Thought Leadership, Research & CPA Spotlights

Practical Experience Mentorship for Students

Removing roadblocks. Leading by example. Supporting CPA students through their practical experience journey.

Every day, mentors across Ontario help CPA students navigate the practical experience requirements of the CPA certification program. By sharing their knowledge, providing guidance, and helping students connect their workplace experience to CPA competencies, mentors play a critical role in developing the next generation of CPAs and business leaders.

Becoming a mentor is a meaningful career milestone and an opportunity to give back to the profession while helping aspiring CPAs achieve success. Follow the steps below to register and join thousands of mentors across Ontario who are making a lasting impact.

Orientation: Watch the mandatory orientation video, which gives an overview of the CPA Ontario Mentorship Program.

Registration: Complete the online registration application.

Confirmation: It can take up to one week for CPA Ontario mentor applications to be processed. You will receive an email from our team once your application has been approved and you can then officially begin mentoring CPA students.

What is involved?

Time commitment

Average 15 hours per year building relationship with your mentee.

Flexibility

Freedom to meet in person, online or over the phone.

Development

Support the development of valuable CPA competencies.

Documentation

Report meetings using the practical experience reporting tool (PERT).

Mentor journey

Thank you for deciding to mentor a CPA student through their practical experience journey. With your guidance, your mentee will develop and build their enabling competencies throughout the course of their required work term. Go through the steps below to understand the journey with your mentee.

Steps in the journey

01.

Close

Mentor match

How to find a mentee

Pre-approved program: Your mentee will be employed in this program and will be assigned to you by the Program Manager or Program Leader.
Experience verification route: Interested students will need to approach you directly to ask you to become their mentor.
To assist students in finding you or to help more students, consider joining the Mentor Match Portal, located within the Practical Experience Reporting Tool (PERT).
Provide the student you would like to mentor with the email address you used to apply to become a mentor and exchange any other contact information. Once the student adds your email address to their PERT profile, your mentorship relationship begins.

Additional Resources

Looking for more information about the mentoring process? Click on the resources below to learn more.

Get acquainted

Now that you are matched with a student, it’s time to get acquainted. A positive relationship with your mentee is critical to ensuring the success of the mentoring relationship. Just like any relationship, it's important to get off on the right foot.

How to connect

Begin by setting up an introduction meeting with your mentee within the first few weeks of matching.
In addition to getting to know each other, discuss what you expect to accomplish during the mentoring relationship and set expectations with your mentee. Consider your mentee’s prior experience, has it been approved by CPA Ontario and if so, how does it change what the student needs to accomplish throughout your relationship?

Additional resources

Looking for more information about the mentoring process? Click on the resources below to learn more.

First meeting

Now that you have built some rapport with your mentee and have outlined your expectations for each other, it is time to review, discuss and document their progress in the Practical Experience Reporting Tool (PERT).

You will need to have two documented meetings in PERT for every 12 months of current practical experience your mentee completes.

How to run the mandatory meeting

You will need to review your mentee’s experience report prior to meeting with them to familiarize yourself with their progress.
- Run a consolidated summary in PERT to give you an overview of their progress.
- Read their technical competencies report and determine if their self-assessment is reasonable. Ask yourself, could they have reached the level they assess themselves at in the time-period they have been reporting their current experience?
- Review their enabling competencies. Ask yourself, Is their description of the events clear? Do you have any questions about the experience they are trying to describe?
Meet with your mentee to discuss their experience report. Share your experiences and assist them with any issues they may be facing.
- Develop and agree on a competency development plan for future development
Following the meeting, take the time to document your notes in PERT. Your notes are fundamental in CPA Ontario’s interpretation of your mentee’s experience report.

Additional resources

Looking for more resources to help with this stage of the mentoring journey? Click on the resources below to learn more.

Completing a Mentor Meeting

Progress meetings

As you continue meeting with your mentee, you should be seeing the progress they make. Some mentees would have submitted prior experience to CPA Ontario, ensure you run the consolidated summary before every meeting to determine what competencies your mentee has left to demonstrate and report.

Prepare mentee to complete their experience

Continue preparing for, discussing and documenting your meetings with your mentee, while paying close attention to the competencies that are yet to be developed. Assist your mentee in identifying what they need to do in order to meet their competency requirements and update the competency development plan. Continue to meet with your mentee until they are ready for completion and CPA Ontario, with the help of your comments, has determined that all exit requirements have been met.
The following are the exit requirements a CPA student needs to meet in order to complete their Practical Experience:
- a minimum of 30 months of full-time, reported and relevant practical experience
- demonstrated proficiency in the core, depth and breadth of the technical competencies
- demonstrated proficiency in all enabling competencies
- supervisor sign off on the factual accuracy of the student experience
- completion and documentation in PERT the required number of mandatory meetings

Additional resources

Looking for more resources to help with this stage of the mentoring journey? Click on the resources below to learn more.

Close

Congratulations. As a result of your guidance and support, your mentee has completed their practical experience requirements and your mentor relationship can come to a close. We encourage you and your mentee to maintain your mentoring relationship outside of the CPA Certification Program and continue building your careers using what you have learned.

How to close the relationship

Ask your mentee to share final assessment results from CPA Ontario with you.
Congratulate your mentee on a job well done.

Thank you for your time and commitment to shaping the future of the CPA designation. We hope you found your role as a mentor to be rewarding and hope you will choose to assist more students gain their designation through your expertise.

Mentor Journey Resources

If you are a mentor to a CPA Ontario student, you can find documents, videos and webinars here that will support your mentor journey.

You can view more resources at the Centre for Mentoring Resources.