B.C. accountant fined $10K after taking 2 full-time manager jobs at the same time

Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada’s headquarters are seen in Toronto on Oct. 6, 2023. CPABC is a member of CPA Canada. (Cole Burston / The Canadian Press)

A B.C. accountant has been disciplined by his profession’s provincial regulator for taking full-time jobs with two different national firms simultaneously and not telling either company about the arrangement.

Karan Bhatti, a Chartered Professional Accountant from Victoria, contravened several rules of the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C.’s Code of Professional Conduct, according to a statement from the organization.

Bhatti was “employed in a full-time manager role at a national accounting firm, and then simultaneously began working in a full-time manager role at a second national accounting firm,” the statement reads.

“This dual employment continued for a period of months, until each firm became aware of the concurrent employment, at which time Mr. Bhatti resigned from both firms.”

Bhatti also submitted an expense report related to a professional development course for reimbursement from the first company, then submitted a similar report for the same course for reimbursement from the second, CPABC said.

The organization added that Bhatti had repaid both firms since resigning.

CPABC’s investigation committee found that Bhatti’s conduct contravened the code’s provisions for maintaining the good reputation of the profession, acting with integrity and due care, not making false or misleading documents and oral representations and avoiding conflicts of interest.

The committee recommended that Bhatti accept a reprimand for his conduct, pay a fine of $10,000 and pay investigation expenses of $3,414.