CIMA requires that members must work through the CIMA professional development cycle annually and record their development activities.
The CIMA development cycle ensures that CPD is planned relevant and effective.
This post records how I achieved steps 1 - 3 and 6. Steps 4 and 5 are addressed by separate posts which are cross referenced at step 5.
The CIMA Development Cycle
Step 1: Define what is expected of you in your role, and future goals. Draw up brief descriptions of these roles and expectations.
I operate as an Interim Accountant across several sectors, am a director and Company Secretary of Smart Accounts Sussex Ltd and voluntary Governor and Chair of Resources for Chyngton Primary School. In December 2010 I also became a voluntary director of Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club Ltd. My key selling points are my CIMA qualification, commercial experience, current IT knowledge, communication skills and systems implementation experience.
Expectations of these roles are that I have up to date accounting knowledge and stay abreast of IT and management developments.
Step 2: Assess your development needs and outcomes. Compare what is expected of you in your current, or a future role, against your current capabilities.I identified the following areas that I particularly wished to maintain and develop:
Accounting
IFRS, UK GAAP, FRSME, FRSSE,Tax, Risk Management, Compliance, CRC, Non-financial Measurement, Sustainability, Business and Employment Law,
Management
Management, Project Management, Outsourcing, Time Management
IT
Teamworking software, Cloud Computing, Systems, Data Security
Step 3: Design your programme around activities you believe are relevant to your role. Document these activities.
Development program contains attending courses, technical updates as well as reading. Much of the reading is web based and tools such as
Google Reader and
My6sense are used to sift useful content from many RSS feeds including,
CIMA,
FT,
BBC,
Accountancy Age and
Engadget.
Step 4: Act. Undertake the development activities planned in Step 3
and Step 5: Reflect on your development activities, consider what you learned, how you can apply your learning and changes you would make next time.
Following the hyperlinks below takes the reader to relevant individual posts recording development activity and reflection. Some events are relevant to more than one subject.
Accounting
IFRS,
UK GAAP,
FRSME,
FRSSE,
Tax,
Risk Management,
Compliance,
CRC,
Non-financial Measurement,
Sustainability,
Business and Employment Law,
Management
IT
Step 6: Evaluate your actual development against your development needs and outcomes. Any outstanding development can be carried over into the next cycle.
Development was considered very successful and will be continued.
