A New Way Forward For The Profession
Sixteen months ago, CPA Ontario began pursuing a new working relationship with CPA Canada that both respects our role as your regulator and positions us to deliver on our mandate to protect the public and advance the profession in an ever-evolving economy.
We have now finalized the Education Agreement and binding term sheet for Standards that formalize this new working relationship. These agreements enable us to respond faster and more innovatively to the profession’s pressing challenges while ensuring you have everything you need to practice as a Canadian CPA. In summary:
- Your designation does not change. CPA Ontario has always granted your designation. You are and will remain a Canadian CPA and continue to have the same rights to practice in Ontario.
- You will continue to have access to the Handbook and Board Guidance.
- CPA Ontario will continue to enable your mobility across the country and internationally.
- CPA Ontario will continue to provide regulatory oversight and support standard setting.
- Your mandatory Annual Membership Due will decrease, as from December 21, 2024 we will no longer collect dues on CPA Canada’s behalf.
Our new way of working comes into effect on December 21, 2024. At that point you will no longer be a CPA Canada member.
We will continue to actively engage members and students and update you through our monthly newsletter, In The Know.
Answering your questions
Through our surveys, roundtables, townhalls and other activities we’ve heard from many members and students. Here are some of your frequently asked questions.
When our new way or working comes into effect on December 21, 2024, you will have everything that you need to practice as a Canadian CPA.
- Your designation does not change. CPA Ontario has always granted your designation. You are and will remain a Canadian CPA and continue to have the same rights to practice in Ontario.
- You will continue to have access to the Handbook and Board Guidance.
- CPA Ontario will continue to enable your mobility across the country and internationally.
- CPA Ontario will continue to provide regulatory oversight and support standard setting.
- Your mandatory Annual Membership Due will decrease as from December 21, 2024 we will no longer collect dues on CPA Canada’s behalf.
Our profession is going through a period of immense transformation: an exponential increase in data, the rise of generative AI, and a focus on sustainability, to name a few driving forces. We need to move faster. Think differently. And adapt to ensure Ontario CPAs have the skills they need to embrace the future. We won’t get to where we need to be without new approaches and new ideas.
Our new way of working, and the associated agreements, do not mean that we are going it alone. Quite the opposite. We will continue to work together across the country in a few key areas where it makes sense to do so, including education and standard setting.
Yes. As the provincially legislated regulator of the profession in the province of Ontario, your membership with CPA Ontario grants your CPA designation and allows you to practice in Ontario, while enabling your mobility across the country and internationally.
Under the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario Act, 2017, Sec. 29, in Ontario you are required to be a CPA Ontario member in good standing to use the designation, imply you are a CPA, represent yourself as a CPA, or practice as a CPA.
The CPA designation is a mark of the highest professional ethics and standards. Requiring CPAs to be a member of CPA Ontario — with its regulatory oversight of CPAs and accounting firms — protects the public and maintains the integrity and reputation of the profession.
No. Subscribing to CPA Canada is strictly voluntary and is not a requirement to be a CPA. Your mandatory membership with CPA Ontario grants you your designation and your ability to practice as a CPA, enables your mobility across Canada and internationally, and allows you to represent yourself as a member of the profession.
No. Currently, to be a member of CPA Canada, a CPA must be a member in good standing with their provincial, territorial or Bermudian body, and this new subscription from CPA Canada has no impact on this requirement.
When it comes to your CPA Ontario Annual Membership Due, you may continue to avail yourself of the retirement or life member exemption so long as you meet the criteria laid out in the regulations.
We were surprised and disappointed to learn that CPA Canada is not honouring the retirement and life member criteria that has been available to CPA Ontario members given the years of service that you, and many others like you, have given to the profession.
This decision was made by CPA Canada without consultation with CPA Ontario. CPA Canada has never received any retiree or life member dues from CPA Ontario previously.
Yes. The mobility of CPAs is the legislative responsibility of the provinces and so your membership with CPA Ontario enables your interprovincial and international mobility.
CPA Ontario is your regulator, and the grantor of your designation with the mandate of protecting the public by overseeing CPAs and accounting firms in Ontario and advancing the profession so that CPAs remain at the forefront of emerging topics and a changing economy. We provide everything you need to practice as a Canadian CPA.
Here are some of our roles and responsibilities:
- Protect the public by overseeing CPAs and accounting firms in Ontario through compliance, enforcement and discipline processes;
- Award the CPA designation and the licence to practice public accounting;
- Manage students’ education journeys and administer the CPA certification program, including the CFE;
- Recruit and attract students through post-secondary institutions, high school, workforce and internationally educated professional programs and outreach;
- Enable CPA mobility across Canada and internationally;
- Provide continuing professional development;
- Support, fund and participate in standard setting; and
- Work collaboratively with our counterparts across the country on matters important to protecting the public, advancing the profession and enabling CPAs to drive business and society forward.
CPA Canada is a federally incorporated not-for-profit. It provides certain services on behalf of CPA Ontario and the other CPA bodies as well as providing a subscription service to CPA Ontario members. It is not a regulator and has no legislated mandate.
The old way of working with CPA Canada was defined through a business agreement called the “Collaboration Accord.” Signed eight years ago, it was only ever intended to exist for two years before it was to be reviewed. However, following years of review and negotiations, CPA Canada would not modernize the agreement to reflect three core principles that CPA Ontario needed to see included. These were:
- Direct oversight of CPA Canada by Provincial, Territorial and Bermudian CPA bodies given the work CPA Canada undertook on behalf of these bodies, and our legislated mandate to oversee CPAs and Accounting Firms;
- A governance model that enabled this direct oversight;
- Greater financial transparency and accountability for the work CPA Canada carried out on our behalf or for the services we paid them to provide to us.
These ongoing negotiations and structural governance challenges took time away from the important issues facing the profession and prevented us from being as nimble as we needed to be in the face of a rapidly changing economy.
Our new way of working changes that. It respects our role as your regulator and positions us to deliver on our mandate in an ever-evolving economy.
CPA Ontario’s Council made the decision following years of negotiations with CPA Canada and the other provincial and territorial bodies. This decision was not taken lightly, and only after careful consideration and extensive due diligence.
Council is comprised of member-elected directors and public representatives that are appointed by the provincial government. They have a fiduciary duty to CPA Ontario and responsibility for the governance and oversight of the profession.
More information on our Council can be found here.
This was a business decision related to our business agreement with CPA Canada. Your Council has a legislated responsibility to protect the public interest, and with that as our primary role, to then advance the profession. That is ultimately what this decision came down to.
We’ve been gathering feedback and insights from members, students and other stakeholders about what this new way of working with CPA Canada and our counterparts would look like – and that has helped shape where we have decided to continue to work together.
None. The educational journey for a student to become a CPA will not change. Students will complete all their courses, modules, and examinations without disruption. This includes those whose journey takes them beyond December 2024. This is ensured under our agreement with CPA Canada and L’Ordre des CPA du Québec.
From 2027, students will benefit from a modernized education program that is preparing students to lead in a fast-changing economic, technological and social environment. This program has been created collaboratively with our Provincial and Territorial counterparts.
Absolutely. Every CPA across Canada will continue to be granted their CPA by their provincial body, as they always have. Unification of the designation is enshrined in provincial and territorial legislation in each jurisdiction across the country. So, you will always be a Canadian CPA and part of a unified profession.
Not at all. Unification brought together the legacy accounting bodies under one CPA designation in each provincial jurisdiction. As part of that process unification is enshrined in each provincial and territorial legislation across the country. We are still one CPA, and that will not change.
Yes, you will see a decrease in your mandatory Annual Membership Due. This is because we will no longer collect dues on CPA Canada’s behalf after December 21, 2024.
In this time of transformation, our vision is of a profession that takes the lead, driving transformation through our technical expertise, strategic insight and strong, ethical mindset. A profession that can harness the power of AI, drive commercialization, help scale-up the next generation of Canadian success stories and bring clarity and rigour to sustainability reporting.
Modernizing the way we work together on matters of national and international significance will enable us to deliver this vision. Based on your feedback we are already working to be more responsive, nimble and innovative by making faster decisions around programs and services to meet the evolving needs of our members and students. We are also placing even greater focus on addressing the challenges and opportunities of a changing economy, including AI, technology and sustainability reporting and assurance.