How to Add 3 Examples in PERT 5,000 Characters for Level 2

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Passing the CPA Canada PER (Practical Experience Reporting) process can feel a bit tricky, especially if you’re on the EVR (Experience Verification Route). You might find yourself submitting reports, only to receive them back with reviewer comments or not getting the levels you were hoping for. If you’re nearing the 30-month practical experience completion mark and want to hit that Level 2 proficiency across both technical and enabling competencies, this guide is here to help you out! We’ll cover both general tips on PERT and specific strategies on how to add 3 examples given the 5,000 character space limitation.

If you’d like to directly jump to how to add the 3 examples within 5,000 characters, scroll down to “3 Example Rule” section below.

PERT General Tips & Tricks To Achieve Level 2

Below are tips and tricks to help you achieve Level 2 in your examples:

  • Don’t ever say “us” or we” – Be selfish. Write about what you have done and use the word “I” and “me” in your examples. This shows that you took charge of the tasks. It’s best to avoid using “we” or “our team” as much as possible, even though it’s perfectly fine for your manager to have reviewed your work. 
  • Use unique examples – Make sure to use different examples for each technical sub-competency. For example, if you improved a financial reporting process and used this for FR1, don’t re-use that same exact example for FR3 or FR4. However, if you worked on a big project (think ERP implementation), then you can bifurcate several different examples from it and write in different areas. This rules applies to Technicals, you can use the same examples between Technical and Enabling competency without any issues.
  • Don’t be generic – When I’m helping CPA students with PERT, I often see them write lengthy descriptions of their job duties. For example, in FR2, students tend to write how they go about analyzing transactions as part of their day to day work. This is not gonna work. PERT team is looking for specific examples. For example, in FR2, you should pick a few specific transactions you analyzed and write about those. Good examples are: impairment, intangible asset, consolidation, financial instruments, tax provision, lease accounting, complex revenue issues, decommissioning costs, assets held for sale and discontinued operations, foreign currency translation.
  • Stay within 5,000 characters – Each section in the PERT  has a limit of 5,000 characters (not words!). Before you hit that submit button, double-check your character count. I suggest writing your reports in Google Docs or Microsoft Word, then copy to PERT, because I’ve heard students say that their examples sometimes disappear when they write directly in PERT and leave it there for a while. PERT has gone through many updates and it’s more user friendly now, showing the character count as you type and the text boxes are expandable. Still, I recommend writing in external apps and then copying to PERT to avoid losing your work. To save space, use point form, skip routine details, and use common abbreviations, like “IFRS”(more on this below.)
  • Write detailed examples – This contradicts the above tip about being point form, but you do need to be both detailed and point form. You have to find which areas need details and which areas can be left point form. For example, “Stakeholders” section can be point form but “Analysis” should be detailed. Your PERT examples should be at least 3/4 to 1 full page for each competency area.
  • Use templates – Gevorg CPA was the first to build PERT templates and teach students how to use them correctly. Now, several years later, CPA Canada is encouraging all students to use templates. It makes sense; templates are best tools to hit all areas of the marking rubric, both on exams and PERT. A template for the sub-competency MA2 is available here on Gevorg’s website. For more PERT templates and examples, you can check  the PER Review success program.

Enabling Competencies: Strategies to Get Level 2

Applying the CPA Way doesn’t stop at the CFE. Enabling Competencies require you to embed the CPA Way into your response, using the following headings:

  • Assess the Situation
  • Analyze the Major Issues
  • Conclude and Advise 
  • Communicate 

Remember to do the following to achieve a Level 2 for Enabling:

  • Discuss CPA values – Explain what CPA values the situation involved (competence, objectivity, due care, integrity, independence, professional behavior, and confidentiality). Make sure to discuss 2-3 CPA values.
  • Add alternatives – Always include alternatives, discussing both the pros and cons.
  • 1 example is enough – Unlike Technical, where you need at least 3 examples for Level 2, just 1 good example in Enabling is enough for Level 2.
  • New examples – Write new examples instead of continuation of stories from previous reports.

Technical Competencies: Strategies to Get Level 2

This section is relevant if you’re following the EVR.  To achieve level 2, you should:

  • Write complex examples – Your examples must require judgement, research, autonomy and working within ambiguities to get level 2. For example, let’s say you’re targeting Level 2 for FR2. If you write 3 examples of how you posted accrual entries, PPE depreciation, and payroll remittance, it won’t qualify for Level 2. You have to think about really complex entries, like the ones I listed earlier in “Don’t be generic” part, and write about those. I can help you come up with strategies on how to do this, even if you work in a junior role.
  • Don’t worry about your initial assessment –  When you submit your job description for pre-assessment, PERT team will assess whether your job meets the minimum requirements for PERT. They will give you a report with checkmarks in areas they think you can score levels, like MA1, MA2, FN1 etc. Don’t worry about this report, it’s okay – and even expected – for you to report above and beyond what the checkmarks indicate. For example, if you don’t have a checkmarks in FR1, FR2, FR3, and these tasks were not part of your submitted job description, you can still report in these areas.
  • Don’t target Level 2 for “FR1” – FR1 is extremely hard to get Level 2, it requires complex user need analysis and implementing a new financial reporting system. This is something that doesn’t happen 3 times in most accountants’ careers, unless your work in a entrepreneurial start-up company. So just aim for Level 1 here and claim Level 2 in other areas. This will save you a lot of headache and time.
  • 3 examples needed – Have 3 examples for each sub-competency (see below)

The 3-example Rule

For each technical sub-competency, you need at least 3 complex examples to get Level 2. Students ask me all the time how can this be done, given the 5,000 character rule. The answer is that these can be from multiple reports, not just one. The ideal path of completing PERT is to submit complex examples across several reports. For example, you submit complex example #1 at the 18-month report, example #2 at 24 months, and a final example #3 at 30 months. By the time you get to 30 months, you’ve submitted 3 complex examples and you’re eligible for Level 2. With this smooth submission strategy, you won’t have problems with the 5,000 character limitation because you’re putting only 1 example in each report.

The above is the ideal path but the reality is that most students are behind. If you’re at the completion mark but haven’t reported any examples, things are tougher because you need to add 3 examples in one or two final reports. This is still very much doable. To achieve this, you need to write very concisely and avoid repeating the same sections, like “Stakeholders”, “My involvement”, in each example. It also helps to use abbreviations, like IFRS, F/S, ASPE, IFRS, Ex#1, Ex#2, etc. to keep the report concise. Make sure to avoid filler words like “very,” “actually,” “basically.” Another tips is to focus on using action-oriented language to demonstrate your competencies effectively. For example, instead of writing: “My first step was to find the root cause and determine why the performance has deteriorated as it was critical for the success of this project”, you should instead write: “I determined root cause for performance decease by doing XYZ.” I have several more specialized resources for writing 3 examples under 5,000 characters, please see the Extra Resources below for more details.

Extra PERT Resources

Check out Gevorg’s CPA PER Review, Canada’s first and only comprehensive PER coaching program that features several Level 2 examples, templates, video lessons, marking services, and support to help you pass PERT. This program recognizes your need for clear and concise content and has been designed to meet your busy schedule.

 

Catching up on CPA PERT Reports

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If you find yourself behind on your CPA Canada Professional Experience Requirements (PER), don’t panic! While the pressure can be overwhelming, there are effective strategies you can use to get back on track. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know and do when you’re behind on a CPA PER reports. 

Behind on PERT reports

First, you should know that you’re not the only student behind on PERT. I receive messages daily from students who are behind on PERT – or who’ve never submitted any PERT reports – and their deadline is fast approaching. This is common and CPA PER reviewers are used to this. 

Here’s my advice based on your situation:

  1. Your CPA program deadline is approaching: If your CPA deadline is within the next 6 months, your first course of action is to ask for an extension. The process is to send a message to your provincial CPA PER team and outline the extraordinary reasons that have prevented you from completing your program requirements on time. If you’ve already passed CFE, your chances are even higher. I’ve successfully consulted and helped students get extension and complete their requirements before the deadline. 
  2. You haven’t submitted reports for a long time: If you haven’t submitted PER reports for a while, but your deadline is 6-12 months – or even farther down the road, don’t worry about extension at this point. In fact, PERT team doesn’t allow extension requests until you’re within the 6-month range. Your first course of action is to catch up – and you need to do it ASAP.

How to catchup on PERT

Let’s say you haven’t submitted PERT for 1, 2 or even 3 years. In situations like this, CPA PER team asks that you write 1 big report for the entire period. They don’t require you to go back and re-do the missed reports and mentor meetings, unless you changed jobs during that period or your title changed.

If your job or title changed, then they ask that you split your catch-up report for each of those segments. For example, let’s say you haven’t submitted PER for 3 years and you switched jobs 4 times. You would write 4 catch-up reports for each of those jobs, putting the date range based on when you worked in each company.

Before you start writing the reports, I recommend that you send a brief email to your provincial PER team and let them know your plans. Tell them that you’re behind on PER and you’re planning to do a catch up report for each of your jobs. They will give you confirmation to go ahead and you can write the reports. If for some reason they ask you to combine the reports, or write extra reports, follow their instructions and write as they say. CPA PER requirements are set provincially and PER team is very inconsistent. Though they have harmonized policies, each province has its own team that reviews and approves PER submissions. Some provinces, like Ontario, are consistent in their responses and requirements. Other provinces, like BC and Alberta, are less consistent. For this reason, it’s better to be proactive and communicate your intentions, rather than spending your time writing the reports and getting the feedback from them that you were expected to follow another procedure.

When writing your catch up reports, it’s important that you show progression. This means in the first few reports, claim only level 1 – don’t claim level 2 at all. Then in the final report(s), claim the level 2s.

Now, let’s look at the scenario where you’re behind and you haven’t changed jobs nor titles.  For example, let’s say you haven’t submitted PER for 3 years and you worked in the same company and role for the whole period. In this case, create 1 big report for this entire date range.  Don’t split your report into smaller segments. Similar to above, you should send a brief email to your local CPA PER team and let them know you’re planning to write 1 big report and let them give you green light. As I said earlier, CPA PER team is inconsistent, it’s best to have written communication from so that your bases are covered. 

When you’re writing the 1 big report, the progression (ie, Level 0 and Level 1) can be skipped, you’re assumed to be already at level 2 because it’s a wide range, so claim mostly level 2s. Your challenge will be to write concisely because they will be looking for multiple examples in each area. I have a specialized PER template that will help you write multiple examples in 1 report and stay within the 5,000 character limit in my CPA PER Review coaching program.

Penalties when you’re behind on PERT

In an ideal world, candidates would create a PER report bi-annually (twice a year or every 6 months), meet their mentors twice a year and finish PERT at the exact 30-month point. The reality is that many students are behind on PER and they miss report submissions and mentor meetings. 

CPA provincial bodies penalize 1 month for every missed mentor meeting. So if we normally need 30 months to graduate, if you’re behind on PER, you’ll need more than this. For example, if you haven’t done PER reports nor met your mentor for 2 years, then you missed 4 mentor meetings (twice every year for two years). You’ll be penalized 4 months. This means you will need a total of 34 months to graduate. Your best course of action is catch up as soon as possible, by writing the catch up report(s), and once you get up-to-date, finish off any remaining months from your current job.

You can see what your penalty is by accessing your online PERT tool, clicking on Consolidated Summary and running it for all your reports. This will not display properly if you haven’t submitted any reports, so you will need to wait until you’ve submitted the catch up report(s) to find out.

How to write a PER report

I’ve written tips and tricks on PER in the articles below:

Keep an eye on my blog posts and social media channels for more articles. For personalized support, check my CPA PER Review courses for consultation, templates, examples and tailored support with writing your CPA PER reports.