In order to resolve a disciplinary proceeding before a Panel of CPABC’s Disciplinary Committee concerning professional misconduct alleged against a Member and their Firm, they have agreed to the voluntary suspension of membership in the Organization of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (“CPABC”) for a period of six months, commencing on February 26, 2025, and the voluntary relinquishment of the public practice license and firm registration issued by CPABC, effective on February 26, 2025.
The professional misconduct alleged against the Member and Firm includes numerous breaches of the CPABC Code of Professional Conduct, including: failing to disclose to CPABC two Review engagements during practice reviews performed by CPABC, which was false or misleading; failing to disclose to CPABC on the required annual firm profile declaration the Review engagements the Firm had performed, which was false or misleading; signing the Practice Review Officer’s Reports and thereby representing that the Firm had not performed any assurance engagements, which was false or misleading; failing to implement or apply the CPA Canada Handbook CSRE 2400 standards and thereby failing to comply with professional standards; failing to establish, maintain, and uphold appropriate policies and procedures designed to ensure that the Firm’s services were provided in accordance with generally accepted standards of practice of the CPA profession; failing to respond on numerous occasions to e-mail correspondence from the CPABC Investigator who sought information relating to the complaint; and failing to provide any comments on the draft investigation report by the extended deadline, as requested by the Investigator, or at all.
The Member and Firm have admitted to the above allegations that CPABC has made against them.
The Member has agreed to pay $2,000.00 towards CPABC’s costs of the disciplinary proceeding and pay a fine of $1,000.00.
During the six month period of the voluntary suspension of membership in CPABC, the Member cannot use or display the designations “Chartered Professional Accountant”, “Certified General Accountant”, or “Professional Accountant”, the initials “CPA”, “CGA”, “CPA, CGA”, or “PA”, imply, suggest, or hold out that they are a Chartered Professional Accountant or Professional Accountant, or engage in providing or offering to provide public accounting services or other regulated services to the public.