International Designate FAQs

A designate is an internationally-trained accountant who has an accounting designation from an institution that is a member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and is an active member in good standing with said institution.

If you meet this requirement, enter your designation information on My CPA portal (under the designation tab) when creating a CPA profile. This ensures your assessment is processed under the appropriate category, to avoid a prolonged assessment process.

Only applicants who have completed their accounting designation program fit the “designate” criterion and qualify for assessment under the IFAC designate pathway. If you are still completing your accounting designation with an IFAC member body, your transcripts will be assessed as an International Student.

See the list of required documents on the school's IFAC Members Page

1. Documents issued by your international accounting institution:

• A letter of good standing confirming your membership status. Per the school’s policy, a letter of good standing is valid for one year from the date of issue, except otherwise stated by the institution in the letter
• Designation transcript showing that you have completed and passed the required modules or exams to qualify for the accounting designation

2. Third-party degree verification report by WES, IQAS or ICES. As an internationally trained accountant, your primary education is your accounting designation. The school requires the third-party evaluation to determine your placement in CPA PEP (see the academic bridging information on the school's IFAC Members Page). As such, a basic assessment showing the Canadian equivalent of your international degree is sufficient to process your transcript assessment. You do not need to request a WES ICAP evaluation.
3. Detailed resume: Applicants are required to submit a chronological resume outlining their work experiences to date. This includes positions held, duties performed, and the employment period (month and year) for every experience listed.

Once you receive your assessment results, you can submit an application to register in CPA studies. See here for information on the admission process.

CPA Canada sets the assessment standard for all assessment categories, as well as the placement decisions, so it is uniform across all the CPA regions. However, the assessment process and document requirements may differ.

CPAWSB conducts the assessment for candidates in the western region (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut). If you live outside the western region and do not plan to reside in one of the above listed provinces or territories, please contact your provincial/regional body for details on the requirements set by your provincial body.

To register for challenge exams, you must first be registered in the CPA Professional Education Program (CPA PEP), by submitting an admission application. Admission applications are processed between 2-to-3 business days. Once your application is approved, click on the Exam Registration tab under Program Admission in My CPA portal to register for challenge exams.

You are responsible for registering in the module or exam before the registration deadline as listed on the CPA PEP Schedule

For information regarding modules registrations, contact the Module Services team at cpamodule@cpawsb.ca.

Yes, if you are interested in taking the full module instead of challenging the exam, you are welcome to do so. Once you register in the full module, and are given access to the module content, you cannot change back to the challenge exam option for that module.

You do not forfeit your challenge exams for other modules by opting to participate in one module. If you do decide to take the full module, you have to complete all requirements including workshops and assignments before taking the exam

Internationally-trained accountants are exempt from all CPA preparatory courses, including Canadian tax and business law. However, many people benefit from the exposure to Canadian content, so we recommend taking these from a post-secondary institution that offers CPA-accredited prerequisite courses. See our Transfer Credit Guide for more information.

If you are registered in the CPA program, CPAWSB can provide you with a status letter to aid your study permit application with IRCC. Once your CPA PEP Admission application is approved, you can request a status letter through My CPA portal. To do so, go to My CPA portal, click on “select program request” and submit a Status Letter request.

CPAWSB is not involved in the study permit application or approval process. We encourage you to discuss study permit requirements with IRCC.

*Please refer to the CPA PEP administrative fee schedule for a breakdown of applicable fees

*Initial registration fee (one-time registration fee for new students)

*Annual student dues (for the first year, this could be the full amount or half depending on when you register). In subsequent years, to continue in the program, you need to maintain your registration every year by completing annual re-enrollment and paying annual dues.