Candidate EVR FAQs

You are required to update your experience reporting on a semi-annual basis.

Once you have your pre-assessment reviewed, you will receive instructions to create a new experience report and be provided with a Next Experience Report Date. Reporting in PERT requires you to keep track of your competency development and progress by keeping your experience reporting up to date.

See guidance in the PERT Guide for Future CPAs, found in the Resources section of PERT, on how to fill out an experience report in PERT.

No, you are required to update your experience reporting on a semi-annual basis following the Next Experience Report Date.

Once you have your pre-assessment reviewed, you will be provided with a Next Experience Report Date that aligns with your Next CPA Review Due Date.

After that initial date, you are responsible for setting the Next Experience Report Date.

The date can be edited at any time by viewing your profile in PERT. You should update this date to make sense for your reporting.

You are required to meet with your mentor after you have updated your experience reporting and have your mentor record the details of that meeting in PERT on a semi-annual basis.

You may meet with your mentor more frequently if you choose. Please note that mentor meetings only count if they are three (3) months apart in duration.

See guidance in the PERT Guide for Future CPAs, found in the Resources section of PERT, on requesting a Mentor Meeting in PERT.

No. The requirement is to update your experience reporting semi-annually and discuss that reporting with your mentor. This can be done by reopening the experience report you have already created, updating the Report Details and entering in any new technical and enabling competency development.

Once an experience report has been reviewed by CPA Alberta, you can no longer edit it, and a new experience report will need to be created.

All CPA candidates are allowed to claim up to 20 weeks (100 days) of leave within their 30 months of practical experience. Leave represents any time away from work for any reason, including vacation, sickness, professional development, and study days.

If your leave taken exceeds the allowable 20 weeks, your required duration will increase by the amount of leave taken in excess of the 20 weeks.

You will follow the Next CPA Review Due Date provided to you in your PERT profile.

To have your competency development and duration recognized, you must first update your reporting to the current date, have your supervisor verify your experience report(s), and request a CPA Review on or around your Next CPA Review Due Date.

The Next CPA Review Due Date will be determined by your CPA reviewer. See guidance in the PERT Guide for Future CPAs, found in the Resources section of PERT, on how to request a CPA Review. There is no penalty associated with missing the Next CPA Review Due Date; however, it is important to adhere to this date as that is when your CPA reviewer determined you should be receiving feedback on your progression to date. 

Please note that duration or competencies are not credited in pre-assessment experience reports.

Within each experience report in PERT, there will be a total of six technical competency areas, each containing three or four sub-competencies, for a total of 20 sub-competencies. Using the table, choose which competency areas are relevant to your experience by selecting Yes or No.

You are only expected to report on and complete the sub-competencies that are relevant to your experience for this reporting period. It is not realistic or expected that you would demonstrate proficiency in all competency areas. You only require proficiency in eight out of the 20 sub-competency areas to meet the overall technical competency requirements.

Over your practical experience journey, you should be reporting on your 8 to 10 strongest sub-competencies, keeping in mind the technical competency requirements of core, depth, and breadth.
We have several resources available to access when completing your reporting.

• Reporting Templates: We recommend you use reporting templates when completing your experience reporting, as the templates are tailored to the specific reporting requirements. The use of the templates will also improve the conciseness of your response.

Please view the Reporting Templates document. 

• Videos and Webinars: We also recommend you watch the Practical Experience webinars before documenting your experience. The webinars address frequently asked questions and provide detailed guidance on how to report on your experience, including requirements for technical sub-competencies and what is required for Level 1 vs Level 2 proficiency.

Additional resources can be found on the Guides and Resources webpage. 

When you create an experience report, you will report your enabling competency development on the Enabling Competencies page.

There are five (5) competency areas containing three-part questions. You are not expected to document all five enabling competencies semi-annually. Only document the enabling competencies that most reflect your professional development obtained during this reporting period.

All five enabling competencies must be at a Level 2 proficiency by the time you request a Completion CPA Review. If you are awarded a Level 2 during a CPA Review, you do not need to report on that enabling competency again.

We recommend you use the reporting templates when completing your experience reporting, as the templates are tailored to the specific reporting requirements.

If you are changing jobs, you need to close off your experience at your current position before you can change your employment within PERT. That will mean requesting supervisor verification of your experience reports and requesting a Change of Job CPA Review.

Once all of your experience reports have a status of VERIFIED, you will need to request a Change of Job CPA Review. Follow guidance in the Changing Jobs While Reporting Guide, found in the Resources section of PERT.

Once your Change of Job CPA Review is complete, you will be set to UNEMPLOYED. If you are in a new position, you will then need to update your experience route and document and submit your new employment information in PERT.

We do caution CPA candidates who change jobs that it may take longer than 30 months to meet the overall technical and enabling competency requirements, especially if the change results in a significant shift in competency development.

Yes, the CPA Practical Experience Requirements allow for CPA candidates to change experience routes.

You cannot change your experience route in PERT until all experience reports have been reviewed and approved by CPA Alberta through a Change of Job CPA Review.

Your competencies and duration achieved through your original experience route will be consolidated with the duration and competencies credited in the new experience route. 

We do caution CPA candidates who change experience routes that it may take longer than 30 months to meet the overall technical and enabling competency requirements, especially if the change results in a significant shift in competency development.

No, if you have already been awarded your target proficiency level through a completed CPA Review, you do not need to report on that sub-competency again.

You will only need to report on that sub-competency area again if you were previously awarded a Level 1 and you are targeting a Level 2.

No, if you have already been awarded a Level 2 through a completed CPA Review, you do not need to report on that enabling competency again.

No, PERT will require you to demonstrate at least one technical sub-competency to a Level 1 proficiency.

If you are in the same position, proficiency can be demonstrated for a sub-competency that you have achieved already by indicating you are performing the same duties as previously awarded.

If you are in a new position, the experience report must be at least three (3) months in duration and demonstrate at least one technical sub-competency to a Level 1 proficiency with work experience from your new position. Proficiency can be demonstrated for a sub-competency that you have achieved previously, provided the examples you are providing are from your new position.

Use a Prior Experience Report. Once you have your profile created in PERT and your Reporting Status is set to 'In Progress', you will be able to create a Prior Experience Report to capture your experience from before your PER Start Date.

If you are no longer employed at that position, we suggest that you document your prior experience as soon as you can.

If your prior experience is from the pre-approved program route, a separate CPA Review is required, so we recommend you do this as soon as possible. You will create a Prior PPR report, self-assess your technical competency development against the populated sub-competencies, and then verify the experience report by clicking COMPLETE on the Summary page. Once your Prior PPR report has a status of verified, you will request a Student Requested CPA Review to have your prior experience reviewed and approved by the profession. In the Review Reason Details, indicate you are requesting a review of your prior PPR experience. This should be completed as soon as possible.

If your prior experience is from EVR, you will create a Prior EV report, document your competency development, and then have it verified by your former supervisor. Once your Prior EV report has a status of verified, it will be reviewed with your next CPA Review request.

The maximum duration is 12 months. To qualify, the period of experience must be of at least three (3) months duration, and you must have achieved a minimum of one technical sub-competency to a Level 1 proficiency.

If you are currently employed in the position that you are seeking to have recognized before the PER Start Date, the three-month restriction will not apply.

If you are completing an experience report and the supervisor is no longer employed with that company or is no longer your supervisor, use a current email address for them and the link for verification will be sent to that email. If this email address is not a business (corporate) email address, you may need to attach confirmation that this supervisor was your supervisor during the report period. In this case, your report status will update to Admin Assess after your supervisor has completed their verification and you may be contacted if further information is needed from you.

If you have any questions on your specific situation, please contact the CPA Alberta Practical Experience team via email at PracticalExperience@cpaalberta.ca to determine the next steps regarding verifying your experience report. We may require additional verification steps to be completed before we can recognize your experience.

If your prior experience is from the pre-approved program route, a separate CPA Review is required, so we recommend you do this as soon as possible.

Once your Prior PPR report has a status of verified, you will request a Student Requested CPA Review to have your prior experience reviewed and approved by the profession. In the Review Reason Details, indicate you are requesting a review of your prior PPR experience. This should be completed as soon as possible.

If your prior experience is from EVR, once your Prior EV report has a status of verified, it will be reviewed with your next CPA Review request. 

Step 1: Pre-assessment

The first CPA Review request is for the pre-assessment.

• The pre-assessment is only to pre-assess your position to determine if it is qualifying.

• No technical or enabling competencies are reported or reviewed. 

Step 2: As directed by CPA Alberta

• You should follow the Next CPA Review Due Date in your PERT profile. This date is directed by the profession.

• Most commonly, you will request a CPA Review for your first experience report after working 12 months in their role. A 12-month CPA Review should be requested.

• If CPA Alberta, through the pre-assessment, deems that you may require additional feedback and support, you will be instructed to request a CPA Review for your first experience report earlier.

• After this initial review, CPA Alberta will direct you when to report next; this may be at completion, or earlier if deemed necessary.

For a Change of Job

• If you change positions or employers, a Change of Job CPA Review must be requested within 90 days of the employment change.

• There are no penalties associated with missing the 90-day requirement. If you miss the 90 days, this will result in a delay in getting feedback on your progression to date and updating your employer.

• If work responsibilities have changed significantly following a change of position, role, or a promotion, then a Change of Job CPA Review should be requested, followed by a new pre-assessment.

At Completion

• Upon completion of the Practical Experience Requirements, a Completion CPA Review must be requested. 

• When you request a CPA Review in PERT at the prescribed interval based on the chosen route, CPA Alberta will review all experience reporting captured in PERT.

• The CPA Alberta reviewer will provide you with revisions that you need to complete before they can finalize your review. The revisions process is normal and should be expected. Think of it like an interview. This is how the CPA Alberta reviewer gains knowledge of your role and experience to determine proficiency.

• Remember that your experience reporting represents a formal submission to the profession and, as such ensure that you have put the necessary time and care into your experience report.

• If you are working in public accounting, you must ensure the Chargeable Hours Form is completed, signed, and attached to your latest experience report within PERT.

• The timing from when you request to when you first receive revisions can vary between four (4) – eight (8) weeks.

• The timing from when you resubmit your revisions to when you next receive revisions can vary between three (3) – four (4) weeks.

You will not lose any experience but will have to wait to start reporting on your new role in PERT, so it is advised to request a Change of Job CPA Review in a timely manner.

You can continue to have mentor meetings, and your mentor can backdate these meetings in PERT.

• Ensure that your experience report dates do not overlap. Leave days should be reported accurately

• Ensure that your experience report has a status of “verified”.
  • If your experience report still has a status of “verification requested”, this means that your supervisor has not completed the verification process and they will need to re-access the verification link. Ensure that they have clicked through each tab of your experience report and completed the Declarations at the end.

• All mentor meetings should be documented.

• If self-assessing at a Level 2 in an enabling competency, all three parts of the question need to be answered fully.

• All technical competencies developed during the reporting period are appropriately self-assessed to the target proficiency.

If you are working in public practice, the chargeable hours form should be signed by the designated firm partner and attached to the last experience report in PERT.

Once you have documented all competency development, click COMPLETE on the Summary page of your experience report.

Then, return to the Report Details page and click SEND TO SUPERVISOR. An email will be sent to the email address provided in the 'Supervisor Email' field of the experience report.

This email will contain a link to access your experience report, and once they access the link, they can download the Guide for Supervisors.

Once the supervisor agrees to the factual accuracy of the experience report, the report status will change from 'Verification Requested' to 'Verified'.

If your experience report still has a status of verification requested, this means that your supervisor has not completed the verification process and they will need to re-access the verification link. Ensure that they have clicked through each tab of your experience report and completed the Declarations at the end. 

If you are completing an experience report and the supervisor is no longer employed with that company or is no longer your supervisor, use a current email address for them and the link for verification will be sent to that email. If this email address is not a business (corporate) email address, you may need to attach confirmation that this supervisor was your supervisor during the report period. In this case, your report status will update to Admin Assess after your supervisor has completed their verification and you may be contacted if further information is needed from you.

If you have any questions on your specific situation, please contact the CPA Alberta Practical Experience team via email at PracticalExperience@cpaalberta.ca to determine the next steps regarding verifying your experience report. We may require additional verification steps to be completed before we can recognize your experience.

If your supervisor is having issues receiving the link, ask them to check their junk folder. If the link expires, you will need to send the experience report to them again for verification. If your supervisor confirms they have verified your experience report, but the status still reads ‘verification requested’, ask them to re-access the verification link and check the Declarations tab of the experience report. It will state whether there are any outstanding verifications within the experience report or if they need to complete the final declaration. Then click SAVE, which will change the status to ‘verified’.

If there are still issues, ask your supervisor to refer to the Supervisor Guide document below or email us at practicalexperience@cpaalberta.ca for further assistance.

During a CPA Review, your CPA reviewer will change the status of your experience report to ‘follow-up’. This status allows you to easily edit your responses to incorporate your revisions.

Your experience report should remain in ‘follow-up’ status until you are instructed by your CPA reviewer to request final supervisor verification. Typically, you will only be required to obtain supervisor verification twice: once before you request your CPA Review and then again at the end, once all revisions have been finalized.

When you request a CPA Review, the status will be ‘Assessment Requested’.

The CPA Review status will change from ‘Assessment Requested’ to ‘Required’ once your review has been assigned to a CPA Alberta reviewer.

The CPA Review status will change from ‘Required’ to ‘Follow-up’ when revisions are requested. The CPA Review status will change from ‘Follow-up’ to ‘Required’ when you resubmit your CPA Review after addressing your revisions in your experience report(s).

When you receive revisions in your experience report(s), the CPA Review status will be ‘Follow-up’.

The CPA Review is the communication tool between you and your CPA reviewer. Once you have addressed the outstanding revisions in your experience report(s), you must notify your CPA reviewer that the revisions have been made by resubmitting your CPA Review in ‘Follow-up’ status. This is the only way to inform your CPA reviewer that your revisions have been responded to.

Click GET STARTED on the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED Action Item or navigate directly to the CPA Reviews page in PERT and VIEW the CPA Review in ‘Follow-up’ status. Click RE-SUBMIT to notify your CPA reviewer that your revisions are ready for their review.

The CPA Review status will change from ‘Follow-up’ to ‘Required’ when you re-submit your CPA Review after addressing your revisions in your experience report(s). 

Yes, your mentor needs to be a registered member in good standing with CPA Alberta.

If they are not already a registered mentor with CPA Alberta, they need to be a member in good standing and will need to complete a brief orientation to be approved.

If you would like an out-of-province CPA to be your mentor, they will need to register for Membership by Provincial Affiliation.

Try to find a mentor who works in your organization, as they would be the best person to understand your work and progression.

If you cannot find a mentor who works in your organization, it is recommended you secure a mentor that you know, as it can be quite difficult to foster a mentoring relationship with a stranger. 
If you are having trouble finding a CPA to act as your mentor, consider using the CPA Mentor Search Portal as a last resort. The portal allows you to search for and match with a mentor who works in a similar industry. Note that it can be quite difficult to find a mentor through the portal.

Once you have created a profile in PERT, email practicalexperience@cpaalberta.ca to gain access to the search portal.

When you request a mentor meeting in PERT, your mentor will be required to input the date of the meeting, and they can backdate to the date the meeting actually occurred.

If you have a few missed mentor meetings to record, you can only make one request at a time. Once your mentor has recorded the details of one of the missed mentor meetings, you will need to make another mentor meeting request for them to record the details of the next missed meeting. 

Directly through your My CPA Portal.

Once you successfully complete the evaluation on D2L (regarding the Practical Experience Student Orientation webinar), you should have access to PERT the next business day.

Once you log in to My CPA Portal, you can click on 'Practical Experience' and access PERT.

If you cannot log in to My CPA Portal, please contact the CPA Western School of Business.

If you are experiencing difficulty accessing PERT once you have logged in to My CPA Portal, please contact CPA Alberta’s Practical Experience team via email at PracticalExperience@cpaalberta.ca and indicate “PERT login issues” in the subject line.

Generally, if you have an Action Item in PERT, that means you have something to do.

The system may have flagged that you are overdue for a mentor meeting, or that your Next Experience Report Date has passed, and you have not yet created the experience report.

If you have any action items you are unsure about, contact us at practicalexperience@cpaalberta.ca.

• Pre-Assessment Required: You require a pre-assessment for your current role.

• In Progress: Once employment has been approved by CPA Alberta, the status will change to ‘In Progress’ while you are actively reporting in your role.

• Unemployed: You are not currently employed or you do not have a qualifying position to report in PERT.

• PER Standard Met: You have met the overall Practical Experience requirements.