The mutual recognition agreement (MRA) between all Canadian CPA bodies and the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB), representing the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), came into effect on January 1, 2018.

These are the U.S. state boards with which Canadian CPA bodies currently have reciprocity agreements:

• Alabama State Board of Public Accountancy
• Arizona State Board of Accountancy
• Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy
• California State Board of Accountancy
• Colorado State Board of Accountancy
• Connecticut State Board of Accountancy
• Delaware State Board of Accountancy
• District of Columbia Board of Accountancy
• Florida Board of Accountancy
• Idaho State Board of Accountancy
• Illinois Board of Examiners and Dept. of Financial & Professional Regulation
• Indiana Board of Accountancy
• Iowa Accountancy Examining Board
• Kansas Board of Accountancy
• Kentucky State Board of Accountancy
• State Board of CPAs of Louisiana
• Maine Board of Accountancy
• Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy
• Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy
• Michigan Board of Accountancy
• Minnesota State Board of Accountancy
• Missouri State Board of Accountancy
• Montana State Board of Public Accountants
• Nebraska State Board of Public Accountancy
• Nevada State Board of Accountancy
• New Hampshire Board of Accountancy
• New Jersey State Board of Accountancy
• New Mexico Public Accountancy Board
• New York State Board for Public Accountancy
• North Carolina Board of CPA Examiners
• North Dakota State Board of Accountancy
• Accountancy Board of Ohio
• Oklahoma Accountancy Board
• Oregon State Board of Accountancy
• Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy
• Rhode Island Board of Accountancy
• South Carolina Board of Accountancy
• South Dakota Board of Accountancy
• Tennessee State Board of Accountancy
• Texas State Board of Public Accountancy
• Utah Board of Accountancy
• Vermont Board of Accountancy
• Virginia Board of Accountancy
• Washington State Board of Accountancy
• West Virginia Board of Accountancy
• Wisconsin Accounting Examining Board
• Wyoming Board of Certified Public Accountants

Registration Eligibility

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

• Be a licensee in good standing of a U.S. State Board with which Canadian CPA bodies currently have reciprocity (see list above),
• 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 the first part of the U.S. AICPA Uniform CPA Examination.
• and you meet the following additional criteria:

• • You have the equivalent of at least 150 semester hours of college or university education, including a baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a college or university acceptable to a state board. U.S. CPAs who qualified prior to the introduction of the 150-semester hour requirement are grandfathered in by this agreement as having met the 150-semester hour requirement.
  • You have passed the Uniform CPA Examination.
  • You have 30 months of relevant practical experience.
  • You are in compliance with the Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirements of your State Board.

U.S. CPAs who are, or have been, Canadian residents must meet additional requirements.

Applicants who wrote one or more parts of the U.S. Uniform CPA examination while:

• a resident of Canada; or
• after they became a resident of Canada; or
• after they returned as a resident to Canada

must, in addition to the above eligibility requirements, have obtained either:

• a university degree from a degree-granting institution of higher education in the U.S. as a result of having attended the institution in person for classroom instruction on a full-time basis; or
• have at least one year of full-time practical experience in accounting in the U.S.

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.

Exclusions

U.S. CPAs who obtained their U.S. CPA credential by qualifying under a reciprocal agreement that the NASBA and the AICPA may have with another professional accountancy organization are not eligible under this agreement. This includes all mutual recognition agreements, reciprocal membership agreements, and other similar agreements that the NASBA/AICPA may have had at any time.

Note: If you are a member in good standing of a U.S. State Board that does NOT have reciprocity with Canada, or if you do not meet the eligibility criteria set out in the MRA, you may be eligible to complete the Canadian CPA Certification Program via the Member of Accounting Body Outside Canada pathway. 

Program Requirements

Once you have been approved for registration as an applicant, 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 Reciprocity Professional Development Course (CARPD) by the second anniversary of the date of admission to membership. CARPD consists of approximately 20 hours of online study in Canadian tax, law and ethics in a modular form. The Registrar may grant an exemption from this requirement only if the applicant has successfully completed the CPA Reciprocity Examination within two years of having obtained membership in CPA Ontario.

Practical Experience Requirements

Upon receipt of a completed application for registration, you will have your application and supporting documents assessed by the Registrar to determine if you have at least 30 months of relevant practical experience. Applicants with at least two years of relevant post US-CPA qualification experience satisfactory to the Registrar will be considered to have met the 30-month requirement. You may be required to complete a Practical Experience Certificate for Internationally Trained Accountants for all relevant accounting experience to demonstrate that the Canadian CPA experience requirements have been met.

How to Register

To register with CPA Ontario as an applicant under the State Board in the U.S. pathway, please submit the following:

• An International Candidate Application Form;
• Certification of Membership Form. An applicant is required to provide confirmation that the applicant is a CPA in good standing with State Board of Accountancy in the U.S. Such confirmation 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 document is required. Applicants are solely responsible for contacting their State Board and requesting such confirmation. CPA Ontario reserves the right to contact the State Board specified above or any other professional or regulatory body and to make inquiries and/or obtain information in relation to this application;
• An International Candidate - Application For Registration form (this form is temporarily unavailable);
• Fee remittance - see details below;
• Sign and date CPA Ontario's Academic Code of Conduct and abide by it;
• Proof of legal name
• 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, either with your application or mailed directly to CPA Ontario by mail or email from the accounting body.
• A Practical Experience Certificate for Internationally Trained Candidates for all relevant accounting experience to demonstrate that CPA Ontario’s experience requirements have been met (required if you have less than 30 months of relevant experience); 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 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. 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.

For more information on how to access your records, please see our Access to Records Policy

Submission Instructions

All documentation must be provided in English. You are responsible to have documents officially translated if necessary.

Your application will not be considered complete 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.

ITAregistration@cpaontario.ca
 CPA Ontario
69 Bloor Street East
Toronto, ON M4W 1B3
Attention: Registrar’s Office

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

Timeline

On average, we estimate that it will take approximately 5 months, from the time a complete application is received by CPA Ontario, for an applicant from a State Board in the U.S. qualifying pursuant to this MRA to complete the process leading to admission to membership.

Fees

Individuals applying for registration as applicants are required to remit the fees indicated below.

The fees include HST and can be paid by credit card or by cheque made payable to Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.

*If your registration application is denied or if it 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.

Fees associated with admission to membership and annual member dues are as follows:

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

An applicant 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 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 may be appealed by the individual 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.

Requests to consider alternative documentation

In extraordinary circumstances where required documents are not obtainable for reasons beyond their control, applicants can take steps to explore acceptable alternative documentation. Requests to consider alternative documents are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Please contact Student Services at transcriptregistration@cpaontario.ca for more information prior to submitting your application.