Indian and Pakistan Chartered Accountants (CAs) who are members of the related Institute of Chartered Accountants having a valid Membership Number and in good standing (aspiring registrants have to obtain a Letter of Good Standing from ICAI) are eligible to claim exemption under the respected MoU. Semi qualified Chartered Accountants or CA students are not covered under the MoU and will have to go through the entire process of CPA Ontario.

General Membership Criteria
This agreement applies to members in good standing who have gained membership in ICAI or one of the Canadian Provincial CPA bodies by meeting the education, examination, and practical experience requirements of ICAI or the Canadian Provincial CPA bodies respectively. Members in good standing of a Canadian Provincial CPA body covered by this agreement include members designated as CPA; CPA, CGA; CPA, CMA; and CPA, CA. This agreement does not automatically apply to individuals who have gained membership of ICAI or the Canadian Provincial CPA bodies through another agreement with a third party.

Joining a Canadian Provincial CPA Body
ICAI members meeting the general membership criteria will be eligible for membership in a Canadian Provincial CPA Body subject to:
a. Passing the final examination (the CPA Profession’s Common Final Examination (CFE));
and
b. Meeting the practical experience requirements (term, depth, breadth, and progression) of the Canadian CPA profession. Applicants with a recognized university degree and 2 years post-designation experience and applicants without a recognized university degree and 5 years post-designation experience will be admitted without a review of their practical experience. This is post qualification experience therefore, it does not include the period of articled training. Applicants with less than the specified post-designation experience will be subject to a review of their practical experience obtained pre- and post-designation. All relevant experience must have been gained as a member or student of ICAI. A candidate being a proprietor or a partner in a partnership firm of a licensed public practice is also considered as experience.

Just book-keeping or working in any other non-accounting (e.g. as a cashier/working in retail stores, etc.) capacity, may not be considered as experience. It has to be relevant accounting experience in terms of CPA, which is reviewed on a case to case basis. ICAI members preparing to sit the CFE are encouraged to attend Capstone 1 and Capstone 2 of the CPA Professional Education Program (even though both are optional) as both these modules are used to prepare candidates for writing the CFE. The CFE also assumes a core level of knowledge of Canadian tax, Canadian law, and Canadian Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises.

Experience requirement is assessed from the below if it is as per the requirement of 2/5 years as mentioned in Ques No. 2 of this section: 1. Letter of Good Standing and 2. Resume If CPA Ontario has any questions with regards to experience as stated in the resume they will follow up via e-mail.

If a candidate has less than 2 years / 5 years of post-qualification experience a detailed experience assessment is required to be done in which candidates have to provide paperwork for competencies achieved under all of the former/current employers. For each employer a separate form is required. CPAO will determine if a candidate has 30 months of relevant experience as prescribed in CPAO’s internal procedures. For example, if you have 15 years of experience you can provide and support as much or as little as you want but you need to fulfil the 30 months of competency requirements. We would recommend that the candidates add their articleship training experience as well so that CPAO can assess if this experience meets the competency requirements. Detailed experience assessment is taken up by the CPA Ontario after completion of registration as student and is not done immediately or at the time of registration. A candidate can pass the CFE but if they do not meet the experience requirements, the candidate’s CPA membership will not be conferred till the time they fulfil these requirements. If CPA Ontario has not yet assessed your experience after your student registration, you will be required to submit your Resume and the completed ICAI MOU change request form.

If CPA Ontario deems a candidate’s experience assessment as rejected or requires more experience, the candidate needs to undergo the stated experience duration and submit the detailed experience assessment again. It does not stop the candidate from giving CFE but might delay the timing in becoming a member.

CPA Ontario tries to do it at the earliest. Since it is done on case to case basis candidates who have registered for the CFE might be given priority and their assessment might be done earlier than the candidates whose experience assessment is not an immediate requirement. It may take anywhere between three to several months.

Yes

1. The New CA program will provide candidates with the CPA designation. Under the program, the candidate must demonstrate depth in Financial Reporting and Management Accounting. The candidate has an option to choose one elective of their choice out of the following: Assurance, Performance Management, Taxation or Finance. The candidate must demonstrate depth in this elective on Day 2 of CFE.
2. Register as a Student with CPA Ontario by submitting the following: – Relevant application forms (International Candidate Application Form, Form 6-1A for New CA) – Letter of Good Standing from ICAI which can be requested at the email address goodstanding@icai.in or online at https://appforms.icai.org/gsc/index.html Candidates must have a university degree recognized by ICAI. – Payment of student fees of C$819.25 including taxes. This amount is for the calendar year. However, if candidates register after June 30, they have to pay only the prorated amount of C$480.25 including taxes.

Description	January 1 to June 30	July 1 to December 31
Initial Administration Fee	$125	$125
Annual Student Fee (ASF)	$675	$337.50
Total Fee (before taxes)	$800	$462.50
Taxes on Initial Administration Fee	$16.25	$16.25
Taxes on ASF	$87.75	$43.87
Total Registration Fee due	$904.00	$522.62

Proof of legal name (For females, if married name is different then with ICAI records, a marriage certificate is a legal document for proof of legal name on passport)
https://media.cpaontario.ca/become-a-cpa/pdfs/Proof-of-Legal-Name.pdf
– Chronological resume
– Letter of Good Standing from other bodies where candidates hold membership.

  3. Application should be submitted 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
130 King Street West, Suite 3400
PO Box 358, Toronto ON M5X 1E1
Attention: Registrar’s Office

  4. CPA Ontario takes about 8 to 12 weeks to get candidates registered once complete documentation has been submitted. Once registered, CPA Ontario will send candidates a confirmation email.

Candidate must be a member in good standing of ICAI and have a university degree recognized by ICAI. A list of the documents required to apply for student registration can be found on CPA Ontario’s website at www.cpaontario.ca and by clicking on the below link: https://www.cpaontario.ca/become-a-cpa/why-cpa/internationally-trainedaccountants/member-of-specified-accounting-body

No. CPA Ontario requires a letter from ICAI which confirms candidates are a member in good standing and that candidates have obtained a university degree recognized by ICAI. CPA Ontario does not require candidates’ university transcripts.

Please refer to point 8 (a) above.

– The Student Registration Fee submitted with candidates’ application – fee is pro-rated depending on when candidates’ application is submitted:  $904.00 (Jan 1 to June 30)  $522.62 (July 1 to Dec 31) Annual Student Fee = C$675 + 13% HST = C$762.75 Capstone 1 = C$1,325 + 13% HST = C$1,497.25 (optional under new MoU) Capstone 2 = C$1,325 + 13% HST = C$1,497.25 (optional under new MoU) CFE = C$1,700 + 13% HST = C$1,921 Please note that fees are subject to change and candidates should therefore refer to CPA Ontario website for the current fees.

Students who do not pay the Annual Student Dues (ASD) are suspended. Students are deregistered if they do not apply for reinstatement by submitting all outstanding dues and penalties within 60 days. For queries contact: itaregistration@cpaontario.ca