Francis Seguin, CPA, CA on How Small and Medium Practices Can Strengthen Their Systems of Quality Management
October 5, 2026
When a small or medium-sized practice falls short during an inspection, it is easy to assume its practitioners lack the necessary expertise. Francis Seguin, CPA, CA sees the issue differently.
“I don’t feel that it’s a lack of competence,” he says. “CPAs at smaller firms have completed the same education, examinations and professional training as those at national firms. The difference is often resources.”
Seguin, a professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais and a fractional CFO, has years of experience helping firms develop and improve systems of quality management.
Large firms can draw on international networks, specialized teams and investments in technology. Smaller practices may not have that capacity. Their challenge is to build a practical quality management system that works with the people, tools and time they have available.
According to Seguin, one of the most effective places to begin is also one of the simplest: read the standards – including the explanatory material.
Read beyond the standard
Seguin suggests that some of the challenges firms have experienced implementing new standards may stem from an incomplete understanding of how they differ from previous requirements. The application and other explanatory material that accompanies the standard provides context behind its requirements and practical insight into how they should be applied.
It is also manageable. Seguin notes that practitioners can work through the material relatively quickly and even count the time toward eligible self-directed professional development.
However, Seguin notes, understanding the standard is only the first step.
Firms need templates, working papers and compliance documents that demonstrate how the requirements have been applied.
Seguin also recommends connecting with other firms to conduct peer reviews. Smaller firms can review one another’s tools and approaches, compare practices and identify gaps that may be difficult to see from inside their own organization.
Another key recommendation from Seguin? Regularly read the materials issued by CPA Ontario.
These resources, such as the 2025 Quality Management Report, the Quality Management Bulletin on Governance and System of Quality Management for Firms Performing Compilation Engagements, offer valuable guidance and practical information for practitioners, while supporting continuing professional development (CPD). This is learning that may count toward self-directed CPD.
Make quality someone’s responsibility
Seguin recommends appointing a quality champion who can support teams across audits, reviews and compilation engagements. Their role is to keep quality visible and ensure important decisions receive appropriate consideration.
That work must extend beyond individual engagement files. “Peer review of files is valuable,” Seguin says. “But they do not fully address aspects like governance, leadership, ethics, training or professional development, which are just as important.”
A strong system of quality management requires firms to understand CSQM 1 and CSQM 2, identify their most significant risks and establish policies and procedures that respond to those risks. Firms must then monitor the entire system - not only completed files.
Inspection findings should be turned into a written work plan with priorities, assigned responsibilities and specific deadlines. Rather than attempting to fix everything at once, firms can begin with the changes likely to have the greatest impact.
AI will put quality systems to the test
According to Seguin, artificial intelligence (AI) may be the next major test of those systems.
AI offers smaller firms an opportunity to analyze large volumes of data, complete work more efficiently and potentially narrow some of the resource gap separating them from national practices. However, Seguin cautions that firms cannot simply accept what a system produces.
“We’re not at the point, at least not yet, where we are able to simply close our eyes and rely on the technology,” he stresses.
Like with most applications of AI, professional judgment remains essential. CPAs must determine whether an AI-generated result is accurate, sufficient and representative of the underlying data.
Client confidentiality presents another concern. Before entering client information into an AI platform, practitioners need to understand how that information will be stored, used or incorporated into the system. Firms cannot authorize the dissemination of information that belongs to their clients.
All of these questions should become part of a firm’s quality management framework. Policies should identify which tools may be used, what information may be entered and who is responsible for reviewing the output.
For smaller practices, quality management is not about matching the resources of a national firm. It is about creating reliable systems that help people make sound decisions - even as the tools around them change.
Francis Seguin will be presenting a session on Compilation Engagement & Quality Management at CPA Ontario’s Small and Medium Practitioners Conference on October 22 & 23. You can register for the conference here.