CPA Australia Best Practice Program

The CPA Australia Best Practice Program has replaced the Quality Review Program to deliver personalised support for business sustainability, ethical requirements and professional development. 

This is a significant shift away from the obligation heavy quality review to a tailored program that focuses on supporting members to adopt best practice.

The benefits

The new CPA Australia Best Practice Program is leading the way for the profession and offers many benefits to you and your business:

• The new program considers the complexity of your business and adjusts the level of review accordingly, resulting in a more streamlined and intuitive process. 
• An investment in new technology provides a better user experience, making file sharing and progress tracking simple, efficient and secure. 
• Based on an initial self-assessment, you will be matched with an experienced assessor aligned to your business needs.
• The comprehensive and holistic support model, including a Support Plan, will connect you to key resources, tools and continuing education to future-proof your business.

The assessment process

You should expect to undergo an assessment every three, five and seven years depending on the complexity of your business.

When selected you will:

• Receive an information pack including a confirmation of details form to enable us to match you with the best assessor for your business needs.
• Once matched, your assessor will contact you to schedule your face to face or online assessment. They will also schedule a planning meeting online at a convenient time two weeks prior to your assessment.
• You will be asked to complete a self-assessment to determine what your business needs are, and to share documents with us to help us better understand how you operate your business. 

After your assessment you'll receive a Support Plan including recommendations for resources and tools to support your business.

The peer consultation process

A peer consultation is one of the benefits and core components of the new CPA Australia Best Practice Program. It’s designed for members who’ve received their Public Practice Certificate in the last 12 months and is best suited to members who have recently established a business. It is a two hour online consultation with a peer assessor who will support you in understanding your business needs and what actions to take to achieve your strategic goals. 

The peer consultation supports you in the early part of your practice journey, giving confidence that your business is set up for success. It will be helpful for you to understand how to prepare for your assessment in three to eight years as stated above. The peer consultation is optional and complimentary for members.

If you opt in you will: 

• Receive an information pack including a brief self-assessment to enable us to match you with the best assessor for your business needs.
• Once matched, your assessor will contact you to schedule a two-hour consultation online at a convenient time.
• After your consultation you will receive a Support Plan including recommendations for resources and tools to support your business.

Read more about peer consultation.

Common findings

An annual summary of the common findings of the Best Practice Program are below:

More information

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the CPA Australia Best Practice Program please email [email protected].