 120 cycle hours must come from the chamber or an entitled unit in any case. Our guide to Polish auditor CPD covers the delivery rules.

Czechia: a page of writing is an hour

Czechia quantifies the non-classroom routes unusually precisely. Lecturing counts double. Publishing counts at one hour per standard page, with a three-page minimum. Soft skills are capped at 5 hours a year. At least 8 hours a year must cover audit and audit techniques.

So in Czechia a 2,000-word technical article is worth roughly four hours of CPD, which is a far more concrete answer than most regimes give.

Portugal: silence is approval

One genuinely useful rule for anyone using an international provider. In Portugal, where a certified accountant wants training from a non-certified provider recognised, the request goes in at least 30 days ahead, the body answers within 15 days — and if it does not answer, approval is deemed given.

Tacit approval by administrative silence is rare in CPD regulation and worth knowing about. See Portugal’s two regimes.

What this means when you choose a course

Ask the provider four questions, in this order:

• Can you evidence my participation duration? This is the gate in Germany and Spain, and half the gate in Switzerland.
• Is there an assessment, and is it tied to me personally? Required in Switzerland. In Spain, failing one forfeits the hours entirely for self-study.
• Are you an approved or entitled provider in my jurisdiction? Decisive in Poland, where 72 of 120 hours must come from one, and in Spain, which regulates who may teach.
• What will the certificate actually say? Hours, dates, subject and delivery method — the fields these regimes ask you to declare.

Notice what is not on that list: whether the content was good. Every regime assumes relevance and then tests provability. The quality judgement is yours; the evidential one is theirs.

For the broader split between structured and unstructured activity, see our guides to structured and unstructured CPD and to recording non-verifiable CPD.

Frequently asked questions

Do webinars count as CPD? Usually yes, provided participation duration can be evidenced. Germany makes that an explicit condition and Spain requires attendance control for the full duration.

Does reading count? In Germany, yes — self-study expressly includes reading professional literature, though it sits outside the formal-measure floor. In Switzerland self-study does not count at all.

Does a recorded session with no tracking count? In Germany and Spain, not as a formal or certified activity. It may still sit in a softer category where one exists.

Does writing an article count? Often. Czechia gives one hour per standard page with a three-page minimum; Switzerland counts effective time up to one day a year; Germany treats scholarly publications as equivalent to formal measures.

What if I fail the assessment? In Spain, self-study hours cannot be certified or counted at all.

Train with proof built in, with Learnsignal

Our CPD courses are certificated and track participation, which is precisely what these regimes test — and why an untracked recording so often fails to count. For why so many of these regimes land on the same headline total while disagreeing on all of this, see why European CPD converges on 120 hours. The German by-law is published via the chamber at Gesetze im Internet.