What competencies are essential to become a CPA?
The practical experience period immerses you in a professional workplace where you will develop many competencies that will prepare you to face a variety of real-life situations. During this period, you will be assigned tasks that will help you acquire or enhance the technical and enabling competencies of CPAs. These are the competencies you must document in your practical experience reports that you will submit to your mentor and the Order.
Technical competencies are divided into six areas
Financial reporting
- Financial reporting needs and systems
- Accounting policies and transactions
- Financial report preparation
- Financial statement analysis
Management accounting
- Management reporting needs and systems
- Planning, budgeting and forecasting
- Cost / revenue / profitability management
- Organizational / individual performance measurement
Audit and assurance
- Internal controls
- Internal and external audit requirements
- Internal audit projects and external assurance engagements (risk response and reporting)
Strategy and governance
- Governance / mission, vision, values and mandate
- Strategy development / implementation
- Enterprise risk management
Finance
- Financial analysis and planning
- Treasury management
- Capital budgeting / valuation / corporate finance
Taxation
- Income Tax Act and research
- Corporate and individual tax compliance
- Corporate and individual tax planning
Technical competencies requirements
Each technical competency area is subdivided into three or four sub-areas. You must reach the required
proficiency levels during your practical experience period and develop a range of these competencies in accordance with four requirements:
You must achieve at least Level 1 proficiency in three Financial reporting and/or Management accounting core competency sub-areas.
You must achieve Level 2 proficiency in at least two sub-areas of your chosen competency, and at least Level 1 in the other sub-areas.
You must achieve Level 2 in at least four competency sub-areas, and at least Level 1 in the other four sub-areas.
During your practical experience period, your tasks must progressively involve more complex analytical, problem-solving and decision-making assignments. This means that you are expected to perform increasingly complex, less routine work and/or with increasing autonomy during the period. This progression will be demonstrated through your practical experience reports that you will submit twice per year.
Enabling competencies
Enabling competencies are professional skills that you must develop during the practical experience period. These essential skills are involved in every aspect of a CPA’s work and enable you to take on tasks with a sense of ethics, competence and professionalism in a constantly changing environment. On that note, you must achieve Level 2 proficiency in all of these competencies by the end of the practical experience period. They are divided into five areas:
