Your CPD requirement
What CPA Ontario requires, and what it takes to satisfy it
The requirement itself is short. Meeting it across a whole firm, with records that survive an audit, is the part that takes work. This page sets out both.
Requirements are set, changed and audited by CPA Ontario. Always check the current rules at cpaontario.ca.
The obligation
Four numbers govern a designation
- Each year
20 hours
At least 10 of them verifiable, meaning somebody other than you can confirm you were there.
- Each three-year period
120 hours
At least 60 verifiable. The annual minimum on its own does not add up to this, so a year at the floor leaves a gap to make up later.
- Professional ethics
4 hours
Verifiable, in every three-year period. This one is never pro-rated and never reduced, even where the rest of a requirement is.
- Declaration
1 June
You declare your hours to CPA Ontario, which audits a sample of declarations each year. A declaration is only as good as the records behind it.
CPAs holding a Public Accounting Licence have further obligations beyond these. Those depend on the licence and are set out by CPA Ontario, not summarised here.
The word that does the work
Verifiable means somebody else can confirm you were there
Reading a technical update on a Sunday counts toward your total. It does not count as verifiable, because nothing outside your own memory records it. Half of every requirement above has to be the other kind.
That is the practical reason a planned programme is worth more than an equivalent number of hours assembled ad hoc. Every course in a season is attended live, attendance is observed and reconciled, and the hours arrive already in the form the declaration asks for.
Where firms come unstuck
- Ethics is left until the third year, then the only sessions available do not fit the diary.
- Somebody hits the annual minimum three years running and is still short against the three-year total.
- The hours were earned but the evidence was never collected, so the declaration rests on memory.
- A person leaves mid-period and takes their record with them.
How a season maps onto it
The year is planned against the requirement before anything is booked
Our curriculum lead maps the areas your group has to cover, then sequences the season so the mix is satisfied by the time it ends. Ethics is scheduled early rather than left to the last year of a period.
How one season covers your requirement
Illustrative. The areas and the balance are set with the group before each season is built.
| Requirement area | Hours | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | 12 | |
| Assurance and quality | 9 | |
| Practice and professional standards | 8 | |
| Technology and risk | 6 | |
| Professional ethicsNever reduced | 4 | |
| Scheduled in a season | 39 |
A 13 course season is scheduled to clear the annual minimum with room, so one missed course does not put anyone short. A 9 course season is also offered.
What you hold at the end
Hours are credited from attendance, not from what people remember
Attendance is observed and reconciled as the season runs, so the record builds itself. A partner can see where every person stands in November and act on it, rather than finding out in May.
Participation is human and imperfect, so the record can always be reviewed and corrected. It is evidence, not a trap.
Where your firm stands, at any point in the season
Illustrative firm and people. Hours are credited from attendance, not self-reported.
2026/27 season
| Person | Hours | Ethics | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marie-Claude TremblayPartner | 22 | 4 | On track |
| Priya RaghunathanPartner | 20 | 4 | On track |
| Stephen AldertonManager | 21 | 4 | On track |
| Wei Lin ChowManager | 18 | 4 | 2 hours to go |
| Daniel OkonkwoSenior | 14 | 4 | 6 hours to go |
| Hana YoshidaSenior | 20 | 0 | Ethics outstanding |
Ethics is tracked on its own because CPA Ontario requires 4 verifiable hours every three years and never reduces it. A total-hours view would report the last row as compliant.
Find out what your firm's year would look like
Tell us how many people need CPD and which areas matter most, and we will map a season against your requirement and show you what it would cost.
Or email admin@pdconsortium.com with your firm and headcount, or call +1 (416) 306-2072.