B.C. accountant fined $20K after stealing from family business, regulator says

Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada’s headquarters are seen in Toronto, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

A British Columbia man has been fined $20,000 and prohibited from describing himself a “professional accountant” or a “chartered accountant” after the profession’s provincial regulator found he stole more than $100,000 from a family business.

The Organization of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) says Brent Allan Geen of Port Moody is no longer a member of the profession following a decision by the regulator’s disciplinary committee.

In the March 24 decision, a committee panel determined that Geen violated the CPABC’s professional code of conduct by “stealing over $100,000 from a family business of which he was the controller with full banking authority.”

According to the ruling, Geen used the money to make unauthorized payments to his personal credit card, “which he knew or should have known was unlawful.”

Geen did not attend the disciplinary hearing and did not contest the allegations, the decision states.

The disciplinary panel found that Geen was fired by the unnamed family business in June 2024 after a company controller discovered he had used $105,535.25 in company funds to make 15 unauthorized payments to his credit card.

“He had falsified the accounting software records to make his credit card a payee in the accounting system and concealed the payments by entering them against a liability account to avoid detection,” the disciplinary panel wrote.

Geen then “ignored various demands for repayment” before the company filed a complaint with the regulator.

After the complaint was filed, from December 2024 until January 2026, Geen “systematically ignored the extensive correspondence about the complaint and the resulting investigation report, statement of complaint, and notice of hearing,” the decision said.

The panel found the allegations against Geen “were completely proved to the full satisfaction of the panel, without any mitigating factors, by the testimony and documents adduced in evidence at the hearing.”

‘Ungovernable and unfit’

Geen, who received his “chartered accountant” and “chartered professional accountant” designations in 1990, offered no explanation for his behaviour and made no offer of restitution to the business.

“There is no doubt that he did what he was accused of,” the panel wrote.

“Whether assessed individually or cumulatively as a whole, the member’s conduct fell substantially below the standards of conduct expected of a member of the profession,” the decision noted.

“While in a position of trust, he stole money and tried to cover it up. His fraudulent and deceitful conduct was not only unprofessional, it was a deliberate abuse of that trust. Such behaviour is reprehensible and unacceptable.”

The panel, chaired by member John Webster, said Geen’s failure to take responsibility and lack of co-operation with the disciplinary process “make him ungovernable, and unfit to be a member of the profession.”

As a result, Geen’s membership in the CPABC has been revoked, prohibiting him from using professional designations such as “chartered professional accountant,” “chartered accountant,” or “professional accountant,” as well as the initials “CPA,” “CA,” or “PA.”