CPD Policy

CPD Policy

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Policy

The Society of Professional Accountants of Canada has implemented the policy of Continued Professional Development for its members and will be in effect starting January 01, 2020. The objective is to maintain professional competence and to enhance RPA’s ability to perform job-related requirements.

1. All members with RPA designation in public practice are required to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and submit a minimum of 20 hours of continued professional development each year. Practitioners must submit a minimum of 10 (4+4+2) Verifiable hours, Two credit hours must be of Ethics; Four credit hours must be Income Tax; and Four credit hours must be of Technology. All members must fulfill this requirement on or before December 31 every year. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in the suspension of membership and use of RPA designation.
2. If a member fails to comply with the CPD requirement, The Society will inform the member with the warning of suspension of membership. Such members must complete and submit continuing professional education of 30 credit hours within a grace period.
3. The grace period is 90 days from the date of warning of suspension of membership.
4. After the end of the 90-day grace period, If the member is still non-compliant, the member will be given a final notice to comply with 30 hours within 30 days and an administrator fee of $150.00.
5. If a member fails to comply with points 2, 3 & 4 above, membership will be suspended immediately. Such members will not be able to use RPA and APA designation until being reinstated with an education committee resolution for such suspended members.

CPD non-verifiable hours will be given for programs sponsored by the Society, its affiliates, businesses, employers, educational institutions, and other accounting organizations. Credits will also be given for home study courses, speeches, publication of technical articles, and by examinations.

The Society strongly encourages members to use education sources provided by RPA Learning. RPA Learning’s CPD Packages are carefully prepared to provide the most relevant and current knowledge to RPA members.

 

 

Reporting period

CPD reporting periods for all RPAs is Calendar Year (January 01 – December 31). If the required CPD hours are not completed, the RPA becomes delinquent and inactive. His membership may also be suspended.

The first reporting period for new RPAs

The reporting period for a new RPA member will begin on January 01 of the following year after earning RPA designation. No CPD is required between the period of successful completion and the end of the first membership year. Any CPD credits earned during this period can be counted as 50% of being earned in the first reporting period.

CPD credits carry forward.

CPD hours cannot be carried forward from one year to the next year. CPD hours are reported and counted for on a calendar year basis.

Subject Area

The Society of Professional Accountants of Canada will recognize and accept CPD related to the following fields of study:

1. Accounting
2. Auditing
3. Business Law
4. Taxation
5. Economics
6. Management
7. Information Technology
8. Ethics
9. Finance
10. Data Analytics
11. Marketing
12. Organizational Behaviour

CPD Credits non-verifiable measurement guidelines

Activity	Credit hours	Acceptable Document
College or University courses (10 weeks or longer)	10 hours	Course assignments and exam results
Short courses other than RPA	1 hour for each 90 minutes session	Course assignments or exam results
Non-credit courses	1 hour for each 90 minutes session	Certificate of completion
Professional and Trade Association meetings	1 hour for each 90 minutes session	Confirmation of participation
Seminars	1 hour for each 90 minutes session	Confirmation of participation
Other Professional designation Examination	10 hours for successful completion	Proof of Completion
Third-party contents	As approved by the Society
Participation on a board or Committee	1 hour for 2 hours Meeting	Meeting agenda and letter from the organization confirming your role.
Periodicals	As approved by the Society	Proof of completion
Technical articles or research papers containing accounting and financial management material	Case by case. If published, up to a maximum of 3 hours.	Copy of article or research paper. Proof of publication.
Book Published (Related to the profession)	Case by case. Up to a maximum of 15 hours.	Copy of book
Teaching in college/university	Case by case. Up to a maximum of 20 hours	Copy of course material. A log of delivery of lectures by date.
Volunteering related to the profession	Maximum 4 Hours Annually	CPD Committee will determine considering the nature of the activity.
Networking	None	N/A
Self study material that does not involve exam	None	N/A
On the job training	None	N/A
Any other reading that does not involve exam	None	N/A

Senior Member

Any RPA member who is over 65 years of age may be exempt from the CPD requirements.

If you are a Certified Accounting Practitioner, you must take a minimum of 10 verification hours per year to maintain your practice certificate.

CPD Waiver

Exemptions are available for members in special circumstances, such as:

• Military Service.
• Serious illness or disability.
• Extreme natural disaster.

The CPD committee considers exemptions on a case-by-case basis. The request should be sent to the CPD Committee accompanied by appropriate documentation. Being too busy at work, changing jobs or temporary unemployment are not considered special circumstances and will not be entertained.

Other considerations

1. The courses need to be taken during the current year. (Previous year won’t count in members report, CPD Credits can not be carried forward)
2. Please Remember that from other institutions you can only obtain a maximum of 50% of the CPD hours and a maximum of 10 non-verifiable CPD credits per course, per year
3. You need a certificate of completion for the course that you want to be accredited by the Society.
4. Volunteer work counts as non-verifiable hours up to a maximum of 10 hours per year, however, you need to have at least 10 verifiable hours to be compliant each year.
5.  There is a fee associated with accrediting CPD hours from other institutions or volunteering CPD. For example, $70 for one-time unlimited submissions or $35 for each submission. Society will not accredit the hours to any member until the fee has been paid.
6. A member serving on RPA COMMITTEES will qualify to Volunteer CPD hours and only 50% of the meeting time and a maximum of 10 hours per year will be allowed and these hours must be approved by the committee chairs.
7. The CPD committee will recognize an RPA member with the highest CPD hours every year.

Please note that the only courses with 100% recognition on CPD HOURS are the ones that are approved by the Society and hosted in WWW.RPALEARNING.CA

Last updated October 21, 2023