Whether you are new to the CPA profession, or a seasoned CPA still in practice, the notion of annual CPD seems to be that ‘thing’ that is always lurking in the distance. We must do it; we know why we have to, yet year after year it can seem overwhelming.

We’re here to simplify. AJAG has been offering PD for CPAs for almost 20 years, but we are also CPAs still in practice ourselves. Here are our five tips to help you reach your annual PD requirements with greater ease.

1. Start with the requirements you know you’ll need to update.

Depending on the focus area of your practice, this can vary across Tax, Audit, or other sub-categories. Regardless of which one you fall into, there are usually annual update courses that CPAs need to ensure they are up to date on all regulatory changes. These technical updates are tailored to specific areas of practice. At AJAG, we have Accounting Update – 2022, Assurance Update – 2022, GST/HST Update and Refresher – 2022, Income Tax Update – 2022, and Technical Tax Update – 2022. You will find these updates annually in our course library.

2. Take advantage of promotions even if you aren’t ready to take the course at the time of the promotion.

You want a PD provider that offers enough flexibility that you can take courses at your convenience. A good CPD provider should give you the opportunity to purchase courses with a significant window after purchase to view and complete each course. At AJAG, customers have up to one year from the date of purchase, or date of the live-online course (whichever comes later) to view each course. This gives you peace of mind that you can take advantage of promotional offers for discounts on annual PD without the pressure of needing to complete each course right away.

3. Spread your CPD out over several months.

As the saying goes, fail to plan and you should plan to fail. How many times have you found yourself nearing the end of a calendar year, only to realize you have all your 20 PD hours still to complete? To avoid this, we highly recommend committing a few hours a month as early in the year as possible to avoid the end of year crunch for PD. 3-5 hours per month sounds way more manageable than 10-20 hours over 1-2 months. Schedule the time in your calendar as if it’s a meeting with a client that you must attend.

4. Choose a provider that offers maximum flexibility.

Let’s face it. Things can change. Life can be unpredictable. You want to choose a PD partner that offers you the flexibility to make changes without being penalized. At AJAG, we take the stress out of booking PD with our AJAG Hours option.This allows customers to purchase hours instead of specific courses to be able to take advantage of promotions or bulk savings without having to commit to specific courses at that time. We also allow 12 months from the date of purchase to view each course, as well as the option to swap out of a live-online course and into the recorded-online version with no penalties. Customers can also change their mind on courses themselves as long as the swap happens before a course is started.

5. Stay on top of CPD requirements.

CPD requirements can change. Are you unsure what the latest PD requirements are? AJAG has you covered. We have detailed information on annual PD requirements HERE, as well as recently released CPA Ontario revisions for new and retired members, which can be found HERE. We also recommend bookmarking those pages as we will always have the most up-to-date PD requirements information on our page.