There Is No Such Thing as African CPD: Four Bodies, Three Models

South African chartered accountants have no continuing professional development hours requirement at all. Kenyan accountants need 40 a year. Those two facts sit three thousand kilometres apart and are usually described in the same breath as "African CPD", which is not a thing. There are four major anglophone African accountancy bodies in this space and they run on three incompatible models.

South Africa: zero hours, and three

SAICA's position is explicit: "Under the new CPD policy, there is no requirement to achieve a certain number of hours or points." It operates an output-based process. All members and associates must submit an annual declaration, including those on career breaks, and the documentation to retain is the reflective learning planning form, kept for three calendar years. The plan is submitted only when a member is selected for monitoring.

IRBA, which regulates registered auditors, is also output-based — "The output-based approach focuses on the demonstration of professional competence" — but with one hard numeric floor: a registered auditor "shall complete a minimum of three hours of relevant learning and development activities on ethics." The reporting period is the calendar year, records are kept three years after it ends, and IRBA "may institute disciplinary measures against an RA who is non-compliant with this policy", and separately for a false declaration.

So the precise South African position is: no general hours from SAICA, exactly three ethics hours from IRBA. Both statements are necessary; either alone misleads.

There is a third layer. Tax practitioners face SARS requirements that are unambiguously hours-based — "Effective 1 June 2022, the specific SARS requirements are to undertake a minimum of 18 CPD hours per annum" (calendar year), comprising "10 hours of tax", "2 hours of ethics" and "6 hours relating to the services you provide", all verifiable, with records kept five years. SAICA is clear that these stack: "It is insufficient to only meet the obligations of SARS if a SAICA member/associate is also a tax practitioner."

The full detail is in our guide to SAICA CPD requirements.

Kenya: 40 hours, but capped by category

ICPAK is hours-based: "A member is expected to earn at least 40 CPD hours in a year or 120 CPD hours in three years", split 25 structured and 15 unstructured.

The constraint is in the category system. Category A — "all courses mounted by ICPAK or by other Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAOs)" — is capped at 20 units. Category B, courses from "other competent professional regulatory bodies other than PAOs", qualifies "for up to a maximum total of 10 CPD Units in any given calendar year". Category C earns "a maximum total of 5 structured units per year". A single unstructured activity earns no more than 5 units a year.

The consequence is that no single provider can supply all 25 structured units. Even another professional accountancy organisation caps at 20. Good standing additionally requires "an average of 40 per annum CPD Hours for the last three years", alongside paid-up subscriptions and no disciplinary case. Members over 60 not in practice can apply for exemption. More in ICPAK CPD requirements.

Ghana: 35 hours, six of them ICAG's own

ICAG requires members to "complete a minimum of 35 hour of learning or relevant professional development activity in a year", "of which a minimum of 21 hours should be verifiable."

And then: "A minimum of 6 hours must be mandatory from ICAG organised CPDs." That caps any external provider at 29 of the 35. All members active in the workplace must comply annually, and "Only members on our retired register are exempt from undertaking CPD".

Ghana is also the body with a visible expiry date on its own model. ICAG's 2026 strategy paper says the current system "certifies hours attended rather than competence gained", proposes a portfolio that would "initially complement, and progressively substitute for, hour-counting", and sets out to "Complete the transition from an input-based CPD compliance model to an outcomes-based competence framework by 2030". It serves "more than 11,000 members". Detail in ICAG CPD requirements.

Nigeria: 40 credit points, and a named list of acceptable sources

ICAN increased its requirement "from 30 to 40 credit points, effective January 1, 2024", within a 120-credit three-year total. Of the 120, "25 credit hours should come from structured programmes, such as ICAN training programs like MCPD, Faculties, and Continuing Professional Development Programs offered by IFAC, PAFA, ABWA, and other recognized professional accounting bodies like ICAEW, CIPFA, CIMA, among others", with 15 from unstructured activities.

Read that list carefully. ICAN's structured recognition is framed around professional accounting bodies, not commercial training providers. It is not accurate to say ICAN "accepts overseas providers" without that qualification. See ICAN CPD requirements.

The pattern that actually matters commercially

Three of the four reserve part of the requirement for their own ecosystem. ICAG reserves 6 hours of 35 for ICAG-organised events. ICPAK caps the best category at 20 of 25 structured units. ICAN names professional bodies rather than providers. In Mauritius, MIPA reserves 11 units of 40 for its own or collaborating events.

The barrier across this region is not awareness or quality. It is the home-body quota. An external provider is structurally capped in every market where one exists, and the ceiling is set by rule rather than by preference. Any market-entry plan that does not account for it is planning for a share of the requirement that is not available.

Why one post cannot cover this

No number survives across the four. The totals differ (none, 40, 35, 40). The verifiable splits differ (none, 25, 21, 25). The home-body quotas differ (none stated, 20-unit cap, 6 hours, none stated). The models differ (output-based, hours, hours in transition, hours). The periods differ in how they average. And South Africa's position cannot even be stated as a single number, because it is zero from one body and three from another.

If you manage accountants across more than one of these jurisdictions, the only safe approach is per-body tracking. A consolidated hours target would be simultaneously too high for South Africa and unachievable from a single source in Kenya.

This article summarises published requirements and is not legal advice. Hour values, caps and models are revised periodically — and Ghana's is explicitly scheduled to change — so verify with the relevant body before relying on any figure.