ICAN CPD Requirements 2026: 40 Credit Hours a Year

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, known as ICAN, runs a mandatory continuing professional development programme. Its own website says members must earn a minimum of 40 credit hours in a year, with a total of 120 credit hours over a three-year period, and calls the programme compulsory for every qualified member. This guide sets out what ICAN publishes, explains why a different figure of 90 hours over three years appears elsewhere online and lists what we could not confirm. For other African bodies, see our ICPAK Kenya CPD guide and our CPD for accountants guide.

At a glance

What ICAN says

ICAN's programme page says the programme is compulsory for every qualified member, with a minimum of 40 credit hours in a year and a total of 120 credit hours over a three-year period. The two numbers agree: 40 hours in each of three years gives 120. The page also lists training sessions for 2025 and refers to 2026 schedules, which suggests the page is maintained, but the sentence setting the requirement is not dated, so treat the figures as ICAN's current published position and confirm them with ICAN before relying on them for a deadline.

Why you may see 90 hours elsewhere

Some online summaries, including an IFAC member page for ICAN that we saw, give 90 hours over three years instead of 120. We could not find that figure on any ICAN page we were able to read. ICAN is the body that sets the rule, so we have followed ICAN's own page, and we show the other figure here only so you know it exists. If you are planning around a deadline, ask ICAN in writing which total applies to you.

Structured and unstructured learning

ICAN's page says credit is available for both structured and unstructured activity, but it gives no minimum for either. That is different from bodies such as ICPAK, which asks for at least 25 structured hours a year. Without a published split, the safe approach is to make most of your 40 hours attendance-based, with a certificate, and to treat reading and writing as a top-up that you log carefully.

Ethics and professional standards

The page refers to the ethical duty of due care and to International Education Standard 7, the IFAC standard on continuing professional development. It does not set a number of ethics hours. We would still include some ethics and professional standards learning each year, because it is part of staying competent, but we cannot tell you that ICAN will check for it.

Registering for events

The page says members register for programme events through ICAN's online portal. That makes the portal the natural place to look for your attendance record, but the page does not say that attendance is recorded there automatically or how a member declares compliance. Keep your own copy of every certificate and every booking confirmation.

What we could not confirm

ICAN's one-page summary of the 2026 programme was not readable by our research tools, so we could not confirm the following: a minimum number of ethics hours, any declaration deadline, whether surplus hours carry forward, and what sanctions apply when a member falls short. If any of those matter to you, ask ICAN. We will update this guide when we can confirm them.

Keeping your records

Whatever the unconfirmed points turn out to be, the record you need is the same. For each activity, keep the certificate or attendance record, the date, the provider, the title and the credit hours. Add a column for the year, because a three-year total is easiest to check when each hour is tagged to its year. Check your running total at the end of each year rather than at the end of the three.

Planning your year

Forty hours is about eight hours in each of five months, or ten in each quarter. Book the largest block early, ideally a two-day seminar, and use smaller webinars to fill the gaps. If you also hold another body's membership, such as ACCA or ICAEW, check whether the same activity counts for both before you book it twice.

Frequently asked questions

How many CPD hours does an ICAN member need?

ICAN's programme page says a minimum of 40 credit hours in a year, with a total of 120 credit hours over a three-year period.

Is CPD compulsory for ICAN members?

The programme page calls it compulsory for every qualified member whose membership is current.

Is it 90 hours or 120 hours over three years?

ICAN's own page says 120. Some third-party summaries show 90, but we could not find that figure on an ICAN page.

Are there ethics hours?

The page refers to the ethical duty of due care and to IES 7 but sets no ethics quota that we could find.

Do I need to split my hours into structured and unstructured?

The page allows both and gives no minimum split, so confirm with ICAN if you rely heavily on one type.

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. Confirm the current rules with ICAN before you plan your year.

Source: ICAN Mandatory Continuing Professional Development programme page (icanig.org), checked October 2026, and the IFAC member page for ICAN as a secondary comparison only, checked October 2026.