CPD training: your path to career success

As the finance industry evolves, the demands on finance staff also grow and change. Keeping your team up to date technically and practically has never been more important and can have a big impact on your business.

Through continuing professional development (CPD) your employees can undertake lifelong learning, letting them stay ahead of the latest development and insights and build those all-important business skills that set them apart from other finance professionals.

At AAT CPD is driven by the employee: it’s about finding the gaps in their knowledge and using the wide range of resources we offer to fill them.

How CPD benefits your business

Boost staff confidence and credibility

Develop your staff's skills and knowledge

CPD encourages your staff to follow changes in legislation, technology and working practice, giving them the tools to cope positively with change.

When employees excel, their job satisfaction increases. When employers support CPD the whole finance team improves.

Order an employer information pack

AAT CPD events and resources

Covering key topics like tax, VAT and HMRC updates, as well as skills like digital analytics, sustainability and negotiation, AAT’s CPD event programme has everything you need to empower your staff and upskill your teams.

With a number of learning options available your staff can:

  • attend a masterclass and get a deep dive into technical topics
  • tune in to a CPD webinar for an update on the latest legislation or software over their lunch break
  • undertake e-learning: modular online courses breaking down more complex issues.

Explore upcoming events, available for both AAT members and non-members.

AAT Store

AAT Store

Explore a wide range of essential CPD resources for all accounting professionals whether you're just starting out, part of a team, leading a department or running your own business.

Search through on-demand and live e-learning and training courses, bringing you the latest finance industry and technical information so you're ready for your clients and customers.

Visit the store

Staff already AAT professional members?

AAT professional members gain exclusive access to an even wider range of resources and services to support their technical and professional development, including:

  • AAT News – weekly insights from across AAT
  • AAT Lifelong Learning Portal – an online hub for recording, undertaking, reflecting on and planning their CPD
  • AAT Knowledge Hub – a library of articles and podcasts covering a wide range of topics
  • technical and ethical helplines – members can access these and get their questions answered instantly
  • Accounting Technician Magazine – commentary on the latest industry updates, think pieces and expert insights sent to their door bi-monthly.

To access their resources, your AAT professional members can log into their MyAAT account.

Staff not AAT professional members yet?

Find out more about gaining professional membership for your staff and keep your finance teams and employees up to date technically and practically.

Our CPD policy for AAT members

At AAT we're committed to the high standards of our members. To achieve this, one of the conditions of AAT affiliate and professional membership is mandatory CPD.

This ensures that we uphold our responsibility to employers and the accounting industry that AAT members are competent, confident and continually developing in their ability to perform their roles.

How to support your AAT members' CPD

AAT member requirements

Your AAT professional members must follow AAT's personal CPD route. They'll need to keep records of their learning and regularly review their progress against our CPD cycle. AAT's CPD policy is not based on a set number of hours or credits. Instead, it's measured by the outcomes and benefits that members derive from doing CPD: it's about the quality, not the quantity.

How staff should record their CPD

Your AAT professional members can access our online CPD record tool through their MyAAT account. This makes recording CPD quick and simple and keeps all information relating to their career and development in one place. Your staff can use the tool to plan and record their learning and reflect on progress, and it's designed to reflect AAT's CPD cycle, so using it will help them meet our CPD requirements.

CPD activities

  • Work-based learning: planned coaching or mentoring from colleagues or specialists, discussions or planning with colleagues, being a representative on a committee, special project work or job secondments, work shadowing, supervising colleagues or students, expanding the employee's role with new assignments, job rotation.
  • Professional activity: local AAT branch meetings, AAT events, career events, membership of an accounting or finance interest group, mentoring, networking.
  • Formal/educational: AAT masterclasses and webinars, studying towards other qualifications, research, writing articles/papers/blog posts.
  • Self-directed learning: AAT webinars, podcasts, reading or research into relevant topics – books, journals, online articles, using social media as a source of finance and accounting news, voluntary work.