CPABC’s Technical Competency Guiding Questions Tool

Welcome to the CPABC technical competency guiding questions tool!

This online tool focuses on the technical competencies of the Practical Experience Requirements (PER), and it is here to support candidates reporting through the Experience Verification Route (EVR candidates) with their reporting in the Practical Experience Reporting Tool (PERT). By completing this tool, candidates will be able to map their work duties to the relevant competency sub-areas; understand what proficiency levels they are performing at; and get clarity on the writing needed within PERT.

This online tool is only to be used by candidates who are registered with CPA British Columbia (CPABC).

​How this form works:

1. Complete the General Information Questions and press 'Submit to Home Page'.
2. Under the Technical Competencies section, select each sub-competency area(s) that is relevant to your work experience reported to date. Complete the questions presented in each sub-competency area and press 'Submit to Home Page'.
3. Please ensure to review your responses before pressing 'Submit to Home Page'. Once you press this button, you will not be able to return to update or edit your responses, and you will need to restart the questions.
4. Once you have completed all the applicable sub-competency area(s), return to the Home Page and press 'Print'. This will generate a PDF copy that you will upload as an attachment to your practical experience report within PERT.

​ How to report your experience in PERT:

1. Create a practical experience report in PERT as you normally do.
2. Transcribe the responses from the “General Information Questions” page of the tool PDF to the “Report Detail” page within PERT.
3. Upload a copy of the tool PDF to the PERT report as an attachment.
4. For the technical sub-competency area(s) where you received a proficiency level 1 or 2 within the tool PDF, input the rating number accordingly in the ‘Self-Assessed Proficiency’ within the applicable sub-competency area(s) in your practical experience report. Note: There is no need to input anything in PERT for a proficiency level 0.
5. For the technical sub-competency area(s) where you received a proficiency level 1 within the tool PDF, you will only need to write 'See attached PDF Tool' within the qualitative box for the respective sub-competency area in your PERT reporting. No additional writing is needed, as the responses within the tool PDF will suffice.
6. For the technical sub-competency area(s) where you received a proficiency level 2 within the tool PDF, you will still need to write and explain the work you did in this technical sub-competency area within your PERT reporting. Please follow the writing guidance framework provided within the PDF tool.

A few important reminders:

• The completed tool and PDF will serve as supporting evidence to your PERT report submission.
• There is no change to the process within PERT. For example, your supervisor will still need to verify the accuracy of your submission, which will include the content within the PDF.
• The CPA Profession takes academic integrity and plagiarism seriously. Please ensure you are complying with PER 3.1.7 Academic Integrity

To enable the Print button, please press 'Submit to Home Page' within the General Info Questions and relevant Technical sub-competency area(s) sections.

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​General Info Questions:

General Info

​Understanding Proficiency Levels and Verbs:

Proficiency Levels and Verbs

​​Technical Competencies:

Below is an overview of all the technical competency sub-areas. In your experience reported to date, please select the competency sub-areas that you believe your work duties cover.

Financial Reporting

FR1 - Financial reporting needs and systems

Do you assess the financial reporting needs of external financial statement stakeholders? Do you adjust your approach and process to ensure that those needs are met?

FR2 - Accounting policies and transactions

Are you involved with accounting policies or prepare accounting transactions? Do you research within the Financial Reporting Handbook to prepare accounting entries?

FR3 - Financial report preparation

Do you prepare or review parts of or full sets of financial statements and note disclosures for your organization or for an external client?

FR4 - Financial statement analysis

For historical financial statements, do you evaluate year-over-year actual changes as part of a financial statement analysis?

Management Accounting

MA1 – Management reporting needs and systems

Do you prepare internal reports to support management decision making?

MA2 – Planning, budgeting and forecasting

Are you involved in planning, budgeting or forecasting?

MA3 – Cost, revenue, profitability management

Do you analyze cost, revenue or profitability for the organization?

MA4 – Organizational/Individual performance measurement

Do you analyze the key performance indicators of the organization’s employees and business units?

Audit and Assurance

AA1 – Internal control

Do you assess the control environment and the impact to the information systems and related internal control processes?

AA2 – Internal audit or external assurance requirements, basis and risk assessment

For your internal audit or external assurance engagements, are you involved in the audit planning? Do you analyze the assurance needs of your engagement or client, the basis of standards for the engagement, and risk assessment?

AA3 – Internal audit projects or external assurance engagements

Do you perform audit planning and/or testing procedures, as part of internal audits or external audit engagements?

TAXATION

TX1 – Income tax legislation and research

Are you involved with tax research, either for your organization or for an external client?

TX2 – Income tax compliance: corporate or personal

Are you involved with preparing tax returns, either for your organization or for an external client?

TX3 – Tax planning: corporate or personal

Are you involved with tax planning, either for your organization or for an external client?

FINANCE

FN1 – Financial analysis and planning

Do you assess any risks and ratios that could impact the overall health of the organization? Do you assess the financial viability of business proposals (e.g. how much financing is needed for large mergers & acquisition proposals, debt factoring, accounts receivable securitization)?

FN2 – Treasury management

Do you analyze cash flows and working capital? Do you analyze investment portfolios, financing sources, cost of capital, or profit distributions?

FN3 – Capital budgeting, valuation, corporate finance

Do you analyze asset valuation, business valuation, financial risk management policies and/or recovery plans? Do you analyze financial models and evaluate the feasibility of capital projects?

STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE

SG1 – Governance, mission, vision, values and mandate

Do you analyze governance policies, processes, and/or code, to ensure your organization remains compliant with regulatory requirements? Do you analyze management decisions to ensure they are aligned to the organization’s mission, vision and values?

SG2 – Strategy development and implementation

Do you analyze the organization’s strategic objectives and performance measures to track strategic initiatives? Do you analyze the strategic plan, considering internal and external factors? Do you analyze the alignment of key operational issues, including the use of information assets, to strategies?

SG3 – Enterprise risk management

Do you analyze the entity’s risk management process and/or strategies? Do you analyze the impact of technological risks on enterprise risk?