The CPAB was formed in 2003 as part of Canada's response to the occurrence of accounting scandals that were happening worldwide, such as at Enron and Worldcom.

[13] In 2012, CPAB released a review it conducted of work done by Canadian audit firms with Chinese clients.

[14] This was significant, as, in 2011, 56 companies from China and other parts of Asia were listed on the TSX or TSX Venture Exchange, many getting their listings through reverse takeovers of dormant shell corporations,[14] and Sino-Forest Corporation had collapsed in mid-year after irregularities were found in its financial results.

[15] Because of irregularities such as those occurring at Sino-Forest, the CSA issued proposals in 2013 to require mandatory notification of certain events to reporting issuers and regulatory authorities,[16] which were subsequently adopted in 2014.

[17] In November 2015, the Board reported that the incidence of significant findings in files examined was increasing,[18] and that the most prominent audit issues concerned the execution of audit fundamentals and the understanding of a client's business processes that are relevant to financial reporting.