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’s designation across Canada and internationally through various mutual recognition agreements.
CPA NOVA SCOTIA CPD REQUIREMENT OVERVIEW
| CPD Requirements | 120 hours in a triennial period and for each triennial period thereafter, 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 | Renew your license by March 31st annually |
| CPD Reporting Cycle | CPD reporting is based on the calendar year. CPD reporting for CPA Nova Scotia 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 Nova Scotia.
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 business ethics. Business Ethics can cover a wide range of topics related to ethics and ethical decision-making.
Various examples of Professional Ethics topics are given on the CPA Nova Scotia website which may include but are not limited to:
CPA Nova Scotia needs to renew its license by March 31st annually.
CPD reporting is based on the calendar year. CPD reporting for CPA Nova Scotia 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 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 you did not complete the minimum annual CPD requirements by the end of any calendar year, you must still record any hours you did achieve and submit your declaration. If you have completed “zero” hours, you must still submit the declaration. A member who fails to complete the minimum required hours of CPD will be referred to the Professional Development Committee, which may take one or, more of the following actions:
Verifiable CPD
Verifiable CPD refers to learning activities that can be verified objectively. Verifiable CPD documentation should:
The documents that existed or were created at the time the CPD activity was undertaken shall support the substance of that activity. Some examples of verifiable CPD are:
Unverifiable CPD
Unverifiable CPD refers to learning activities that cannot be verified objectively (i.e. no documentation) and is up to the member's discretion to determine if it is a learning activity. Members will not be asked to produce documentation for these learning activities in the event of an audit.
myCPE provides a package for Canadian CPAs that will satisfy various professional development requirements for CPA professionals including 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.
All members, unless previously exempted by the Professional Development Committee, must file a CPD Report/Declaration annually. All members must file a CPD Report/Declaration regardless of whether or not they have met the minimum number of hours.
Members are required to retain adequate documentation of their verifiable CPD learning Activities that were reported on the Member’s detailed compliance report for at least five years from the date of reporting.
The PD Committee has determined that members may be granted relief where they:
Members must request by submitting the appropriate declaration online and by completing and submitting the paper form as indicated.
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 Nova Scotia does not pre-determine how much CPD is gained at an activity, nor does the organization pre-determine what qualifies as CPD for each CPA. CPA Nova Scotia 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 meet the standards for CPA Nova Scotia (Chartered Professional Accountants Nova Scotia). However, we are not specifically approved by CPA Canada.
