All applicants are required to demonstrate competency in accounting and business knowledge before starting the Foundational Development module. This requirement is met by:
Passing the Knowledge Assessment
Applicants must start the Foundational Development module within five years of passing the Knowledge Assessment (KA),
OR
Knowledge Assessment Exemption Requirements
Applicants may be exempt from the Knowledge Assessment if they meet the following criteria:
Complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in accounting or business courses from a post-secondary institution(s), the CPA preparatory courses, or a combination of both.
- a. At least 21 of those credit hours cover the following required topic areas:
- Intermediate Financial Reporting
- Advanced Financial Reporting
- Intermediate Management Accounting
- Finance
- Assurance
- Taxation
- b. The remaining 24 credit hours may be any accounting or business-related courses
At least one course among the 45 required topic area credit hours must have been completed within five years of admission, demonstrating recent academic engagement in the field.
Important: Introductory management accounting courses do not count towards the 21-credit hour requirement.
Knowledge Assessment Exemption: Post-Secondary Coursework
21 Credit Hours: How to satisfy the required topic area requirement
Applicants interested in pursuing an exemption can select from pre-verified qualifying courses for the required topic areas (minimum 21 credit hour requirement) at post-secondary institutions† across Canada.
Select your region to see the CPA qualifying courses for exemption from the Knowledge Assessment at your university or college.
WITHIN ATLANTIC CANADA AND BERMUDA
NEW BRUNSWICK NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR NOVA SCOTIA PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND BERMUDAOUTSIDE OF ATLANTIC CANADA AND BERMUDA
BRITISH COLUMBIA & YUKON ALBERTA SASKATCHEWAN MANITOBA ONTARIO (COMING SOON) QUEBEC (COMING SOON)If your program is not listed, you may still be eligible for exemptions to the Knowledge Assessment. If you have any questions, please get in touch with your regional student recruitment advisor.
24 Credit Hours: How to satisfy the other accounting and business topic area requirement
Any accounting or business-related course from a post-secondary institution1 will count towards this requirement.
Specific and Foundational Competencies
If you are looking for guidance on which subjects can best support your preparation for the CPA Professional Program, the competencies below are recommended as a helpful guide.
Specific Competencies
- Assurance and trust
- Big data and data analytics
- Ethical decision-making (in a business context) and organizational governance/data governance
- Finance
- Financial reporting
- Management decision-making and information systems/technology
- Nonfinancial reporting
- Strategy, risk management, and innovation
- Tax
- Value creation
Foundational Competencies
- Economics and the underlying areas of quantitative methods and probability
- Law and legal forms of business
- Organizational behaviour
- Sustainability (in a business context)
Qualifying Course Prefixes
Courses with any of the following prefixes will count toward your 24 credit hours.
Note: This list is not exhaustive—other business and accounting courses may also qualify, even if their prefixes are not listed below.
| ABT
AC ACC ACCT ACCTG ACT ACWG ADMN ADTG AGEM AMIS BA BCAP BFIN BLAW BSYS BTMA BUAD BUQU BUS BUSA |
BUSD
BUSI BUSM BUSN CBSY CMIS CMNS COBA COM COMM COMN COMP DATA DGTR DVST EC ECDV ECN ECO ECON ENTI |
ENTR
ESB ETHC FIN FINC FINS FMGT FN FNCE GLBU GMGT HP HR HRIR HRLR HRM HRMN HUMR IBL IBUS IDM |
IGBM
IND INTB LDSH LEAD LGL MARK MAT MATH MG MGMT MGST MGT MIS MIST MK MKT MKTG MNGT MRKT MSCI |
OBHR
OPMA OPMG OPMT ORGB OT PADM SCM SCMN SCMT SGMA SGMT SMGT SMGT SPMA STA STAT STS TAX TAXN TAXX TMGT |
How is the currency requirement measured?
The currency requirement will be calculated based on the completion date of the course listed on your transcript.
- † Public post-secondary institutions or a post-secondary institution that is recognized by the International Handbook of Universities published by the International Association of Universities or a similar recognition service ↩︎