This will depend on the category of licence you wish to apply for.
- If you want a public accounting licence (audit, review or compilation), please read questions below and refer to Path for CPA Members and CPA Paths to Public Accounting.
- If you want a licence in an Other Regulated Services category, please submit your application and you will be advised of any additional requirements. This may include completion of the CPA Tax Elective if not completed through the certification process.
- As you qualified through a Review Path, it is assumed you have passed the Assurance and Tax electives and have demonstrated depth in financial reporting and assurance in your CFE exam.
- You will have obtained a minimum of 1,250 assurance hours of which at least 625 hours would have been in applying audit or review procedures to historical financial statements.
- Some of your experience may have been in audits but you will need to gain additional audit experience to reach the required minimum of 625 hours of experience in the audit of historical financial statements.
- In so doing you must develop depth in the audit and assurance competency area through working in progressively senior roles with a variety of audit clients and/or audit experiences.
- This audit experience must be obtained in a pre-approved audit path.
- For details of qualifying experience, see questions #13 and #14 below.
- You will need to complete education, evaluation and experience requirements for an Audit Licence or Review License, respectively.
- Please read the questions below and review the Path for CPA Members.
A member can work in a pre-approved path, as long as the firm is prepared to use one of its pre-approved path spots for that member. The firm must confirm this in writing with CPABC to enable an adjustment to be made in the number of paths available for students.
The forms should be signed by an appropriately licensed CPA member in the firm, who is in a position to oversee your work and progression. This will likely be the firm’s Program Leader for pre-approved paths.
- If additional assurance hours and/or competencies are required, you will have to obtain them in a pre-approved path.
- For details on qualifying experience, see questions #13 and #14 below.
The practical experience requirements have to be obtained within a five year rolling window (i.e. 60 months). For example, if you completed your pre-certification requirements in 30 months, then you will have an additional 30 months post-certification to meet any shortfall in assurance competency development or chargeable hours.
- If you at any time apply for a public practice licence in audit or review, you will have to meet the education, evaluation and experience requirements. See CPA Paths to Public Accounting and Path for CPA Members.
- If you obtained some of the assurance competencies and hours as a student in a pre-approved path and want them to count towards licensing, you have an additional 30-month window to top up the experience requirements. Note that all the qualifying practical experience should fall within a five year rolling window (see question #8 above).
- For details of experience requirements see questions #13 and #14 below.
- If you do not meet the experience requirements in a five-year rolling window, you may need to start from scratch in an appropriate pre-approved path in the future.
- Once you have met all the requirements, even if you don’t immediately apply for a licence, it will be noted on your member file that you are eligible for the relevant category of licensing.
- You will need to do the PDPA module and write the PDPA exam.
- You will also need to obtain the required practical experience if you did not do so for certification purposes.
- See questions #13, #14 and #15 below for details of qualifying experience.
- You will need to meet the education, evaluation and experience requirements for the category of licence you are seeking, as set out in the CPA Paths to Public Accounting.
- If you have not met the required education or evaluation requirements, you will be required to complete the PDPA module and examination. See Path for CPA Members.
- If you are lacking chargeable hours or competencies, you will have to obtain them within a five year window. This experience will have to be gained in a pre-approved assurance path.
- See questions #13, #14 and #15 below for details of qualifying experience.
- This will require you to have a public practice licence in the category Other Regulated Services – Reviewable.
- It is assumed that you passed the CPA PEP Tax elective.
- Professional development courses may be required if your tax experience is not current.
- For an audit licence, you must obtain 1,250 assurance hours, at least 625 of which must be in the audit of historical financial statements.
- These qualifying hours must all be obtained through working in a pre-approved path in progressively senior roles with a variety of assurance clients and/or assurance experiences which enable the CPA member/student to:
- achieve a depth in the audit and assurance competency area (requiring that the competencies be developed in all three audit and assurance competency sub-areas, with at least two at a level two), and
- to gain experience in at least three financial reporting competency sub-areas.
- For a review licence, you must obtain 1,250 assurance hours, at least 625 of which must be in the audit or review of historical financial statements.
- These qualifying hours must all be obtained through working in a pre-approved path in progressively senior roles with a variety of assurance clients and/or assurance experiences which enable the CPA member/student to:
- to gain experience in at least two competency sub-areas (both at level two) from the audit and assurance competency area, and
- to gain experience in at least three financial reporting competency sub-areas.
- For an audit licence, you must obtain at least 625 chargeable hours in the audit of historical financial statements.
- For a review licence, you must obtain at least 625 chargeable hours in the audit or review of historical financial statements.
- The following engagements may qualify for the balance of assurance hours to make up the total minimum 1,250 assurance hours requirement if the requirement is not met through the audit or review of historical financial statements (all references are from areas of the CPA Canada Handbook):
- CAS 805 - Audits of single financial statements and specific elements, accounts or items of a financial statement.
- 8500 - Reviews of financial information other than financial statements (replaced by CSRE 2400 after Dec. 24, 2017).
- AuG-6 - Examination of a financial forecast or projection included in a prospectus or other public offering document.
- The following engagements would not qualify towards the 1,250 chargeable hours in assurance (all references are from areas of the CPA Canada Handbook):
- Section 9100 - Reports on the results of applying specified auditing procedures. This would include Law Society, Real Estate Council and Other Specified Procedures Reports.
- Section 9200 - Compilation engagements.
- AuG-16 - Compilation of a Financial Forecast or Projection.
- 7600 - Reports on the application of accounting principles.
- 7200 - Auditor assistance to underwriters and others.
- 9110 - Agreed-upon procedures regarding internal control over financial reporting.
- 5815 - Audit reports on compliance with agreements, statutes and regulations.
- 5025 - Standards for assurance engagements other than audits of financial statements and other historical financial information (replaced by CSAE 3000 and 3001 for attestation engagements where the assurance report is dated on or after June 30, 2017)
- CSAE 3000 - Attestation engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information (post-June 30, 2017).
- CSAE 3001 - Direct engagements (post-June 30, 2017).
- CSAE 3410 - Assurance engagements on greenhouse gas statements.
- CSAE 3416 - Reporting on controls at a service organization.
- 8600 - Reviews of compliance with agreements and regulations.
- PS 5300 - Auditing for compliance with legislative and related authorities in the public sector.
- PS 5400, 6410 & 6420 - Value-for-money auditing in the public sector.