Public Accounting and Regulated Services

The profession has a responsibility in protecting the public to regulate the services provided to the public and to ensure that CPAs are competent. CPA Manitoba regulates two areas of service provided by its members – public accounting services (PAS) and other regulated services (ORS).

Under bylaw 801(1), members shall not provide public accounting services or other regulated services unless they have registered a firm and been granted a permit by the Registration Committee.

Public Accounting Services
As defined by subsection 38(1) of The Chartered Professional Accountants Act of Manitoba (The CPA Act) and the CPA Manitoba bylaws, “public accounting service” means a professional engagement in which a member provides an accounting service to another person, where the result of the engagement is:

(a) a report, opinion, declaration or attestation in any form that provides an assurance as to the correctness, fairness, completeness or reasonableness of a financial statement or other historical financial information, as a result of an audit or review as described in the CPA Canada Handbook - Assurance,

(i) of a complete set of financial statements,
(ii) of any single financial statement or part of a financial statement,
(iii) of specific elements of financial statements, including accounts or items of a financial statement,
(iv) of a summary financial statement,
(v) of a statement attached to a financial statement, or
(vi) on compliance with agreements,

(b) a form of communication issued or prepared in respect of an assurance engagement performed in conjunction with an audit or review described in clause (a); or
(c) a compilation, including a compilation of financial forecasts or projections, prepared while performing an external engagement service, but only if a notice to reader communication is required under the compilation engagement provisions of the CPA Canada Handbook.

The CPA Act reserves engagements under (a) and (b) to be provided by CPAs only.

Other Regulated Services
As provided for under bylaw 801(2), the following professional services constitute “other regulated services”:

(a) providing advice, counsel or interpretation with respect to the preparation of a tax return with the exception of providing voluntary tax preparation services through a CPA Manitoba program or Canada Revenue Agency program; or
(b) a forensic accounting, financial investigation or financial litigation support service.

Further details on permitted services and level of regulation for each stream is available online.

A summary of the regulatory requirements for the various engagements and services CPAs provide to the public as prescribed by The CPA Act is also available. 

Members who wish to provide tax preparation services and tax advice are required to register a firm and be granted a permit to provide those services.  If you intend to prepare tax returns and have not yet registered with CPA Manitoba, contact [email protected] today.

 

Practice Inspection
Firms that offer public accounting services are subject to practice inspection on a risk-adjusted cycle. More information on the practice inspection program is available.