Practical Experience Requirements (PER)

The CA qualification process is an integrated process of academic study, professional education (including the profession’s Uniform Evaluation — the “UFE”), and practical experience.

The practical experience component of CA Qualification is a partnership between the CA profession and CA Training Offices. Practical experience provides assurance that CA Students are exposed to a broad of issues faced by professionals in the process of qualifying to become Chartered Accountants.

All CA Students fulfill their practical experience requirements by working in a CA Training Office, which may be in a CA firm, in the corporate sector, or in the public sector. The practical experience they acquire, the environment in which it is provided, and the CAs who guide the CA Students and set the example of CA professionalism are core to the development of every new CA.

By applying formal learning in approved workplaces, under the supervision of experienced CAs, CA Students are expected to develop and enhance their professional abilities and judgment, demonstrate CA values and ethics, and gain a sense of “belonging” to the CA profession. For most CA Students, the practical experience is concurrent with their professional education program.

Since 2007, training opportunities have expanded in most Canadian Provincial Institutes. The focus of the new criteria is expanding training opportunities for employers and CA students, while maintaining our profession’s high qualification standards.

Under the new criteria, CA Students are able to train in CA Training Offices that are:

• CA firms, which can now be approved to create training positions in taxation, business advisory services and other areas, in addition to audit and assurance.
• Approved corporations and government departments.

For a list of CA Training Offices, click here.

The summarized practical experience requirements for the CA profession include:

1. a minimum term of practical experience;
2. breadth and depth of competency development;
3. completion of a Record of Qualifying Practical Experience (RQE); and
4. reporting to the profession upon qualification.

For more information on practical experience requirements and specific resources, go to www.CATOadvantage.ca.