Public Accounting Licences to Ontario CGAs
Certified general accountants in Ontario can now sign off on audits. On June 22, the Public Accountants Office for the Province of Ontario announced CGA Ontario could begin granting public accounting licences to its members. Public accounting is the assurance, auditing or reviewing of the financial statements used by third parties. In the past, CGAs could work on audits but the work had to be reviewed and signed off by a chartered accountant.
To qualify for a public accounting licence in Ontario, students in the CGA program must have a university or college degree and pass 17 courses required by CGA Ontario. They must pass the technical proficiency exam (TPE), professional applications 1 (PA1) and applications in practice (AP1) courses and exams. The TPE is a 125 multiple choice five hour long exam that will be held in December.
The PA1 is a case-based course focusing on financial accounting, taxation, assurance, and leadership. The four hour exam consists of multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, and a case study. The AP1 is another case method course with about half the content focusing on auditing and financial reporting. The balance of the curriculum consists of ethics, finance, management accounting, and taxation.
In addition to the course load, students must also work 30 months and 2,500 hours in an approved training office.
CGA Ontario Partners with HRPA
CGA Ontario and the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) have formed a partnership. The closer ties include sharing news to members and hosting joint professional development events.
One of the first initiatives is a two-day program that leads to a Certificate in Human Resources for CGAs. The program includes seminars on employment law, diversity, interviewing, orientation, compensation, benefits, performance management and terminations. CGAs can also join the HRPA at less than a third the cost of a general membership.
CMA Ontario hosts Connections 2010
The 19th edition of CMA Ontario’s annual career and networking fair is on Friday, September 24th. The event takes place from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the new CMA Ontario Professional Development Institute in downtown Toronto. This is a great chance for students to network with top employers such as Loblaw, Investors Group, Manulife Financial and the Ontario Public Service.
For more information, visit: www.cmaontario.org/connections.
Students interested in attending this event can become a CMA student member. Annual membership benefits include ongoing access to CMA Ontario’s student employment program, the annual CMA Case Competition (for a chance to win $5,000), Management magazine, student e-newsletters, personalized business cards, member & career services such as a new mentoring program and networking events, and much more. To sign up, visit: www.cmaontario.org/ studentmembership.
CMA Launches “Create Possibilities” Marketing Campaign
CMA has launched a bright new marketing campaign to promote the designation and its members. The campaign profiles CMAs across Canada such as Jacques Cote who is CFO of the Canadian Space Agency; Shawn Burns, president & CEO of Carbon Credit Corp and Geeta Tucker, CFO of Agriteam Canada Consulting Ltd. You can find their videos at www.becomeacma.com.
New look for CMA in Ottawa
CMA Ontario has opened a new Professional Development Institute Training Centre in downtown Ottawa at 110 O’Connor St. It will be home to information sessions and continuing education programs. In addition, Marcie Chase has joined CMA Ontario as their new regional marketing manager for Eastern Ontario. She will be based in Ottawa. Before CMAO, Chase, a CMA, worked in senior accounting and finance roles for organizations in the Caribbean, Europe and Canada.
Jagt Joins ICAO
Cordie Jagt is now associate director of career information at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. She joins the ICAO while Mona Ghiami is on maternity leave. Jagt was previously Greater Toronto Area recruitment coordinator at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Jagt is a graduate of McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business where she was president of the DeGroote Accounting Association. She was also featured in the 2008-2009 edition of Career Insider Accounting.
ICAO Organizing Finance Conference
The ICAO will be hosting its inaugural Chartered for Finance Conference on January 14, 2011. The conference will showcase CAs working in finance. Admission is free for students selected to attend the event. To qualify, you must be a student at an Ontario university. To apply, go to www.guidetorulingtheworld.ca/CharteredForFinance. Deadline application is December 3, 2010.
DeGroote Receives ICAO Accreditation
McMaster University’s MBA program has been accredited by the ICAO. Among other things, that means students pursuing a CA designation won’t have to worry about keeping track of their 51 credit-hour requirement. Other ICAO accredited masters programs include the Master of Management & Professional Accounting (MMPA) program at the University of Toronto and the Master of Accounting (MAcc) program at the University of Waterloo.
