Continuing Professional Development
Another First for CGA Ontario
 Did you know that in the 1970s, CGA Ontario became the first accounting organization in Canada to implement a mandatory continuing professional development program?
That’s right. There are so many ways that CGA Ontario has taken a leadership role in the profession of accounting—embracing new technologies, promoting diversity, championing community service across Ontario—that we sometimes forget our leadership role in mandating the maintenance of standards for professional accountants. It’s a leadership role that has not only benefited CGAs across Ontario, but benefited the provincial economy and ensured the public trust of all Ontarians.
Here’s the history.
In 1972, CGA Ontario’s board of governors recognized the need for the maintenance of professional standards in a rapidly changing professional marketplace. This led to the birth of the Maintenance of Standards Committee in June 1973. The committee was serious from the start: it undertook, as its goal, “to determine the practicality of establishing a program for maintaining members’ proficiency with the possibility of disqualifying those members who do not meet a minimum level.”
The committee completed its task and, in 1974, issued its findings in “A Report of the Ontario Committee for the Maintenance of Professional Standards within C.G.A.” By 1977, “Maintenance of Standards” had been changed to “Program of Required Professional Development.” A draft program was approved and mailed to all CGAs to solicit their input in the spring of 1978. By the fall, seminars were offered in Toronto and Ottawa, and abridged versions of the program began appearing in the CGA Ontario’s flagship publication, Statements.
The majority of seminars presented sound like they could be offered today: Taxation Planning, Cash Flow, Financial and Term Loan Analysis.
Some sound like the same lifestyle concerns that, as professionals, we continue to face: How to Manage Your Time More Effectively, Communications at Work, and Effective Executive Speaking.
Still others sound distinctly anachronistic: For Women Who Supervise; Union Free Management and How to Maintain It.
Some, however, are simply mystifying: Office Space Planning, Layout and Design. Was there really a need for a seminar on how to arrange office furniture?
Nevertheless, the program that would grow to the comprehensive, extensive CGA program of professional studies—with locations across Ontario, a roster of professionally reknown seminar speakers, and reporting requirements in accordance with the national continuing professional development standard of the Certified General Accountants Association—began in the early 1970s with the professional foresight of the board of governors. Their innovation has been duplicated and imitated across Canada.
Never forget: professional development is a part of A Half Century of Leadership.
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