Your Path to Becoming a CA: Member or past member of a non-assessed accounting body

You are a member or past member of a non-assessed accounting body outside Canada. You are employed in a public accounting office in Ontario approved by the Institute for training CA students.

Step 1) Evaluation of Qualifications

You can ask the Institute to evaluate your academic background and work experience as well as the qualification process of your accounting body to determine if you are eligible for any exemptions from the academic, professional education, or practical work experience requirements. 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.

Exemptions from the Institute's professional education requirement (including the Core Knowledge Examination and School of Accountancy) are very rarely granted. However, if you feel your qualifications are exceptional in comparison with other applicants from the same accounting body, you may apply for exemption from the professional education requirement.

The evaluation process can take anywhere from three months to one year. If you are not satisfied with the assessment of your qualifications, you can petition the Applications Committee for a review. You will then be invited to attend a hearing before members of the Applications Committee at the Institute's office in Toronto, Ontario. At the hearing, you will present information that supports your request for full or partial exemption from the academic, professional education, and/or practical work experience requirements. The Applications Committee will make a final decision about whether you are eligible for any exemptions.

There is a waiting time of approximately three to four months to schedule a hearing before the Applications Committee.

Application Process

If your documents are not in English, you must send original documents along with notarized translations.

You need to send to the Institute:

• A chronological résumé showing you have completed at least three years of accounting, business, or other relevant work experience.
• Official transcripts of all courses you completed at university as part of your degree program. Be sure to send original transcripts issued by your university and not photocopies.
• A copy of your university's syllabus or course calendar with descriptions of all the courses you completed.
• 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.
• Copies of the final qualifying exam given in the year you were accepted as a member in your professional accounting body, along with your accounting body's answers or solutions to the questions. This information can be provided directly to the Institute by your accounting body.

Step 2) Academic Requirement

After evaluating your qualifications, the Institute may determine that you have not met the academic requirement. In this case, you will be asked to complete specific university courses to meet the requirement. Review the Settlement.Org University Education page for more about universities in Ontario.

Most public accounting firms in Ontario approved for training CA students are interested in hiring individuals who have completed the academic requirement. Therefore, it is recommended that you complete the academic requirement before seeking employment as a student CA.

51-credit-hour Academic Requirement

The 51-credit-hour requirement consists of 17 three-credit (or equivalent) courses approved by the Institute in the following areas:

Financial accounting	15
Cost and management accounting	6
Advanced accounting elective	3
Auditing	9
Taxation	6
Business information systems	3
Finance/financial management	3
Economics	3
Law	3
Total	51

Step 3) Practical Work Experience

Your next step to becoming a Chartered Accountant is to obtain employment as a student CA in a public accounting office in Ontario and begin your practical work experience. There are approximately 600 firms in Ontario approved for training CA students.

To qualify as a CA in Ontario, you must complete 30 months of work experience in an Ontario public accounting office approved for training CA students. Your work experience must include 2,500 chargeable hours. Half of these hours must involve audits. You may be granted some exemption from the practical experience requirement, based on an evaluation of your previous work experience.

For more information about the practical experience requirement, see the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants publication CA Practical Experience Requirements.

Once you have obtained either full- or part-time employment as a student CA, you will be eligible to register with the Institute as a student candidate.

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 4) 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 a non-assessed accounting body outside Canada
• be a resident of Ontario
• be employed in a public accounting office in Ontario approved by the Institute for training CA students.

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

• If you have not already provided it, 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.
• If you have not already provided it, 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

• If you have not already provided it, a detailed résumé showing that you have at least three years of work experience in accounting, business, or related areas.

Step 5) Staff Training Program

Within the first 12 months of beginning your practical work experience, you are required to complete a five-day staff training program. The objective of this program is to familiarize students with:

• the performance of audit and non-audit engagements
• the operation of a public accounting office
• the rules and regulations that govern the practise of public accountancy in Ontario

Many firms that train CA students offer an Institute-approved program. If your employer does not offer this program, you can attend one of the programs offered by the Institute throughout the year.

Step 6) Professional Program

Most student candidates enroll in the Institute's Professional Program at the end of their first year of practical work experience. The Institute's Professional Program has two components:

• the Core Knowledge Examination (CKE)
• the School of Accountancy (SOA)

Core Knowledge Examination

The Core Knowledge Examination (CKE) is a four-hour multiple-choice examination that tests your knowledge about the fundamentals of accounting. You must pass this examination before you are eligible to attend the School of Accountancy (SOA). You can write the Core Knowledge Examination in January or May.

School of Accountancy

The School of Accountancy (SOA) is a four-week period of full-time study in June. In the months before the School of Accountancy begins, you will be provided with readings and assignments to prepare for the School. The Institute also offers lectures and workshops during the winter months before the School of Accountancy to help you prepare.

End-of-School Examination

At the end of the four-week School of Accountancy, you will write the End-of-School Examination. This examination consists mainly of essay questions based on cases.

Step 7) Uniform Evaluation (UFE)

You can write the Uniform Evaluation (UFE) at any point after completing the School of Accountancy. 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. To be eligible to write the UFE, you must successfully complete or be exempted from the Professional Program.

Step 8) Practical Work Experience

Complete your practical work experience requirement.

Step 9) 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 and Professional School Fees

School of Accountancy (including the Core Knowledge Exam and the End-of-School Exam)

1,450.00

 

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