Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) is a designation given by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (Canadian CPA) to individuals who pass the Uniform CPA Examination and meet the education and experience requirements. The CPA designation helps enforce professional standards in the accounting industry. CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) is the highest accounting credential in Canada. CPA ensures global recognition for accounting & finance professionals.
CPAs are admitted to the profession through their Provincial Institutes. These bodies are responsible for establishing and administering the qualification process, admission criteria, and performance standards within their jurisdictions. The Canadian CPA’s role – in concert with all provinces, and territories – is to develop and maintain consistent, uniform standards for the profession's qualification process. These standards ensure the portability of the CPA designation across Canada and internationally through various mutual recognition agreements.
CPA BRITISH COLUMBIA CPD REQUIREMENT OVERVIEW
| CPD Requirements | 120 hours over a three-year rolling cycle (current year and prior two years), of which 60 hours must be verifiable. Each member must complete a minimum of 20 hours of CPD annually of which 10 hours must be verifiable. |
| License Renewal Period | The annual license renewal date is September 1. |
| CPD Reporting Cycle | CPD reporting is based on the calendar year. CPD reporting for CPA British Columbia is from January 1 to December 31 each year. |
| Ethics Requirement | 4 verifiable hours in the area of professional ethics |
All members are required to make a CPD Declaration annually, regardless of any previously declared exemptions or change of employment status. Each member must complete 120 hours over a three-year rolling cycle (current year and prior two years), of which 60 hours must be verifiable. Each member must complete a minimum of 20 hours of CPD annually of which 10 hours must be verifiable. Many of our programs in Live and Self-Study are eligible for continuing education for CPA British Columbia.
Here is a link to Canadian CPA packages which will provide you with professional development in various fields like financial reporting, Domestic & International Taxation, Fraud & Risk Management, Information Technology, Leadership skills and development, and business in one go.
Each member is required to complete 4 verifiable hours in the area of professional ethics. Various examples of Professional Ethics topics are given on the CPA British Columbia website which may include but are not limited to:
CPA British Columbia needs to renew their license by September 1 annually.
CPD reporting is based on the calendar year. CPD reporting for CPA British Columbia is from January 1 to December 31 each year.
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The CPD program does not mandate areas of study however, the members must meet the professional competence requirement that is a member shall sustain professional competence by keeping informed of, and complying with, developments in professional standards in all functions in which the member provides professional services or is relied upon because of the member’s calling.
General competencies in which the CPA should be up-to-date may include but are not limited to:
Technical competencies:
Enabling Competencies:
Note: Practitioners seeking or renewing an Audit License are required to complete an annual self-assessment and declaration that they have undertaken sufficient relevant CPD in the mentioned subject areas.
If a member fails to deliver an annual compliance report or fails to comply with the applicable requirements of the Continuing Professional Development Program, the membership of the member is suspended until the member:
Verifiable CPD
Unverifiable CPD
myCPE provides a package for Canadian CPAs which will satisfy various professional development requirements for CPA professionals which include on-demand webinars on financial reporting, Domestic & International taxation, Fraud & Risk Management, Information Technology, Leadership skills, and development and business. This CPD package comes in a variety of CPD bundles such as 10 CPD, 20 CPD, and 40 CPD.
CPA British Columbia members must keep a 5-year record of their CPD activities as well as supporting documentation that provides third-party verification of the CPD learning activities. The Registrar can request to review your CPD log/record and supporting documentation at any time. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have a copy of your CPD log and sufficient supporting documentation for your learning activities to qualify as verifiable learning.
Your CPD log must provide:
Every member must make a CPD declaration each year, not everyone must participate in CPD learning activities. The requirement to continue to take CPD activities, even when retired, is solely dependent upon what you are doing during your retirement years. Only those members who do not engage in public practice as defined in the CPABC Bylaws at any time in the calendar year are exempt from CPD requirements.
CPA British Columbia is required to pay fees as per the category of license.
Fees for CPA firm registration are $140 + member levy for each CPA partner in the firm.
CPD providers are not required to be approved by any organization in order to offer CPD hours to Canadian CPAs as long as the activity offered by them allows CPAs to develop and maintain professional competency to enable them to perform their professional role, it will qualify for CPD. Therefore, the courses listed on myCPE for CPA in Canada are eligible for fulfilling Canadian CPA CPD requirements. However, we are not specifically approved by CPA Canada.
CPA British Columbia does not pre-determine how much CPD is gained at an activity, nor does the organization pre-determine what qualifies as CPD for each individual CPA. CPA British Columbia follows the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) criteria for CPD and is working towards harmonizing exemption and qualifying activities for verifiable and non-verifiable CPD with provincial CPA organizations across Canada.
For further guidance, we have provided details for “QUALIFIES FOR” on each page of the courses about Approval/Qualifications of CPD Credits for your reference. Webinars that qualify for Canadian CPA meets the standards for CPA BRITISH COLUMBIA (Chartered Professional Accountants British Columbia). However, we are not specifically approved by CPA Canada.
