Selected for SAICA CPD monitoring: what to submit

Why you were selected

SAICA's Member Compliance unit annually monitors a sample of Members and Associates (CPD Policy, paragraph 6.5). The size of that sample depends on developments in the profession, the risk profile of certain Members and Associates, and other relevant industry developments.

Being selected is not an accusation. For Members and Associates following SAICA's CPD Policy, monitoring checks whether they are planning, undertaking and reflecting on relevant learning rather than merely counting hours. The 2026 process also recognises the applicable Letter of Good Standing route for someone complying under another recognised professional body's CPD requirements.

Paragraph 5.1 of the CPD Policy sets out what professionally active Members and Associates are expected to do each year: plan and review an annual reflective learning plan, undertake relevant CPD activities, undertake any compulsory CPD SAICA directs, and submit an annual declaration. Monitoring exists to check that this is actually happening for the people it samples, not only declared.

What to prepare

If your selection notice asks for your SAICA reflective learning plan, gather these before you respond:

1. The reflective learning plan for the year requested.
2. Your planning detail: current and future roles, and development areas linked to the SAICA competency framework.
3. Your action detail: each activity linked to a development area, with dates and status.
4. Your reflection detail on each activity you undertook.
5. Your annual reflection on ethical values and attitudes.
6. Supporting evidence, such as certificates and confirmations, kept to hand in case it is asked for.

If you are using the recognised-professional-body route, follow the notice's requirements for a Letter of Good Standing instead. Treat the document that applies to you as something you should be able to produce quickly, not something to reconstruct once a selection notice arrives.

What SAICA is assessing

SAICA's own guidance is direct about this: "this model assesses lifelong learning through reflective plans, not competence." Reviewers are not counting a number of hours. They are looking for relevant needs identified for your role, acted on, and reflected on, in a plan that actually shows that sequence.

SAICA's guidance makes the same point about the underlying designation. For the CA(SA), AGA(SA) or AT(SA) designation, "there is no requirement to achieve a certain number of hours or points, the important feature is that consideration is given to the requirements of the position and that learning addresses this." Monitoring checks that this consideration actually took place, in a plan that shows your reasoning, not just a completed form.

If your plan is not up to date

If your plan has fallen behind, the fix is to rebuild it from what you actually did. Calendar entries, course confirmations, reading, and work projects all count as CPD activities under IES 7's examples. Go back through the year, record them honestly against the development areas they relate to, and write the reflections now, while the detail is still fresh.

Once it is current, keep it that way. Plans must be kept for three calendar years, whether or not you are ever selected for monitoring again. If non-compliance is confirmed, the current By-laws require notice to a Member or Associate within three months of the date on which reporting compliance became due. Continued non-compliance may be handled under SAICA's Disciplinary Code and Procedures.