Your Path to Becoming a CA: Member or past member of a non-designated accounting body in the United Kingdom (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, or Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland)
You are a member of a non-designated accounting body in the United Kingdom (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, or Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland).
Please read this page carefully. These are the steps you need to take:
- Have your professional work experience evaluated by the Institute
- Get a job with a public accounting office in Ontario approved for training CA students
- Register with the Institute as a student
- Take an approved university course in Canadian business law before or after you register
- Take the Uniform Evaluation (UFE)
- Meet the 30-month practical work experience requirement
- Apply for membership in the Institute
Step 1) Evaluation of Qualifications
If your documents are not in English, you must send original documents along with notarized translations. Review information about finding a translator at Settlement.Org.
As a member of either the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales or the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, you are automatically exempt from the Institute's Professional Program.
You can ask the Institute to evaluate your professional work experience to determine if you are eligible for any additional exemptions from the practical work experience requirement. While you do not have to have your qualifications evaluated before you register with the Institute, you may wish to do so in order to help you make career decisions. The evaluation is free.
Administrative staff at the Institute will make a preliminary decision about your eligibility for exemptions and will notify you in about three months. Then you will attend a hearing before members of the Applications Committee at the Institute's office in Toronto, Ontario.
At the hearing, you will be invited to present information that supports your request for full or partial exemption from the practical experience requirement. The Applications Committee will make a decision about whether you are eligible for any exemption.
There is a waiting time of approximately three to four months to schedule a hearing before the Applications Committee.
Application Process
You need to send to the Institute:
- A chronological résumé showing you have completed at least three years of work experience in accounting, business, or related areas.
- Letters from your previous employers providing details about your work experience.
- A letter from your accounting body certifying that you are a "member in good standing" (see Glossary) or that at the time your membership ended, you were a member in good standing.
- Documentation from your accounting body explaining its qualification process, including education and work experience requirements. (This information can be downloaded from your accounting body's website.)
- An official transcript of the results of your final qualifying examination from your accounting body. Be sure to send an original transcript. Photocopies are not accepted.
Step 2) Practical Work Experience
For a list of firms in Ontario approved for training CA students, click here.
To qualify as a CA in Ontario, you must complete 30 months of work experience in public accounting. Your work experience must include 2,500 chargeable hours. Half of these hours must involve audits.
If the Institute determines that your previous professional experience does not meet the practical experience requirement, your next step to becoming a Chartered Accountant is to obtain employment as a student CA in a public accounting office in Ontario. There are approximately 600 firms in Ontario approved for training CA students.
For more information about the practical experience requirement, see the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants publication CA Practical Experience Requirements.
Employment Support for Newcomers
Communities throughout Ontario offer a variety of free and low-cost resources and supports to assist newcomers to find employment in their field. For information about employment programs, click here.
For more information about student CA jobs, click here.
Step 3) Registration with the Institute as a Student
To register with the Institute as a student candidate in this path, you must:
- be a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales or the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
- be a resident of Ontario
- be employed in a public accounting office in Ontario approved by the Institute for training CA students (or be exempted from the practical experience requirement)
Registration Process
Send a completed Student Registration form to the Institute.
Include with your registration form:
Proof of Identity
- A copy of your birth certificate, along with a copy of your passport, proof of Canadian citizenship, Permanent Resident Card, or Record of Landing in Canada
and
- If you have changed your name, a copy of your marriage certificate or other legal document relating to your name change.
Education
- An official transcript of all university courses you have taken as part of your degree. An official transcript has the official stamp or seal of your university. Photocopies of transcripts are not accepted.
- A university syllabus or course calendar from your university describing the courses you completed. If this document is not in English, you must send as well a notarized translation of course descriptions for all courses you completed.
Professional Membership
- If you have not already provided it, a letter from your accounting body confirming that you are a "member in good standing" (see Glossary). If you are not currently a member, the letter should confirm that you were a member in good standing up to the point when you stopped being a member. Be sure to send an original letter and not a photocopy.
Work Experience
- A detailed résumé showing that you have at least three years of work experience in accounting, business, or related areas.
Step 4) University Course in Canadian Business Law
Take an approved university course in Canadian business law either before or after you register with the Institute. Review the Settlement.Org University Education page for more about universities in Ontario.
Step 5) Uniform Evaluation (UFE)
You can write the UFE a maximum of four times. If you do not pass the exam the fourth time you write it, you will not be eligible for membership in the Institute as a Chartered Accountant.
The UFE is held over a three-day period and covers the basic knowledge needed by a public accountant working at an entry level. During the exam, you will write three papers, one paper each day. You will respond to descriptions of business situations that represent the kinds of challenges you have faced during your work experience or will soon be facing in your professional career as a CA.
The UFE is held every year in September at several locations across Ontario.
Step 6) Practical Work Experience
Complete your practical work experience requirement.
Step 7) Application for Membership
When you have completed all the requirements, you will be eligible to apply for membership in the Institute. This membership allows you to use the CA designation and the title Chartered Accountant. Also, the CA designation makes you automatically eligible for a licence to practise public accounting.
Application and Membership Fees for this Path
Note: Prices do not include GST.
| Jan. 1 - June 30 | July 1 - Dec. 31 | |
| Student registration processing fee | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Annual maintenance of student registration | 250.00 | 125.00 |
| Chartered Accountants Students' Association of Ontario (CASAO) annual membership | 30.00 | 15.00 |
| 380.00 | 240.00 |
Examination Fees
| Uniform Evaluation (UFE) | 1,150.00 |
Membership Fees
| Student admission (after fulfilling the student requirements) | 500.00 |
| Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (ICAO) annual membership | 470.00 |
| Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) annual membership | 425.00 |