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Courses/Audit & Assurance/Anti Money Laundering

FINTRAC Compliance & AML Obligations for Accountants

Unlock the complexities of FINTRAC compliance to safeguard your practice. This course demystifies regulations and new developments, equipping you with essential knowledge to mitigate risks.

Created byNathan Geib
4.7
(169 reviews)
BeginnerUpdated Oct 28, 2025
FINTRAC Compliance & AML Obligations for Accountants

What You'll Learn

check_circleUnderstand FINTRAC's mandate and scope for accountants.
check_circleIdentify AML obligations specific to accounting professionals.
check_circleRecognize key implications of Bill C-2 for reporting entities.
check_circleAssess and mitigate money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
check_circleAddress beneficial ownership reporting requirements.
check_circleReview common penalties for non-compliance.

About This Course

This course delivers an in-depth overview of Canada’s evolving anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing (ATF) framework under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA). It explores FINTRAC’s mandate, enforcement powers, and the growing compliance expectations for reporting entities, including accounting firms and financial institutions.

Drawing on real-world experience, the presentation explains how FINTRAC collects and analyzes financial intelligence, how global standards such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) evaluation shape Canadian policy, and how new legislation—particularly Bill C-2 (the Strong Borders Act)—will transform the compliance environment.

Participants will gain practical insight into risk-based program design, suspicious transaction reporting, beneficial ownership requirements, and emerging technologies such as AI in financial crime detection. The course also addresses increasing penalties, the introduction of national registries, and how professionals can prepare for more rigorous audits and oversight.

By connecting legal requirements with day-to-day practice, this session helps professionals strengthen compliance systems, identify vulnerabilities, and maintain organizational integrity in a rapidly changing regulatory landscape.

 

Topics Covered

1. FINTRAC’s Role and Core Mandate

  • Oversight of reporting entities under the PCMLTFA
  • Financial intelligence gathering and information sharing
  • Key reporting types: STRs, large cash, EFT, and virtual-currency reports

2. International Standards and FATF Review

  • FATF’s influence on Canadian AML reforms
  • Addressing past deficiencies and improving transparency
  • Links between FATF findings and new domestic policies

3. Bill C-2 – The Strong Borders Act

  • Proposed 40-fold increase in administrative monetary penalties
  • FINTRAC’s new authority to assess program effectiveness
  • Shift from collaborative supervision to enforcement-driven oversight

4. National Risk Assessment and Sector Exposure

  • Identified high-risk areas: fraud, tax evasion, sanctions evasion, and drugs
  • Accounting firms as medium-risk due to governance and compliance strength
  • Aligning internal risk assessments with national priorities

5. Professional Obligations under the PCMLTFA

  • When accountants fall under AML obligations
  • Required elements of a compliance program: officer, policies, training, and review
  • The principle of proportionality for smaller firms

6. Beneficial Ownership and Transparency Rules

  • Verifying and reconciling client ownership information
  • Using the federal beneficial ownership registry
  • Reporting discrepancies and maintaining up-to-date records

7. Suspicious Transaction Reporting

  • Understanding “reasonable grounds to suspect”
  • Examples of activity that triggers reporting
  • Importance of client knowledge and documentation

8. Enforcement and Penalties

  • FINTRAC’s public naming of non-compliant entities
  • Common deficiencies: ineffective reviews, missing procedures, poor risk analysis
  • Preparing for compliance audits and regulatory reviews

9. Emerging Issues: AI and Sanctions Evasion

  • AI as a tool and a risk in financial crime monitoring
  • Recent sanctions directives for Russia, Iran, and North Korea
  • Technology’s dual role in prevention and exploitation

 

Your Instructors

Nathan Geib
Nathan Geib
menu_book44 courses
star6,833 reviews

The CPA Small Practitioners’ Forum was created to offer an inviting, semi-causal, and easygoing professional development weekend that provides substantial professional development value to small practitioners. All profit earned by the CPA Small Practitioners’ Forum is donated to the Alberta CPA Education Foundation, so you are helping young people in Canada get scholarships for university. All these courses are reviewed by the delegates at the Forum in Banff annually so we have a great lineup that is adjusted every year to keep things relevant to small practitioners. If you work at a public accounting firm in Canada with employees of 1-50 people, you are our target demographic and you should find this course useful.

Monica  Stark
Monica Stark

Chief Anti-Money Laundering Officer at ATB Financial

Monica Stark, based in Edmonton, AB, CA, is currently a Chief Anti-Money Laundering Officer at ATB Financial, with a robust skill set that includes banking, AML, retail banking, financial risk, credit risk, and more.

Credit Information

Is this course eligible for my CPD requirements as a Canadian CPA?

Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.

Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.

What Students Are Saying

4.7
Student's Choice
169 reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 327+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 29 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.