The Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. permanently cancelled Safiya Ibrahim Elshazly’s membership and ordered a $25,000 fine.
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Safiya Ibrahim Elshazly, a Burnaby woman, has been banned by the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. after a hearing panel found she made fraudulent misrepresentations to employers, recruiters, clients and investigators.
In a decision published from a hearing panel dated Oct. 7, CPABC permanently cancelled Elshazly’s membership and fined her $25,000.
CPABC said Elshazly repeatedly associated herself with resumes and biographies containing false information about her credentials and work experience, and that she “deliberately contrived and knew were false.”
The regulator said Elshazly took “many intentional steps to avoid detection and cover up the truth,” including impersonating others and co-opting personal friends to help “cheat with her,” involving them in the “lies and deceptions.”
CPABC said the conduct “manifests to reckless and flagrant dishonesty and constitutes conduct unbecoming of a member of CPABC,” and that Elshazly can no longer use or display any designations that fall under CPABC’s jurisdiction.
According to the hearing panel decision, Elshazly completed an associate degree in business administration at Douglas College and entered the CPABC professional education program in 2019.
CPABC said that to obtain the CPA designation she needed to complete at least 30 months of paid, relevant and progressive work experience, but that in 2020 she accepted a job while falsely claiming to hold the CPA designation.
The decision said Elshazly began working with public accounting firm Johnsen Archer in January 2022, and signed her emails as “Safiya Elshazly, CPA | Senior Accountant.”
A year later, Johnsen Archer fired Elshazly after CPABC informed the firm that she was only a student candidate.
CPABC said Elshazly then engaged a recruiting agency to find another job using the same false credentials, and that the agency identified a fraud alert after receiving her application and a falsified reference from Johnsen Archer originating from the same IP address.
The regulator also found Elshazly “committed a fraud on CPABC to gain admission” by submitting falsified practice experience reports, including a claim that she had worked as a senior accountant at HO Sports despite doing only part-time contract work.
CPABC further said Elshazly was untruthful with CPABC’s investigator and staff, and that it was “not until the overwhelming and undeniable evidence against her was ready to be presented at the hearing that she admitted to all of the allegations against her.”
Business in Vancouver reported it was unable to locate Elshazly to offer an opportunity to comment on the decision.
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