If you are a member in good standing of a Recognized Accounting Body, you may qualify for registration as an applicant under the Recognized Accounting Body pathway.

The requirements to be met to apply to register as an applicant and to qualify for admission to membership in CPA Ontario are set out in Regulation 6-2: Applicant Registration.

Registration Eligibility

In order to qualify for registration as an applicant you must:

• be a member in good standing with a Recognized Accounting Body specified in Schedule C of Regulation 6-2, Applicant Registration (please see page 11 for the list of Recognized Accounting Bodies); and
• not have been registered with CPA Ontario or another provincial body as a student in the five (5) years prior to, or at the time of, writing any part of the normal qualifying examination(s).

In addition to the above, if you wrote one (1) or more part(s) of the normal qualifying examination of the recognized accounting body while:

• you were a resident of Canada; or
• after you became a resident of Canada; or
• after you returned as a resident to Canada,

Then you must have obtained either: 

• a university degree from a degree-granting institution of higher education as a result of having attended the institution in person for classroom instruction on a full-time basis; or
• at least one (1) year of full-time practical experience in accounting in the country of the Recognized Accounting Body.

Please note that "becoming a resident of Canada" means the date of landing in Canada as evidenced by government documentation, excluding any period of time of temporary residency in Canada under a temporary visa or student visa following the expiry of which residency in Canada ceased or ceased for a continuous period of at least one year prior to returning to Canada.

How to Register

To register with CPA Ontario as an applicant under the Recognized Accounting Body pathway, please submit the following:

• an International Candidate Application Form;
• a Certification of Membership Form (Appendix I of the International Candidate Application Form contains this form.) All applicants are required to provide confirmation that their membership in a Recognized Accounting Body is in good standing. Such confirmation must be provided by the Recognized Accounting Body in prescribed form and should be sent directly to CPA Ontario by mail or email from the accounting body. If the Applicant is submitting the letter with their application, the original is required. Applicants are solely responsible for contacting their accounting body and requesting such confirmation. CPA Ontario reserves the right to contact the Recognized Accounting Body specified above or any other professional or regulatory body and to make enquires and/or obtain information in relation to this application;
• an International Candidate – Application for Registration form;
• Fee remittance – see below;
• sign and date CPA Ontario's Academic Code of Conduct and abide by it;
• proof of legal name – satisfactory evidence of legal name includes a copy of any one of the following: birth certificate or equivalent government-issued documentation, passport, both sides of a Canadian citizenship certificate card, both sides of a Permanent Resident card, or landed immigrant papers. If the name under which you are applying to register is different from that which appears on the document submitted as proof of legal name, a copy of the document supporting the change of legal name, endorsed with “this is a certified true copy” signed and dated, is required;
• a detailed chronological résumé listing all work experience;
• letter(s) of good standing from all other professional accounting bodies in which you hold membership (originals must be submitted with your application or they can be sent directly by mail or email from your accounting body);
• a Practical Experience Certificate for Internationally Trained Candidates for all relevant accounting experience to demonstrate that the experience requirements have been met; and
• Residency Documents: Documentation showing the date you first landed in Canada, Documentation showing the year you first filed a Canadian Income Tax Return, Copy of Canadian Customs and Immigration Landing Documents (if applicable), Copy of Canadian VISAs held (if applicable), Copy of passport page(s) containing immigration stamp(s) to support Canadian entry/exit dates and/or residency pattern at the time of writing the normal qualifying examination(s) or uniform CPA examination, Memorandum prepared on a supplementary sheet outlining, in sufficient detail, your residency pattern at the time of writing the uniform CPA examination or the normal qualifying examination(s). The memorandum must also provide clarification as to whether you maintained a home or mailing address in Canada at the time of writing the uniform CPA examination or normal qualifying examination(s).

Submission Instructions

All documentation must be provided in English. You are solely responsible to have documents officially translated if necessary. Your application will not be considered completed until all information and documentation has been received. It is your responsibility to ensure the application is complete and accurate and is received by the Registrar.

Submit your application via email or regular mail. Information completed via affidavit and containing a notary or commissioner stamp or seal must be submitted in original form by regular mail. 

 E-mail: ITAregistration@cpaontario.ca

 Mail: CPA Ontario
          69 Bloor Street East
          Toronto, ON M4W 1B3
          Attn: Registrar’s Office

Upon receipt of your completed application for registration, you will be informed within eight to twelve weeks of the Registrar’s decision.

The Prescribed Practical Experience Requirement

Upon receipt of a completed application for registration, you will have your application and supporting documents assessed by the Registrar to determine if you meet the prescribed practical experience requirement.

The determination to be made is whether you have acquired, as a result of your professional qualification(s) and previously acquired experience in accounting, the depth and breadth of competency development required at the time of admission to membership as established by the CPA Practical Experience Requirements (CPA PER).

Program Requirements

Once you have been approved for registration as an applicant, you will be required to successfully complete the CPA, CA Reciprocity Examination, Part I (CARE). After successful completion of the CARE, if you have fulfilled or been exempted from the prescribed practical experience requirement, you will be eligible to apply for membership as a member in CPA Ontario. Members are awarded the Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant designations and are therefore entitled to use the initials CPA, CA in Ontario.

In order to maintain your membership with CPA Ontario, you will be required to successfully complete the CPA, CA Reciprocity Professional Development Course (CARPD) by the second anniversary of the date of admission to membership. This course consists of approximately 20 hours of online study in Canadian tax, law and ethics in a modular form. More information can be found at CPA, CA Reciprocity Professional Development Course (CARPD) .

Public Accounting Licensing Eligibility

Admission to membership in CPA Ontario and the granting of the right to use the designations Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant and the initials, CPA, CA, in Ontario does not automatically qualify a member to be licensed as a public accountant. Members of CPA Ontario who seek to be licensed as public accountants in Ontario must fulfill the specific requirements prescribed by the Public Accountants Council pursuant to the Public Accounting Act, 2004 and by the Bylaws and Regulations. One of these requirements is the successful completion of Part II of the CARE.

Please refer to the Public Accounting Licensing section of CPA Ontario’s website for more detailed information on obtaining a public accounting licence in the province of Ontario.

Timeline

The timeline to qualify for admission to membership in CPA Ontario will be largely determined by the number of attempts taken to successfully complete the CARE Part I and upon how much of the practical experience requirement the applicant still needs to fulfill.

On average, it takes approximately 16 months, from the time a complete application is received by CPA Ontario, for an applicant from a Recognized Accounting Body to complete the process leading to admission to membership.

Fees

Individuals applying for registration as applicants are required to remit the fee indicated below. The fee amount includes HST and must be remitted by credit card or by cheque made payable to Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario. The total fee consists of the following:

*If your registration application is deemed incomplete and returned by CPA Ontario, the Initial Administration Fee plus applicable taxes will be considered forfeit (non-refundable). All other fees that have been paid plus applicable taxes will be refunded with the incomplete application.

**This fee covers the period July 1 to June 30.

Please refer to Regulation 4-2, Dues for a complete listing of dues and fees, including the costs of the CARE exam, the CARPD course and admission to membership fees.

An applicant/student may be responsible for additional costs imposed by external parties. These costs are not levied by CPA Ontario and are beyond CPA Ontario’s control. Therefore, CPA Ontario is unable to advise applicants/students of the total gross or net costs (after taking into account reimbursements or other subsidies made available by external parties) of the registration and qualification to membership processes. All costs levied by CPA Ontario have been approved by Council and are found in Regulation 4-2, Dues.

Appeal Rights

A decision of the Registrar not to register or reregister an individual as an applicant or to deregister an applicant may be appealed by the individual or applicant to the Membership Committee. The parties to an appeal are the individual appealing and the Registrar. The appeal shall be conducted in accordance with the Rules of Practice and Procedure. The decision of the Membership Committee is final.

Decisions relating to assessment of experience are eligible for a review. Reviews of these decisions may take place upon request and if additional or new information is provided.

CPA Ontario’s Academic Code of Conduct

Please note that anyone registering under this category will be required to file a declaration of acknowledgement of, and agreement to abide by, CPA Ontario’s Academic Code of Conduct.

For more information, please contact ITAregistration@cpaontario.ca