Your Path to Becoming a CA: You are a member or past member of a recognized accounting body (including recognized U.S. State Boards of Accountancy)

If this describes you, you can apply to register with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (ICAO) as a membership candidate. You do not need to be a resident of Ontario when you register.

A membership candidate is someone whose accounting body has a reciprocity agreement with the Institute to recognize the qualifications of each other's members. As a membership candidate, you are exempt from the Professional Program requirement and the national Uniform Evaluation (UFE). In addition, you may be exempted from some or all of the work experience requirement.

Translations

If your documents are not in English, you must send original documents along with notarized translations. Find contact information for the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO).

Step 1) Registration as a Membership Candidate

To register as a membership candidate, you do not need to be a resident of Ontario. However, you must:

• be a current or past member of a recognized accounting body outside Canada
• have passed the normal final qualifying examination for membership in your accounting body
• have lived outside Canada for a period of at least three years before you wrote your accounting body's qualifying examinations

Application for the Registration Process

Send a completed membership candidate registration application form to the Institute.

Proof of Identity

• Include with your application form a copy of your birth certificate, along with a copy of your passport, proof of Canadian citizenship, Permanent Resident Card, or Record of Landing in Canada

and

• If you have changed your name, a copy of your marriage certificate or other legal document relating to your name change.

Membership in a Recognized Accounting Body Outside Canada

• Your accounting body must complete and send directly to the Institute a Confirmation from Recognized Accounting Body form.

Work Experience

• An Experience Certification Report must be signed by each of your past employers and submitted directly to the ICAO.

Residency Requirement

To show proof of residency, you may be required to submit:

• a copy of your Record of Landing in Canada or Permanent Resident Card,
• a copy of your birth certificate, and
• a transcript of your final qualifying exam with your professional accounting body.

Step 2) CA Reciprocity Examination (CARE)

The CA Reciprocity Examination tests your knowledge of Canadian taxation law, Canadian business law and the Canadian CA profession's rules of conduct. The examination is held once a year, in October, at the Institute's offices in Toronto.

To prepare for the CA Reciprocity Examination, you can take the one-week CARE Preparation Course offered through the Institute in August each year.

Find more information about the CA Reciprocity Exam (CARE) and the CARE preparation course [PDF].

Step 3) Practical Work Experience Requirement

To qualify as a CA in Ontario, you must complete three years of work experience in an approved training office. Qualifying practical experience is defined in terms of both the duration of the practical experience term and the depth and breadth of competency development during that term.

The Institute will evaluate your international experience to assess whether it is equivalent to experience normally acquired in an approved training office in Ontario. On the basis of this evaluation, you may be eligible for exemption from some or all of the practical work experience requirement.

If the Institute determines that your work experience is equivalent to the work experience acquired by an entry level Chartered Accountant in Ontario, you will be exempted from the practical work experience requirement. You will then be able to apply for membership in the Institute.

For more information about the practical work experience requirement, see the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants publication CA Practical Experience Requirements.

View a list of approved CA training offices in Ontario.

Step 4) Apply for Membership in the Institute

When you have completed all the requirements and your application has been approved by the Applications Committee, you will be eligible to apply for membership in the Institute. This membership allows you to use the CA designation or the title Chartered Accountant.

Fees for this Path

These fees are for 2010/2011.

Registration Fees (Date Application Received at the Institute)

	July 1- Dec 31, 2010	Jan 1 - June 30, 2010
Membership candidate registration fee	100.00	100.00
Maintenance of registration to June 30	250.00	125.00
HST	45.50	29.25
Total	$ 395.50	$ 254.25

Examination Fees (Before HST)

CA Reciprocity Examination (CARE)	425.00
CA Reciprocity Examination Preparation Course	630.00
Materials only for CARE Preparation Course	490.00

Membership Fees (Before HST)
Membership candidate admission (after passing the CARE)	500.00

Annual membership (in Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (ICAO) and Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA)

970.00