Continuing Professional Development FAQs

Pursuant to Part 6 of the CPABC Bylaw Regulations, unless otherwise exempt, members must complete:

• A minimum of 20 qualifying hours of continuing professional development in each calendar year, including at least 10 verifiable qualifying hours; and
• A minimum of 120 qualifying hours of continuing professional development during each rolling three-calendar year period, including at least 60 verifiable qualifying hours, of which at least 4 are professional ethics hours.

Under CPABC’s Bylaws, members who do not comply with the CPD requirements on a timely basis will be subject to a $200 (plus GST) late reporting administrative fee and the suspension of membership and/or cancellation of membership.

Beginning 2019, all new members will be required to report CPD in the year of admission. The CPD reporting year is the calendar year. There is no proration of the CPD requirements in the year of admission. CPD completed anytime in the calendar year will be eligible for CPD credit in the first year of reporting. The first rolling three-calendar year period begins in the year of admission.

The CPD reporting deadline is January 31st for the previous CPD reporting year. CPD reporting is available on CPABCs Online Services at: https://services.bccpa.ca.

Beginning 2019, Effective Management Skills and the additional seven-hour soft skill course are no longer required to be completed prior to admission to membership. As a transitional provision, students who have completed these courses prior to the year of admission may carryover these courses into their first CPD reporting year. Except for this transitional provision, there is no carryover of CPD from one calendar year to a subsequent year.

The seven-hour introductory course on the privileges, obligations and ethics of the profession (i.e. Gateway to Membership: Welcome to the Pros, or formerly, You and Your Designation) is still required to be completed prior to admission to membership.  As there is no change to this course requirement, there is no carryover of Gateway to Membership: Welcome to the Pros or You and Your Designation for CPD credit to a subsequent year.

As CPAs, you are held to high professional and ethical standards. A CPD ethics requirement supports and encourages members to uphold the Code of Professional Conduct and continuously evaluate our professional ethics. Professional Ethics CPD can cover a wide range of topics related to ethics and ethical decision making including but not limited to:

• CPABC regulatory updates covering the CPABC Act, Bylaws, Bylaw Regulations and Code of Professional Conduct
• Regulatory updates that are relevant and appropriate to the member’s role or industry
• Professional conduct
• Corporate codes of conduct
• Independence/conflict of interest
• Ethical decision making, approaches, thinking  and case studies
• Ethical business culture
• Corporate social responsibility
• Honesty in business practice
• Bribery and corruption
• Doing the right thing
• Reputation and risk
• Whistle-blowing
• Anti money-laundering