Ethics Requirement

Our reputation for ethical behaviour is paramount to our continued success.

Attention Members Admitted Through Mutual Recognition Agreements: Those of you who earn your CGA designation through Mutual Recognition Agreement are grandfathered into the ethics requirement as members. You must take a four-hour verifiable course on ethics in each three-year CPD cycle; but you are not required to take the one-day rules and standards course for new graduates.

CGA-BC leads the profession in the integration of ethics into its academic program, and has now introduced a rules and standards course for all new graduates of the CGA program as well as an ongoing ethics requirement for members.

• Graduates 
• Members (Including Members Admitted Through Mutual Recognition Agreements):

Graduates

As of January 1, 2008, new graduates are required to take a one-day rules and standards workshop as a requirement of certification. (Only the CGA-BC in-person seminar, "The Essence of Professionalism: Ethics, Rules and Standards for New CGAs" or the PD Network online course, "Professionalism: Ethics, Rules, and Standards for New CGAs" can fulfill this requirement.)

Graduates have one full calendar year from their date of graduation to complete this requirement. For example, an August 2009 graduate must complete the course prior to December 31, 2010.

To register, click here.

An online version of the workshop including quizzes and a confirmation of completion, is available through CGA Canada on PD Network.

There are no exemptions available from this requirement. Graduates not completing the ethics and standards workshop within the time frame will be referred to the Ethics Committee. If there is a finding of non-compliance, the member will be:

• fined $250 and;
• required to improve conduct by completing the workshop by a specified date.

Members

Including Members Admitted Through Mutual Recognition Agreements

All members are required to take a minimum four-hour verifiable course on applied ethics in each three-year continuing professional development (CPD) cycle.

Although CGA-BC offers members qualifying seminars, you will be able to take any appropriate verifiable four-hour ethics course to meet the requirement. The course is not meant to be a test of the Association’s Act, Bylaws and Code; rather, it is a program on ethical decision-making in business. Members choosing to attend sessions sponsored by other institutions need to consider appropriateness of content. Examples of content areas include:

• Moral disagreement at work
• Corporate responsibility
• Honesty in business practice
• "Whistle-blowing"
• A review of what ethical behavior means as a member of a profession and as a member of society
• Discussion of real-life case situations and ethical approaches
• Review of a structured “thinking process” for ethical dilemmas

Courses fulfilling this requirement are not meant to focus on law, rules and regulations, fraud, or anti-money laundering subject matter, but should instead focus on general applied business ethics. Courses meeting the requirement should not focus on one particular point of ethics such as conflict of interest for the entirety of the course; eligible courses should instead cover a variety of general ethical issues and situations.

In addition, when claiming CPD activities to fulfill the four-hour ethics requirement, include enough detail of the ethics content and duration so that the eligibility of the course can be assessed for the ethics requirement.

To register, click here.

CGA-Canada also offers an online course that fulfills the requirement, through PD Network.

A Variety of Ways to Meet the Requirement
The three-day Controller’s Program and the Public Practitioners’ Practice Management seminar also fulfills the requirement. Members not completing the ongoing verifiable ethics training will be referred to the Ethics Committee. Please see Discipline Guidelines for Non-Compliance. 

If you have any questions regarding the four-hour ethics requirement, contact [jmartin#cga-bc,org]Jacqueline Martin.

If you have any questions regarding registering for the four-hour ethics course, contact [rbornhauser#cga-bc,org]Ruth Bornhauser.

Some other reference websites for ethical research

http://www.aacu.org/issues/assessment/ethical_behavior.cfm 
Association of American Colleges and Universities: some good reference sites and articles on ethical behaviour and policy development.

http://www.ethicsweb.ca/codes 
A website of Chris MacDonald, Ph.D an ethics practitioner with some good essays and papers on ethical thinking and practice.

http://www.instituteforethicalbehavior.com/home.htm 
The site for the “Institute for Ethical Behaviour” provided by the Walsh Agency: some interesting background but the downloadable information focuses more on the automotive industry.

http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org
This site on the World Values survey will be interesting for members who are involved in international business and the challenges involved in ethical issues outside of Canada. Code of Ethics are usually relevant to a country’s or organization’s set of fundamental Values – if the Values are different, then the Code and / or its interpretations may also be different.

http://www.businessethics.ca 
This site of Business Ethics is a Canadian resource for business ethics that has a host of interesting references and links; in particular, the sub web page on the ENRON situation provides a great deal of good background on that particular situation which is of great interest to the accounting profession.

http://www.psagency-agencefp.gc.ca/veo-bve/values_e.asp 
The Canadian Federal Government website that deals with their public service Values and Ethics. This site provides some interesting reading on the pubic sector approach to dealing with ethical issues.

http://www.business-ethics.com 
The is the site of the Business Ethics on-line magazine, that has numerous links and articles relevant to the wider areas of business ethics.