Practical experience log User guide For candidates for the practice of the profession
Table of contents Description of the practical experience log 2 Overview of the steps to follow 2 Step 1 - Start of period of practical experience 3 Step 2 - Self-assessment 4 Pre-report meetings 5 Practical experience reporting process 5 Practical experience report filing 6 Line supervisor s approval 17 CPA mentor s approval 17 Order s approval 18 Step 3 Completion of practical experience 19 Information 19
Description of the practical experience log The practical experience log is a tool you will use throughout your 24-month period of practical experience to track your progress and report to the Order. You will record the tasks you performed and self-assess your proficiency level in the competencies required of CPAs. You will also use your log in your discussions with your line supervisor and CPA mentor. Overview of the steps to follow 2
Step 1 Start of period of practical experience Before beginning a period of practical experience and having it authorized by the Order, you must ensure that: You have completed the recognized undergraduate program or equivalent. You are registered with the Order [+] Your position is supervised and you are mentored by a CPA. You are aware of all the practical experience requirements [+] To begin a period of practical experience, you must complete the Declaration of start of practical experience form and provide the documents requested. Once the Order has reviewed your file, you will receive an email confirming the status of your practical experience authorization request. There are three decisions possible. Your period of practical experience may be: Authorized. Your position will enable you to gain sufficient proficiency in the competencies required to obtain the CPA designation. Your online file is created. You can access your practical experience log and proceed to step 2. Authorized for a limited time. Your position will enable you to gain sufficient proficiency in some of the competencies required to obtain the CPA designation. At the end of the practical experience period authorized for a limited time, you can submit an up-to-date job description to have your file re-assessed, or find another position to finalize the development of the CPA competencies. Your online file is created. You can access your practical experience log and proceed to step 2. Rejected. Your position will not enable you to gain sufficient proficiency in the competencies required to obtain the CPA designation. You must submit a new authorization request for another position. 3
Step 2 Self-assessment Once your period of practical experience is approved, the position will be linked to your practical experience log, under Current practical experience in the Practical experience summary section. Attention! You must self-assess your period of practical experience if one of the following situations applies to you. You have completed six months of your practical experience. You have changed positions and your job description has significantly changed. You have changed employers. You are reaching the end of a practical experience authorized for a limited time or of a 24-month practical experience period. Practical experience completed during undergraduate studies If you began a period of practical experience during your undergraduate studies, you are not required to report it immediately. You must report it in your first practical experience report, which you will prepare six months after submitting your practical experience authorization request to the Order. Administrative timeframes and deadline for filing reports After completing six months of practical experience, you are responsible for submitting your report to the Order within 30 days. Before you can create your first report, the Order must have processed your Declaration of start of practical experience and advised you of the status by email. You are only required to submit your first report after the Order has authorized your practical experience request. If you have completed more than 6 months of practical experience by the time you receive the authorization, you can submit one report covering the entire period. You must, however, submit your first report within 30 days of the Order authorizing your practical experience. 4
Pre-report meetings Before submitting your first report, you will meet with your mentor for at least one hour to discuss the tasks performed, the competencies acquired and the level of proficiency, the enabling competencies, and any other topic, as required. In order to facilitate your discussion, you must bring a draft of your experience report. Practical experience reporting process The practical experience reporting process includes six steps: Step 1 Prelim work. After setting the date of the meeting with the mentor the candidate creates a draft experience report in the practical experience log to bring to the meeting. At this step the report is saved but not submitted. Step 2 Meeting. Based on the draft prepared at step 1, the candidate and the mentor meet to discuss the candidate s progress. Step 3 Completion of report. Following this meeting, the candidate edits the experience report and submits the final version to the line supervisor. Afterwards, the candidate can access the report in the online file but can no longer make changes. Step 4 Line supervisor s approval. The line supervisor receives an email with a link to access, review and approve the candidate s report. Once the line supervisor approves the report, the mentor is automatically notified by email. Note: Skip this step if the mentor is also the candidate s line supervisor. Steps to follow if the line supervisor does not receive the email a. Verify the line supervisor s email address indicated in your practical experience report. b. Ask the line supervisor to check his junk mail. c. Print the report and continue the approval process on paper: have the report signed by the line supervisor and the mentor, and then submit it to the Order for final approval. Step 5 Mentor s approval. The mentor receives an email notification that the candidate s report is ready for review and approval in the Your trainees section of his online file. He ensures that the report corresponds to what was discussed with the candidate, and approves or rejects the report, as the case may be. The candidate is notified by email that the report has been updated by the mentor. Step 6 Order s approval. Following the mentor s approval, the Order automatically receives the report for review and approval. To be processed by the Order, an experience report must first be approved by the line supervisor and mentor. The candidate is notified by email of any update to the report. 5
Practical experience report filing Steps to follow before self-assessing your practical experience: A. Creating a report From the Practical experience reports menu, select Create a report. Note: You can make changes to your report up until you decide to submit it to your line supervisor or mentor. 6
B. Completing the summary report From the drop-down menu, select the period of practical experience for which you are creating a report and the dates covered by the report. Note: The end date cannot be later than the date your report is created. If you wish to start your report before the expected end date, enter a fictitious date which you will change before submitting your report. 7
You can copy a previously completed report by clicking on Copy from an existing report. This will allow you to update your last practical experience report with the new competencies you developed. C. Entering technical competencies The practical experience log enables you to link the tasks you perform to the CPA competencies and selfassess the level of proficiency attained. In order to sufficiently detail your tasks, recopy the tasks in your job description to each of the corresponding competencies. Ask your mentor for assistance, if needed. Note: You must complete the technical competencies section every six months, making sure to add all the tasks performed from one report to the next. The final practical experience report will include all the tasks performed throughout the 24-month period. Attention! Your line supervisor and mentor will review the practical experience report in its entirety. Be especially careful to protect confidential information. 8
What to do: Select the technical competency for which you are entering information. Click on to open the dialog box. Click on the pencil in the right corner to begin writing. Fill in the information for the competency sub-areas. For more information on minimum competency and competency sub-area requirements and proficiency levels, refer to the relevant CPA Canada guides. Save your work before editing another competency sub-area or moving on to another section. 9
To assist you in your work: i. Tasks related to the position: Indicate your tasks related to the competency sub-areas in question. Make sure to provide sufficient details on each task described. Feel free to provide detailed examples. Remember that the practical experience log is intended for you to report on your progress. Therefore, the tasks described should be personalized and representative of the technical competencies you developed during your period of practical experience. ii. Level of proficiency to be attained: Indicate the level you should have attained for this competency sub-area at the end of your practical experience (Level 0, 1 or 2). iii. Circumstance: Indicate how often these situations arise in your position. Determine whether or not you perform these tasks on a regular basis (routine or non-routine). iv. Level of complexity: Indicate the degree of difficulty of the tasks performed for a candidate for the practice of the profession (low, moderate or high). v. Level of autonomy: Indicate your level of autonomy (low, average or high) based on how detailed your work is reviewed or supervised by a colleague or a more senior staff member. For example, if the level of review or supervision is high, your level of autonomy is considered low. vi. Level of proficiency attained: At the end of the period covered by this report, indicate the level of proficiency you attained for each competency sub-area (Level 0, 1 or 2). Note: If you have not developed any competencies and/or competency sub-areas during your period of practical experience, leave the field blank. You are not required to enter N/A or comments such as I did not develop any sub-competencies during my period of practical experience. 10
D. Entering enabling competencies Enabling competencies are the essential skills for ethical behaviour, decision-making, problem-solving, communication and leadership required of a CPA. Ensure that your position enables you to develop all these competencies. In order to complete the 24-month period of practical experience, you must answer each of the five compulsory questions as well as the summary questions. Note: Unlike for the technical competencies, candidates are not required to complete the enabling competencies section at every six-month period. However, you are strongly advised to do so in order to record your experiences and insights throughout the reporting process. Attention! Your line supervisor and mentor will review the practical experience report in its entirety. Be especially careful to protect confidential information. What to do: Select the enabling competency for which you are entering information. Click on to open the dialog box. Click on the pencil in the right corner of one of the cpmpetencies to begin writing. Answer the questions relating to the competency selected and save your answers. For your final report, you must have answered each question. Answer the summary questions (question A is compulsory, while question B is optional). Save your work before answering the questions of another competency or moving on to another section. 11
12
To assist you in your work: i. Level of proficiency attained: At the end of the period covered by this report, indicate the level of proficiency you attained for this enabling competency (Level 0, 1 or 2). 13
E. Adding a note or file By clicking on Notes, you can write a note which will be read by your line supervisor or mentor, and by the Order. You are not required to write a note to submit a report to the Order. By clicking on Attachments, you can attach a PDF file which will be available for viewing by your line supervisor or mentor, and by the Order. You are not required to add an attachment to submit a report to the Order. 14
F. Reading a report By clicking on Read a report, you can read and edit an existing report. G. Submitting a report To start the report approval process, click on Submit. You can view your report at any time in read-only mode. Attention! Once your report has been submitted, you can no longer change it. Make sure that you have reviewed each section before submitting the report. 15
At this step, you will see the Submitted status of your report in the Read a report section. In this section, you can also track the processing of your practical experience report. 16
Line supervisor s approval When you submit an experience report, your line supervisor will receive an email asking to confirm the information in the report. More specifically, the line supervisor will be required to confirm that you performed the tasks you described in the Technical competencies section. The line supervisor can also add comments to the report. Attention! You are responsible for ensuring that your line supervisor reviews your report within the specified time limit. Once it has been approved or rejected by your line supervisor, you will receive an email notifying you that your report has been updated. You must re-access your practical experience log to find out your line supervisor s decision. There are two decisions possible. Your line supervisor may: Approve your report. Your mentor will receive an email asking to confirm the information in the report. o The line supervisor approval status changes from Waiting to Approved. Reject your report. You can re-access your report in the Read a report section to make the necessary changes. You can then re-submit the amended report to your line supervisor. o The status of your report will change from Submitted to In progress. CPA mentor s approval Once your line supervisor approves the report, your mentor will be asked to comment on your meetings and the competencies covered in the report. The mentor can also enter comments in the report. Attention! You are responsible for ensuring that your mentor reviews your report within the specified time limit. Once it has been approved or rejected by your mentor, you will receive an email notifying you that your report has been updated. You must re-access your practical experience log to find out your mentor s decision. There are two decisions possible. Your mentor may: Approve your report. The report will be available to the Order for review. o At this stage, the mentor approval status changes from Waiting to Approved. Reject your report. You can re-access your report in the Read a report section to make the necessary changes. You can then re-submit the amended report to your mentor. o At this stage, the status of your report (3rd column) will change from Submitted to In progress. 17
Order s approval Following the approval by your mentor, the Order will receive your report for processing. At this stage, the Order approval status will indicate In progress. Once the Qualification team validates your experience report, the status will change to Approved. You will receive an email notifying you that your file has been updated. Note: In case the Order requests changes before approving the report, the approval status will indicate In progress. Attention! Filing practical experience reports is mandatory. Your 24-month program will only be deemed completed once the Order receives and validates the experience reports, and step 3 is completed. However, the Order reserves the right to reject a practical experience report and may impose additional conditions on a candidate if the reports do not satisfy the practical experience requirements. 18
Step 3 Completion of practical experience If any of the situations mentioned on page 4 applies to you, you must complete the following steps in order to have a period of practical experience recognized in your file: Complete the practical experience reporting and filing process described in step 2 for the period(s) to be recognized. Note: At the end of the 24-month practical experience program, the Order expects to have received a minimum of three practical experience reports. Send a completed the Declaration of completion of practical experience, along with the requested documents, to the Order. Receive validation from the Qualification team. The period of practical experience will then be recognized and entered in your file. You can view the completed period of practical experience in your practical experience file. Information For more information, please contact the Qualification team. T. 514 982.4606 [2615] 1 800 363.4688 F. 514 843.8375 stages@cpaquebec.ca 19