CPA Ontario requires every member to complete 20 CPD hours each calendar year, at least 10 of which must be verifiable, and 120 hours over each rolling three-year period, at least 60 verifiable and at least 4 of those in professional ethics. The declaration for the previous year is due by June 1.
That is the whole rule. The rest of this page is what those words mean in practice — what counts, what doesn't, what to keep, and what happens if you come up short.
CPA Ontario CPD Requirements at a Glance
| Requirement | Amount | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Total hours | 20 | Each calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31) |
| Verifiable hours | At least 10 | Each calendar year |
| Total hours | 120 | Each rolling three-year period |
| Verifiable hours | At least 60 | Each rolling three-year period |
| Professional ethics | At least 4, verifiable | Each rolling three-year period |
| Declaration | — | April 1 – June 1, for the prior year |
Two points people get wrong. First, the three-year period is rolling, not fixed: at the end of every year you are assessed on that year and the two before it, so a weak year follows you for three cycles. Second, the annual and triennial requirements are both live — clearing 120 hours in one heroic year does not excuse the 20-hour minimum in the next two.
The governing rule is Regulation 7-2, and CPA Ontario's own CPD pages are the authority if anything here and anything there disagree.
What Counts as a Verifiable CPD Hour?
A CPD hour is verifiable when you can produce independent evidence that you did it. The learning has to be relevant to your professional role, and someone other than you has to be able to confirm it happened.
Verifiable hours typically include:
- Courses, webinars and seminars that issue a certificate of completion
- Conference sessions where attendance is recorded
- Formal in-house training with a documented agenda and attendance list
- Writing or presenting technical material — the preparation time counts
- Formal study toward a designation or qualification
- Committee or board work with a documented professional-development component
Unverifiable hours are real learning without third-party proof: reading technical updates, listening to a professional podcast, informal discussion of a technical problem with a colleague, self-directed research. These count toward the 20 and the 120 — they simply cannot count toward the 10 and the 60.
The practical consequence: you can satisfy up to half your annual requirement by reading and listening, but no more. If you reach December having done nothing that issued a certificate, you are not halfway there — you are at zero on the half that matters.
If you want the full treatment of what separates the two categories, including the documentation CPA Ontario accepts, that is covered in depth in our guide to CPD hours for Canadian CPAs.
Meeting the 4-Hour Ethics Requirement
Four verifiable hours of professional ethics are required in every rolling three-year period. Three things about this trip people up.
It does not have to be one course. The four hours can accumulate across several activities — an ethics hour inside a broader conference, a one-hour webinar, a module within a technical update. They simply have to be verifiable and they have to be ethics.
The subject matter is broader than “ethics” suggests. Independence and conflict of interest, ethical decision-making and case studies, anti-money laundering, whistle-blowing and bribery, corporate social responsibility, and equity, diversity and inclusion all qualify, provided the activity addresses the application of ethical principles to your professional responsibilities rather than simply describing a law.
It is the requirement people discover late. A member who has comfortably cleared 120 hours can still be non-compliant on four. Check this one first, not last.
If you are short and the year is running out, a live webinar is the fastest verifiable hour available — one hour, a certificate, done. Two currently scheduled sessions qualify under the definitions above: The Psychology of Insider Fraud on November 2 and Eyes Wide Shut: Navigating Ethical Blindness in Fraud Investigations on November 25.
For the whole cycle handled at once, the 60-hour three-year package contains all 60 verifiable hours with the four ethics hours already inside it.
Does CPA Ontario Tell You What Subjects to Study?
No — with the single exception of the ethics hours. Beyond those four, CPA Ontario does not prescribe subject matter. The test is relevance: the learning must be relevant to your role and responsibilities as a CPA.
That is broader than most members assume. A CPA in industry can count leadership, data analysis or project management. A practitioner can count technology training as readily as a tax update. What does not count is learning with no professional application — a language course for a holiday, or a hobby.
Technical currency is the most common use of the allowance. Our Q1 2026 tax update package is a typical example: verifiable, directly relevant, and it does double duty as work you needed to do anyway.
For the annual minimum in one purchase, the 20 verifiable hours package covers a full year across twelve courses.
How Do You Track CPA Ontario CPD Hours?
CPA Ontario does not maintain your record for you. You declare a number; you keep the evidence behind it. If you are selected for a CPD audit, the burden of proof is entirely yours, and it is retrospective — you will be asked for evidence of activities you completed up to three years earlier.
Record five things for every activity, at the time you do it:
- Date completed
- Title and provider
- Hours claimed, and whether verifiable or unverifiable
- The evidence — certificate, registration confirmation, agenda with attendance record
- Relevance — one line on why it applies to your role. This is the field people skip and the one auditors ask about.
Three habits make the difference between a five-minute declaration and a bad weekend in May:
- File the certificate the day you earn it. A dedicated folder, named by year. Certificates are the thing that disappears — providers retire portals, email archives get culled, people change jobs.
- Log unverifiable hours as you go. Nobody reconstructs a year of technical reading in June. An entry takes fifteen seconds; the reconstruction takes an afternoon and produces a number you cannot defend.
- Check the ethics count every January. One line in your record, once a year, is what stops the four-hour requirement becoming a December emergency.
Courses completed on CPDFormula issue a certificate automatically and stay in your account, so the verifiable side of your record keeps itself. The unverifiable side is still yours to maintain — a spreadsheet is genuinely sufficient, and is better than a good intention.
Can You Get Free CPD Hours in Ontario?
Some, legitimately — and it is worth being precise about how far it goes, because “free CPD” is a phrase that attracts a lot of loose claims.
Genuinely free and verifiable:
- Employer-run training with a documented agenda and attendance record. The most overlooked source of verifiable hours in the profession — many CPAs sit through qualifying sessions annually and never claim them.
- Free webinars from regulators, standard-setters and firms. CPA Ontario, CPA Canada and the large firms all run no-cost sessions that issue attendance confirmation.
- Writing or presenting. If you prepare a technical presentation for your team, the preparation time is verifiable CPD, evidenced by the materials and the agenda.
- Committee and board work with a documented professional-development element.
Free but unverifiable: technical reading, podcasts, self-directed research. Real hours that count toward the 20 and the 120 — but they cannot fill the 10 or the 60, and that is the ceiling on a free-only strategy.
The honest summary: you can cover a meaningful share of the requirement at no cost, but you cannot cover the verifiable half from free sources alone unless your employer runs a genuine training programme. Plan on the assumption that some of the verifiable hours will be bought.
When Is the CPA Ontario CPD Declaration Due?
June 1. The declaration window opens April 1 and closes June 1, and it covers the previous calendar year — so the declaration due June 1, 2027 reports the hours you completed between January 1 and December 31, 2026.
You are declaring compliance, not uploading evidence. CPA Ontario does not want your certificates at declaration time. It wants them if you are audited.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline or Fall Short?
Missing the declaration and missing the hours are two different failures with two different remedies.
If you miss June 1, a $25 late fee applies. Continued non-compliance past June 30 can lead to suspension of your membership. This is administrative and entirely avoidable — file on time even if the hours conversation is uncomfortable.
If you are short on hours, the answer is not to misdeclare. A false declaration is a professional conduct matter; a shortfall is a CPD matter, and the profession treats those very differently.
The route back is a plan of action: a written commitment to make up the deficient hours within a set period, submitted to CPA Ontario. Members who come forward and propose a remediation plan are in a materially better position than members who are found short in an audit. If you are reading this in May and the numbers do not add up, contact CPA Ontario before June 1 rather than after.
Are There Exemptions from CPA Ontario CPD?
Yes, in defined circumstances. Exemptions and reductions can apply to members who are fully retired and not practising, members on extended leave — parental, medical or similar — and members not currently employed in or serving a role that requires CPA competence.
Three things to know. Exemptions are not automatic: you apply, and you apply in advance. They are usually partial, reducing rather than eliminating the requirement. And resuming professional activity resumes the obligation, on a pro-rated basis for the year you return.
New members are also treated differently in their year of admission. Check your specific position with CPA Ontario rather than assuming — the categories are narrower than they sound.
Where to Find CPA Ontario's Own Guidance
This guide is written to be practical. For the authoritative text, go to the source:
- CPA Ontario — Continuing Professional Development, including Regulation 7-2 and the CPD audit guidance
- CPA Ontario Professional Development, for the regulator's own course and conference catalogue
Frequently Asked Questions
How many CPD hours does CPA Ontario require?
20 hours per calendar year with at least 10 verifiable, and 120 hours per rolling three-year period with at least 60 verifiable, including at least 4 verifiable hours of professional ethics.
When is the CPA Ontario CPD declaration due?
June 1, for the previous calendar year. The window opens April 1. A $25 late fee applies after June 1, and non-compliance past June 30 risks suspension.
What is the difference between verifiable and unverifiable CPD hours?
Verifiable hours have independent third-party evidence — a certificate, a registration record, a documented attendance list. Unverifiable hours are genuine learning without that evidence, such as technical reading. Both count toward your totals; only verifiable hours count toward the 10 and 60 minimums.
Does CPA Ontario require specific CPD subjects?
Only for ethics: 4 verifiable hours per three-year cycle. All other hours simply have to be relevant to your professional role.
Do I have to submit my certificates to CPA Ontario?
No. You declare compliance. You retain the evidence in case you are selected for a CPD audit, which can look back across the full three-year period.
What if I do not meet the requirement?
Submit a plan of action to CPA Ontario committing to make up the shortfall within a defined period. Coming forward voluntarily puts you in a far better position than being found short in an audit. Do not misdeclare — a false declaration is a conduct matter, not a CPD one.
Works cited
- Continuing Professional Development — CPA Ontario, accessed September 21, 2026, https://www.cpaontario.ca/members/regulations-guidance/continuing-professional-development
- Regulation 7-2: Continuing Professional Development — CPA Ontario, accessed September 21, 2026
- A Simple Guide to CPD Requirements — CPA Ontario, accessed September 21, 2026
- CPD and AMD Audit — CPA Ontario, accessed September 21, 2026
- CPA Ontario: Professional Development Training for CPAs, accessed September 21, 2026, https://pd.cpaontario.ca/