How to verify a CPD certificate online, step by step
Two kinds of people search for this. Some need to check a certificate someone else has given them: an employer, a manager, a reviewer at a professional body. Others want to be sure their own certificates will stand up if they’re selected for a CPD review. This guide covers both.
What verification tells you, and what it doesn’t
Verifying a certificate confirms that it is genuine: it was issued by the provider named on it, to the person named on it, for the activity, date and hours shown.
It does not tell you whether a professional body will accept those hours. That depends on whether the activity was relevant to the person’s work and whether it meets that body’s rules. Certificate registries say this themselves: confirming a certificate is genuine is a separate question from approving the learning. If you need the second question answered, see what counts as verifiable CPD [link: /blog/what-counts-as-verifiable-cpd].
What a verifiable certificate contains
Element | What it proves |
The participant’s full name | Who completed the activity |
The provider’s name and contact details | Who is vouching for it |
The title or topic of the activity | What was learned |
The date of completion | Which CPD year it belongs to |
The number of hours, ideally with how they were calculated | Whether the hours claimed are reasonable |
A unique certificate ID or verification code | That this specific certificate can be looked up |
A verification link or QR code | Where to look it up |
An assessment result, if there was one | That the person did more than attend |
A certificate missing the first five is weak evidence. A certificate missing the ID and verification route can’t be verified independently at all. You’re left taking it on trust.
Four ways to verify a certificate
1. Scan the QR code or open the verification link. Check the web address before trusting what it shows. It should be on the provider’s own domain. Then compare the details on the verification page with the certificate: name, activity, date and hours should match exactly.
2. Enter the certificate ID on the provider’s website yourself. Go to the provider’s website directly rather than following a link printed on the certificate. A forged certificate can carry a link to a forged page. Many providers that issue verifiable certificates have a lookup page.
3. Contact the provider. If there is no online lookup, email the provider using contact details from its own website, not from the certificate, and ask it to confirm the certificate ID, name and date.
4. For accredited courses, check the accreditation register. Some courses carry a CPD accreditation mark. The accrediting organisation’s register can confirm the course is accredited. It won’t confirm that this person completed it, so use it alongside one of the first three checks.
Red flags
What you see | Why it matters |
No certificate ID or verification route | Nothing can be independently checked |
The QR code opens a homepage or an unrelated site | It verifies nothing |
The details online don’t match the certificate | The certificate may have been altered |
Hours that don’t fit the activity, such as three hours for a 20-minute video | Hours must be reasonable, and reviewers check |
A provider you can’t find anywhere | You can’t confirm who issued it |
Mismatched fonts, uneven alignment or a blurred logo | Common signs of an edited PDF |
If it’s your certificate: make it hold up
If you’re selected for a CPD review, the reviewer will ask the same questions about your certificates. CPA BC sets out the clearest version of them we’ve seen. Documentation should describe the activity, identify the provider, connect you to it, show when it took place, and give a basis for concluding the hours are reasonable.
Check your certificates against that list now, while you can still get a missing one reissued. Then keep them for as long as your body requires:
Body | Keep CPD records for |
CPA Ontario | At least five years |
CPA BC | At least five years after the reporting period |
ACCA | Three years (six for practitioners in Ireland, five for tax practitioners in South Africa) |
CA ANZ | Six years |
How CPDProof certificates are verified
Every CPDProof certificate has a unique verification code and a QR code. Scanning it opens a verification page on cpdproof.com that confirms the certificate was issued by CPDProof, to you, for that video or article, on that date and for those hours, along with your note on why the learning was relevant to your work, if you added one.
That covers every item in the table above, including the one most self-study lacks: an assessment. The certificate records that you passed a quiz on that specific content. See how a CPDProof certificate works [link: /how-cpdproof-works]
Sources: CPABC, CPD FAQs · CPA Ontario, A Simple Guide to CPD Requirements (PDF) · ACCA, CPD quick guide (PDF) · CA ANZ, CPD requirements for members