CPA Alberta has recently been made aware of a number of instances where external organizations have used publicly-available information to contact Alberta CPAs via email to offer services, including professional development offerings. In many of these emails, there is an implication of a connection to CPA Alberta or of a recognized regulatory status. Note that this is not the case—CPA Alberta is the only recognized regulated accounting body in the province, and does not share a comprehensive list of Alberta CPAs with any external organization.
While Alberta CPAs are free to avail themselves of PD or any other service from businesses of their choosing, it is important to be able to recognize emails that do come directly from CPA Alberta. Any CPA Alberta emails that offer services or resources are clearly marked as being from the organization. One easy visual identifier is that emails from CPA Alberta will typically contain the CPA Alberta logo and use the CPA brand colours (blue and green).
If you ever have questions about the legitimacy of an email or the affiliation of an organization with CPA Alberta, feel free to reach out to us at communications@cpaalberta.ca.
