CPA Knowledge Assessment Explained

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Current as of October 12, 2026. Dates are CPA’s and subject to change.

150 questions. Five hours. And nothing to look up.

That’s the Knowledge Assessment, the first exam anyone can sit in the new CPA Professional Program. CPA has now released the Exam Guide, issued August 27, 2026, with the blueprint for every exam. In this post we go deep on just this one: whether you need to write it, how it’s structured, what’s on it, what CPA’s sample questions show, and whether it can really replace your university courses. We walk through one question to show you what that means, and finish with what we think will be trickiest.

A video version is coming soon on our YouTube channel. For all five exams at a high level, see Analyzing the New CPA Professional Program Exam Blueprints and its video.

At a glance

Item Detail
What it is An optional entrance exam
Format 150 objective-format questions, in two timed parts
Time 5 hours
Reference materials available during the exam None
To pass Sufficiency on financial reporting, on management decision-making, and overall
Disclosed? No
First sitting March 23, 2027

Source: Exam Guide; CPA Western School of Business schedules.

Do you need to write it?

CPA calls the Knowledge Assessment an optional entrance exam. You can enter the CPA program either by having the required prerequisites (a degree and specific accounting and business courses) or by passing the Knowledge Assessment instead. You still need a university degree to write it, but the accounting-specific courses are no longer required: a pass lets you in without them.

The easiest way to work out whether it’s for you is three questions.

Question 1: Do you already meet all the prerequisites to enter the program? That means a degree or equivalent, at least 120 credit hours of post-secondary education, a 65% average on your most recent 60 credits, and 45 credit hours of accounting and business courses. At least 21 of those hours must cover intermediate financial reporting, advanced financial reporting, management accounting, finance, assurance and taxation. Introductory courses don’t count.

  • If yes, you don’t need the Knowledge Assessment. Apply for admission and go straight to Foundational Development, Module 1.
  • If not, go to question 2.

Question 2: Do you meet the requirements to write the Knowledge Assessment? You need the degree, the 120 credit hours and the 65% average. What you’re missing is the accounting and business coursework.

  • If yes, you can register for the Knowledge Assessment.
  • If not, complete those requirements first (for example, finish your degree), then come back to question 2.

Question 3: Did you pass?

  • If yes, you’ve met the accounting and business requirement, and you have five years to start Foundational Development.
  • If not, you can write it again. After a third failure, you have to wait one year before the next attempt.

The eligibility rules are on CPA Western School of Business’s admission requirements page. The five-year window and the one-year wait come from the Education and Experience Policies, Western Region draft of May 2026, which may change before launch.

The logistics. It costs $1,000 plus GST and is offered three times a year (Knowledge Assessment page).

Sitting Date
First March 23, 2027
Then September 16, 2027
January 20, 2028
May 18, 2028
September 14, 2028

Source: CPA Western School of Business schedules, updated August 25, 2026.

Structure

150 objective-format questions over five hours, in two parts, each timed separately. That works out to an average of two minutes per mark.

Part Questions Time
A 90 3 hours
B 60 2 hours

CPA says the question types may include multiple choice, multiple select, fill in the blank and drop-down list, and that the list isn’t exhaustive.

Content

Part Topic Weight
A Assurance and trust 10 to 15%
A Big data and data analytics 10 to 15%
A Ethical decision-making and governance, including data governance 10 to 15%
A Finance 10 to 15%
A Non-financial reporting 10 to 15%
A Strategy, risk management and innovation 10 to 15%
A Tax 10 to 15%
A Foundational competencies 10 to 15%
B Financial reporting 50%
B Management decision-making 50%

Source: Exam Guide.

The foundational competencies are economics, along with quantitative methods and probability; law and legal forms of business; organizational behaviour; and sustainability. Value creation isn’t tested on its own: CPA integrates it into the other topics.

Management decision-making is CPA’s “Management Decision-Making and Information (Data) Systems/Technology”. At this level it covers preparing budgets and forecasts, determining variances, costing calculations, cost-volume-profit and break-even analysis, pricing, describing responsibility centres and incentives, and describing IT, AI and systems implementation (Module Guide).

It’s a knowledge exam. The Module Guide says the Knowledge Assessment does not assess the Decision Competencies.

Passing and reference materials

To pass, you need sufficiency on financial reporting, sufficiency on management decision-making, and sufficiency on the exam overall: each one separately. It’s a non-disclosed exam.

And there are no reference materials. No Handbook, no Income Tax Act, nothing. It’s the only exam in the program where that’s true. Keep that in mind, because it matters a lot for what comes next.

What CPA’s sample shows

CPA has published sample Knowledge Assessment questions: 31 questions, all multiple choice. CPA Western School of Business says a full sample exam will be available in early 2027 (Knowledge Assessment page). We anticipate the full sample may show the other question formats.

Does it replace the university courses?

Here’s the question a lot of candidates will be asking: if I pass the Knowledge Assessment, do I skip the accounting courses altogether?

Technically, yes. Passing it meets the accounting and business knowledge requirement, in place of the 45 credit hours of courses. For students who can self-study well, saving the time and money of a full accounting program is a big deal. What you need to think through, though, is how you’ll learn and absorb this material without a course. That isn’t to talk you out of the Knowledge Assessment, but to help you make an informed choice.

To picture what you’d need to know, here’s one financial reporting question, worked step by step. It’s our illustration, not a CPA sample question.

A company signs a five-year lease for equipment. It pays $20,000 at the end of each year. The interest rate implicit in the lease is 6%. The company reports under IFRS.

Select the carrying amount of the lease liability at the end of year 1.

A. $69,302
B. $84,247
C. $80,000
D. $64,247

Step 1: Recognize what’s being tested. It’s a lessee under IFRS, so this is IFRS 16. The lessee puts the lease on the balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, and the liability is measured at the present value of the lease payments, not their total.

Step 2: Measure the liability on day one. Five payments of $20,000 in arrears at 6%. The five-year annuity factor at 6% is 4.2124, so the liability is $20,000 × 4.2124 = $84,247.

Step 3: Record the lease, then roll the liability through year 1.

When Account Debit Credit
Day one Right-of-use asset $84,247
Day one Lease liability $84,247
End of year 1 Interest expense ($84,247 × 6%) $5,055
End of year 1 Lease liability $5,055
End of year 1 Lease liability $20,000
End of year 1 Cash $20,000
End of year 1 Depreciation expense ($84,247 ÷ 5) $16,849
End of year 1 Accumulated depreciation, right-of-use asset $16,849

The interest uses the effective interest method: the opening liability times the rate. So the liability goes $84,247, plus $5,055 of interest, less the $20,000 payment, which is $69,302. Depreciation doesn’t change the liability, but it’s part of the same year-one picture.

Step 4: Choose, and know why the others are wrong.

Option What it is
A. $69,302 Correct: day-one liability plus interest, less the payment
B. $84,247 The day-one liability: forgets the interest and the payment
C. $80,000 $100,000 of payments less one: never discounts
D. $64,247 Takes off the payment but forgets the interest

Each wrong answer is a specific mistake. If you only half know the method, there’s an answer waiting for you.

What you’d normally learn this from. Present value and annuity factors, from finance. The effective interest method, from intermediate financial accounting. IFRS 16 itself, and how ASPE differs: under ASPE, the lease is first classified as capital or operating, and an operating lease stays off the balance sheet. And this is one topic. Financial reporting on this exam also covers revenue, inventory, property, plant and equipment, deferred tax, business combinations, investments and more, under both IFRS and ASPE (Module Guide).

So, can it replace the courses? On paper, yes. In practice, you still have to learn everything those courses teach, well enough to apply it without notes, across every topic area. For disciplined self-studiers, or anyone taking online courses to prepare, it can be a faster and cheaper route. For everyone else, think carefully about how you’ll actually learn the material before choosing it.

What we think will be trickiest

Our read of the blueprint, not CPA’s. It’s here to give you a feel for the exam, not to tell you how to study.

The breadth. This is the biggest challenge. Seven topic areas plus the foundational competencies in Part A, at 10 to 15% each, and two full subjects in Part B. There’s no topic you can leave out. You need the depth of that lease question across seven topic areas, which is why many students take two years to work through this material.

Nothing to look up. Every other exam gives you the Handbooks and both tax acts. Here, everything has to be in your head. In our opinion, this matters less than it sounds for prepared students: if you don’t know how to approach a lease calculation, having IFRS 16 open in the exam is unlikely to help you fast enough. We don’t think the closed-book format will be the deal breaker.

Formats you haven’t seen. The sample is all multiple choice, but the real exam may include multiple select or fill in the blank, where you can’t eliminate options or guess your way to a one-in-four chance.

One open question: the Exam Guide’s content table for the Knowledge Assessment lists the foundational competencies but not the sub-foundational ones (equity, diversity and inclusion; Indigenous views; emerging technologies). Whether those are examinable here isn’t settled yet.

The bottom line

The Knowledge Assessment is optional, 150 questions, five hours, and nothing to look up. If you’re not sure whether you need it, start with question 1 and check your courses against the 45-credit-hour requirement.

Be the first to know about our Knowledge Assessment course

We’re building a study course for the Knowledge Assessment. Visit our CPA Professional Program page for more detail on the new program, and to be the first to hear when the course launches.

Explore the CPA Professional Program →

Next in this series: Foundational Development, the first exam most candidates will write.

CPA resources

Links as at October 12, 2026.

Analyzing the New CPA Professional Program Exam Blueprints

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CPA has released the exam blueprints for the new CPA Professional Program, in its Exam Guide, issued August 27, 2026. For the first time, there’s enough detail to really think about these exams: what each one will be like, and how to prepare for it. If you’re planning to start the new program, here’s what you need to know.

This post goes through each exam at a high level. For each one we cover three things: the structure, the content, and the study focus, including which exams give you reference materials and which don’t. At the end are our key takeaways.

CPA calls Core, Leadership and Professional Readiness “Professional Final Exams” 1, 2 and 3. We use the exam names throughout. Here are the program and exam details:

At a glance

Exam Format Time Reference materials available during the exam
Knowledge Assessment (optional) 150 objective-format questions, two timed parts 5 hours None – closed book exam
Foundational Development 50 objective-format questions and 4 to 8 testlets 5 hours Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act
CPA Core, Common Two to three cases, each 60 to 120 minutes 3 hours Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act
CPA Core, Licensure Part A: the Common cases. Part B: one 2-hour case 5 hours Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act
CPA Leadership One comprehensive case 5 hours Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act
CPA Professional Readiness One 2-hour judgment case and one 1-hour ethics case 3 hours Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act

Source: Exam Guide.

The Knowledge Assessment

CPA calls the Knowledge Assessment an optional entrance exam. It’s for candidates who don’t have the required accounting and business courses to enter the program but do meet the eligibility requirements to write the Knowledge Assessment. CPA Western School of Business’s Knowledge Assessment page has more information, including the cost and planned offerings.

The covered content is as follows:

Part Topic Weight
A Assurance, data analytics, ethics and governance, finance, non-financial reporting, strategy, tax 10 to 15% each
A Foundational competencies, such as economics and law 10 to 15%
B Financial reporting 50%
B Management decision-making 50%

CPA’s full name for that last area is “Management Decision-Making and Information (Data) Systems/Technology”. It covers budgets and forecasts, variance analysis, costing methods, cost-volume-profit and break-even analysis, pricing, performance frameworks and scorecards, responsibility centres, incentives, continuous improvement, and IT and AI in decision-making.

This exam is pure technical knowledge, and it’s broad. There are no reference materials: no Handbook, no Income Tax Act, nothing. It’s the only exam in the program where you can’t look anything up. You also need a pass on financial reporting and on management decision-making separately, and a pass overall.

Foundational Development

This is the first exam most candidates will write.

The exam is five hours long and entirely objective format. There are 50 stand-alone questions, worth 33% of the exam. The other 67% is four to eight testlets. A testlet is a set of questions built on one shared scenario, and each one is designed to take 20 to 60 minutes. Question types include multiple choice, multiple select, fill in the blank and drop-down list.

The covered content is as follows:

Topic Weight
Management decision-making 15 to 25%
Financial reporting 10 to 20%
Data analytics, ethics and governance, finance, non-financial reporting, strategy 5 to 15% each
Assurance and tax 5 to 10% each

Source: Exam Guide.

Foundational Development is extremely technical. You need to know the rules and apply them accurately, across every topic area.

CPA Core: Common and Licensure

CPA Core is where the cases start, and it has two paths. On the Common path, you write the Common exam. On the Licensure path, for candidates considering a public accounting licence, you write the same Common cases as Part A, plus a Part B case, in the same sitting.

The Common exam is two to three cases in three hours, each case between 60 and 120 minutes. The exam doesn’t control your time between cases, so managing it is on you. Licensure adds Part B, one two-hour case. On the Licensure path the sitting is five hours: three for Part A and two for Part B, each timed separately.

The covered content is as follows:

Topic Common Part A Licensure Part B
Assurance 20 to 35% 30 to 50%
Financial reporting 20 to 35% 20 to 40%
Tax 10 to 25% 15 to 25%
Data analytics 5 to 15% Up to 10%
Non-financial reporting 5 to 15% Up to 10%

Source: Exam Guide.

Core is extremely technical and case focused. You need solid technical knowledge in assurance, financial reporting and tax, applied in a case. CPA describes these cases as non-complex, with clear requirements.

CPA Leadership

One comprehensive case, five hours long: the longest single case in the program. CPA describes it as moderately complex, with limited direction and less prescriptive requirements. You decide your own approach, which issues matter most, and how to structure your response. CPA also says it’s designed to be time pressured, the only case exam it describes that way.

The covered content is as follows:

Topic Weight
Strategy, risk management and innovation 20 to 35%
Ethics and governance 15 to 30%
Management decision-making 15 to 30%
Data analytics and finance 10 to 20% each
Assurance, financial reporting, non-financial reporting and tax Up to 10% each

Source: Exam Guide.

Leadership is less technical than Core, but it’s still a case. The focus moves to critical thinking and judgment. You’ll need to prioritize, connect your analyses to each other, and land on a recommendation that holds together.

CPA Professional Readiness

Two cases in three hours: a two-hour case focused on professional judgment, and a one-hour case focused on ethical decision-making. You manage the time between them. CPA says these cases are not meant to be time pressured, and you must pass each case to pass the exam.

The covered content is as follows:

Area What CPA says
Topic weights None published
Technical areas May provide context but are not the focus
Calculations No complex calculations; detailed analysis is provided where needed
Approach Complex and ambiguous, with multiple acceptable approaches
Ethics case No clear right answer

Source: Exam Guide.

This is the least technical exam and the most judgment focused. It’s still case writing, but the emphasis is on professional judgment, ethics and the public interest. Technical analysis supports the decision rather than driving it.

Key dates for the first year of exams

Exam Module starts First sitting
Knowledge Assessment Not a module March 23, 2027
Foundational Development May 15, 2027 September 15, 2027
CPA Core, Licensure May 29, 2027 September 16, 2027
CPA Leadership June 26, 2027 September 15, 2027
CPA Core, Common July 10, 2027 September 16, 2027
CPA Professional Readiness December 11, 2027 January 20, 2028

Going forward, exams will be offered in January, May and September.

Key takeaways

  1. Greater emphasis on professional judgment and critical thinking. The Knowledge Assessment and Foundational Development are objective format and highly technical. Core brings in cases, still very technical. By Leadership and Professional Readiness, the technical content steps back, and critical thinking and judgment take over.
  2. Only the Leadership exam will be publicly disclosed. Of all the exams, CPA lists only Leadership as a disclosed exam; every other exam is non-disclosed, just like the current CPA PEP exams (only the CFE cases are disclosed). That means candidates won’t have a bank of past exams to study from, look for patterns in, and use to predict what’s coming. Past exams have been a huge part of how candidates prepare. With fewer to lean on, critical thinking becomes even more important. You’ll need to really understand the technical content, read each case on its own terms, and work out what’s being asked and what matters.
  3. We don’t know yet how the exams will be marked. Will there still be NC, RC, C and CD? The Exam Guide doesn’t say. It says each exam has a passing standard set by the Board of Examiners, defines sufficiency as a mark that meets the minimum threshold, and says Professional Readiness cases are marked holistically. We don’t expect the four levels used on Days 2 and 3 of the CFE to carry over as they are. We expect a similar model, but we won’t know the details until CPA releases them.
  4. Trust the transition. The profession has done this before. Having so few past exams isn’t a disadvantage for the first group of candidates; it’s simply how the exams work going forward. Candidates who write the new program now will be in largely the same position as those who write it years from now.

We’ll keep this post updated as CPA releases more details. As you start your journey in the new CPA Professional Program, reach out to the Gevorg team for support.

CPA resources

Links as at October 5, 2026.

Passing the CFE on Your Third Attempt: What Rachael Learned After Two Close Calls

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If you’ve been unsuccessful on the CPA Common Final Examination (CFE), you’re in far more common company than most people realize. Having coached CPA candidates for years, we’ve seen just how many different paths lead to the Canadian CPA designation, and plenty of them include more than one CFE attempt.

That’s why we sat down again with GCPA alum Rachael, who passed the CFE on her third and final attempt. What makes her story valuable isn’t the unsuccessful results. It’s how she worked through them, adjusted her approach, and kept going.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube

Rachael’s CFE Timeline

  • Attempt 1 (May): Unsuccessful, Decile 1. She did not clear Level 3 (depth in her role, Assurance) and also fell short on Management Accounting at Level 2.
  • Attempt 2 (September, immediately after): Unsuccessful again, Decile 1, this time on Level 1. By her own estimate, she was one or two questions away.
  • Attempt 3: Registered for May, then chose to defer to September. She passed, and cleared every area.

Two Decile 1 results in a row. As Rachael put it, it felt like “a cruel, cruel lesson.” But it wasn’t the end of her story.

Coming Close Twice

Rachael received her first results while on a family vacation. She gave herself time to feel it, then decided to go straight into the September rewrite with a focused sprint: review what she knew, dig deeper into Assurance, and tighten up her time management.

The second result, arriving just before Christmas, hit differently. “It felt like pure exhaustion,” she shared. She had gone in with hope and a “what’s the worst that could happen?” mindset, and then it felt like the worst had happened.

Her takeaway, and the one she most wants other candidates to hear: there is no direct line and no perfect journey. You take each thing as it comes.

You Don’t Have to Relearn Everything

When Rachael restarted in February, she felt lost. Should she redo everything? Did she really know anything at all?

The answer was no, she didn’t need to redo everything. Looking at the stacks of cases, Integrations, and Practice Cases from her earlier attempts, she realized that what actually needed restudying was much smaller than it looked. “It’s more going to be the mind game and the time game,” she said. The real work was deciding what to review and how.

Knowing When to Wait

After studying through the spring for a May rewrite, Rachael made the difficult decision to defer. She had been doing all the right things, but she was mentally exhausted. Work was heavy following a major ERP implementation, and when she told her family she was stepping back, their response was simple: they had seen it too, and they supported her.

Today, the CFE is offered only in September, so candidates rewriting will have a longer runway by default. Rachael’s advice for using that time well:

  • Build up gradually. Push through spring and summer, then start easing off in August.
  • Protect the final 10 days. Before the exam, shift to light review only: notes, cue cards, good sleep, and whatever helps you decompress. Even if you’re working until the week of the exam, find a way to shift gears mentally.
  • Trust that you won’t forget. Many candidates worry that slowing down means losing ground. Rachael found the opposite. That breathing room is what let her walk in with the mental capacity to perform.

What Rachael Did Differently the Third Time

Better pacing. On her first attempt, she tried to do too much, including writing three Day 3 cases back to back to simulate exam day. By the third attempt, she recognized that she already knew she could sit for five hours and work through roughly 21 Assessment Opportunities across three cases. She didn’t need to prove that to herself again.

Trusting what she knew. A first-time writer often walks in wondering whether they know anything. A rewriter has results that show exactly what they do and don’t know. “The idea of going into Day 3 and knowing nothing is just not the truth,” Rachael said.

Working with a coach who fit her needs. Rachael worked with Mallory, a coach she found through Gevorg CPA, throughout her program. For Rachael, Mallory was an accountability partner and someone to share her thoughts, fears, and frustrations with. Other candidates may need a tougher, more directive style. Her advice is to find the right fit, much like choosing a therapist, and to remember that coaching doesn’t have to be a six-month commitment. A handful of sessions over the summer can help you refine your approach.

Taking accommodations seriously. Rachael shared that she could have applied for exam accommodations and chose not to, and looking back, she wishes she had. With only September sittings, a first-time rewrite no longer leaves you without time to apply. If you need an accommodation, plan ahead and apply. No one else needs to know, and you deserve every chance of success.

Don’t Just Repeat the Same Preparation

If you do the same thing again, how can you expect a different result? Before rewriting, be honest with yourself:

  • Did you follow your study schedule?
  • Did you have an accountability partner, study buddy, or study network?
  • Were your time management and case strategy working?

At the same time, avoid over-rotating. Failing in one area doesn’t mean you should study only that area. You still need coverage everywhere, with extra focus where your results point.

Read Your Results Carefully

Rachael’s first results surprised her. With a background in audit and risk, she expected Assurance to come easily. With years in finance, she assumed Management Accounting would make intuitive business sense. Instead, she did better in Financial Reporting than in either. Her lesson: set aside your assumptions about which areas are “easy” for you, and look at what the numbers actually say.

Equally important, the areas you passed were not luck. “Your passes were not luck. You did what you needed to do,” Rachael said.

The CFE passing profile is publicly available, but it isn’t simple. Unlike a university exam with a single percentage, the CFE is assessed across four levels, and candidates often misread them. For example:

  • Passing Level 4 (breadth) does not mean you passed Day 3.
  • Passing Level 3 (depth in your role) does not mean you passed Day 2.

Misinterpreting your results can send your preparation in the wrong direction. Take the time to understand them properly, whether with us, a mentor, or another trusted resource, before you build your rewrite plan.

And a word on online forums: be careful with Reddit threads. People aren’t necessarily lying, but they are sharing their own perception, often without the full picture. Candidates who later win awards for top scores regularly say they thought they had failed.

What Rachael Would Tell You Now

Is another attempt worth it? Rachael’s answer is unequivocal: “It’s always worth it.” Whether your path has been a two-year sprint or a five-to-six-year marathon while working and raising a family, you’ve made it this far.

On her third attempt, Rachael didn’t just scrape through. She passed on every level, including the areas that had held her back before. And the journey gave her something a first-time pass wouldn’t have: it put her imposter syndrome to rest. After a 20-year finance career and a return to accounting as a mature student, she knows she earned it. “It is mine now, and I conquered it. You can too.”

It’s hard to hear an unsuccessful result, and we’d never take that away from anyone. But the resilience and grit you build working through something difficult are qualities that stay with you long after the exam.

Preparing for Your Next CFE Attempt?

If you’re planning to rewrite, this conversation will help you think carefully about your results, your study approach, and what needs to change before your next attempt.

Watch the full video with Rachael and learn more about our CPA CFE preparation resources at gevorgcpa.com.

The Final 7 Days Before the CPA CFE: Gevorg CPA Memo to CFE Writers

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Since all of you reading this are already deep in CFE mode, we thought we’d make this blog more digestible for you by writing it as a CFE memo. Please enjoy. And for any of you who are reading this in panic mode, from the GCPA team, we believe in you, you can do this, and we wish you nothing but the best!

To: CFE Candidates

From: Gevorg CPA Team

Date: September 8, 2026

Re: How to approach the final seven days before the CFE

Purpose

In the last week before every CFE, the GCPA team receives a similar version of the following question from our students: what should I actually be doing right now? This memo will provide context and insight into what your final days of preparation should, and sometimes more importantly, should not include.

Scope and assumptions

We have assumed the following. If any of these do not hold, the advice below will not fit your situation.

  1. You are writing all three days of the CFE.
  2. You have prepared consistently. You worked through PEP, completed Capstone 1 and Capstone 2, and you have written and debriefed cases over a period of months. Your preparation is substantially complete.
  3. You are not starting from zero. If you began studying a week or two ago, this memo does not apply to you. Your priorities in the next seven days are different from the ones described here.
  4. We count the final week backwards, so “seven days out” means one week before you write. When we refer to Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3, we mean the three days of the exam itself.

Analysis

Your exam fitness is already built, the final week can’t build more

Preparing for the CFE is a marathon. Your ability to read a case, rank the AOs, and write with the right balance of depth and breadth was not built in a week, and cannot be built in a week. It was built slowly, over months of technical work, repeated case writing, and feedback. No runner builds their fitness in the seven days before a race, and no candidate builds case-writing ability in the seven days before the CFE.

That has a consequence people tend to skip past. If the fitness is already built, the final week cannot meaningfully add to it. That said, there are two things that can happen in the final week. The first is supporting your head space or mental fortitude to challenge the exam. And the second, is over-working and over studying that ultimately fatigues you to the point of hurting your exam performance.

The first thing: protecting your head space

Head space is not a soft concept on this exam. It is the difference between reading a required and trusting your first read, or reading it four times and still not committing. It is the difference between ranking your AOs and moving, or second-guessing the ranking until you have burned twenty minutes you needed at the end. Confidence shows up as decisiveness, and decisiveness is what protects your time.

So the test for any activity this week is simple. Does this make me more settled, or less? Rereading your own debrief notes and seeing how much you have fixed since May does. A brand new question bank four days out does not, and neither does the group chat where everyone is announcing how many cases they have written. This is not the week to go looking for hard truths, because there is no longer time to act on them.

The second thing: over-working yourself into a worse result

The other thing that can happen this week is that you quietly spend the capacity you are going to need. This one is hard to see, because studying feels virtuous. Nobody feels guilty at hour ten, and the cost does not show up until the exam room.

The clearest version is the candidate who writes a full case three days out, performs poorly because they are already tired, and walks into Day 1 shaken. That result told them nothing useful, because what they measured was a depleted version of themselves. The quieter version is studying twelve hours a day right through to the night before and arriving on Day 1 already spent, performing several notches below what they are actually capable of.

Why fatigue shows up where it does

Treat your brain the way a runner treats their legs in the final week. It is a muscle, it has been under load for months, and it is not fresh. Capstone 2 drew it down, and the exam is going to ask you to hold up across three consecutive writing days, not one.

Fatigue also does not announce itself as feeling tired. It shows up as degraded judgement. You rank your AOs more slowly and keep revisiting the ranking. You write more, but shallower, because you are not confident enough to commit. You misread an AO required and catch it on the last page. You run out of time on the final case of Day 3. None of that is a knowledge failure. It is a capacity failure, and capacity is the one thing this week can genuinely change, in either direction.

What is still worth working on

To be clear, we are not telling you to do nothing for seven days. We are telling you to be honest about what seven days can actually move.

Not movable now: technical depth in an area you never learned properly, comfort with a competency you have avoided all year, or a real gap in your understanding of a standard. Going after these now costs energy and returns very little, and it tends to produce panic rather than knowledge.

Still worth your time now:

  • Debriefing. If you have cases sitting un-debriefed, that is the highest value work available to you this week. The learning on this exam happens in the debrief, not in the writing, and a proper debrief of a case you already wrote costs a fraction of the energy of writing a new one.
  • Thinking through and visualizing your approach. Walk yourself through how you open a case, how you rank the AOs, when you start writing, and what you do when a required runs long. You are rehearsing a routine you already have, not building a new one. This is the single cheapest way to arrive on Day 1 feeling like you know what you are doing.
  • Reminding yourself of high level concepts. Frameworks, decision points, the shape of a good analysis in each of the competency areas. Stay at altitude. This is not the week for paragraph 5 of a standard.
  • Reviewing generally through your own notes. Your summaries, your debrief notes, your Capstone 1 material. The point is familiarity and reassurance, not new coverage. You will be surprised how much you have absorbed since May, and noticing that is genuinely useful right now.
  • Taking care of yourself. Sleep properly. Eat real meals at normal times. Go for walks, ideally outside and without your phone. Have a few intentional conversations with people who are not writing the CFE and who will talk to you about something else. Move your body a little.

We want to be clear that the last one is not filler at the end of the list. Rest, food, movement, and human contact are what rebuild the capacity you are going to spend across three writing days, and they are what keep your head space steady while you wait. An hour of walking outside will do more for your Day 1 performance than an hour of rereading a standard you already know. That trade feels wrong, which is exactly why so few candidates make it.

Notice what everything on this list has in common. It is consolidation and recovery, not acquisition. Habits, familiarity, and capacity respond to light work in a week. Knowledge does not.

Recommendation

Taper. Bring your volume down deliberately over the next seven days so that your capacity comes back up and your head space stays intact. Front-load anything demanding into the first two days of the week, spend the middle on light targeted review, and use the final two days for logistics and rest.

Frequently asked questions

What should I study during the final week before the CFE?

Review your own debrief notes, your recurring weak habits, and your case approach, and refresh your Capstone 1 material. Practise finding guidance quickly rather than reading it deeply. Do not start new technical topics or new study materials in the final week, since there is no longer enough time for new knowledge to become usable under exam conditions.

Should I write full cases in the last few days?

No. Write your last full case around six or seven days out, then stop. Writing a full case within three days of the exam is a poor use of limited energy, and a weak result on a tired practice attempt tends to damage your confidence without telling you anything you can act on in time.

When should I stop studying before exam day?

Stop by midday the day before you write. A short, light review in the morning is fine. After that, the cost to your clarity on Day 1 outweighs anything you would gain. Use the rest of the day for packing, logistics, and rest.

What should I prepare for CFE exam day?

Confirm your writing location, start time, and arrival window. Plan your route with a buffer. Set aside your identification and only the permitted items. Complete any required hardware or software checks in advance. Pack layers for a cold room, along with food and water. Verify every requirement against the current instructions from CPA Canada and your regional body, since these vary by cycle and location.

How can I sleep better the night before the CFE, and does it really matter?

Honestly, you are probably not going to sleep well the night before, and that is fine. Almost nobody does, and you have already worked and studied on very little sleep plenty of times. Bank your sleep in the week beforehand, when you can actually control it, then stop worrying about the last night. Keep your usual bedtime rather than getting into bed unusually early, stop studying by midday, get some daylight and light movement, and keep screens and the group chat out of the last hour. Have everything packed and your alarms set so nothing is unresolved. If you lie awake anyway, accept it and move on.

 

How to Respond to CPA PERT Reviewer Comments

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Submitting your Practical Experience Reporting Tool (PERT) reports is a key milestone in obtaining your Canadian CPA designation. After you provide your detailed experience report, it is very common for the CPA reviewer in charge of assessing your submission to have follow-up questions or request revisions.

Getting your report returned with reviewer comments is a standard part of the PERT process. Before outlining how to systematically tackle these revisions, there are a few important realities about the review process that candidates should understand.

The Human Element of PERT Reviewers

When you submit a PERT report, it is evaluated by a human reviewer. Because this process involves human judgment, there is naturally an element of subjectivity.

Two candidates could submit nearly identical experience reports. For one reviewer, the report might clear perfectly without a single question. For another reviewer, that exact same report might receive reviewer comments and revision requests. Because there is no way of perfectly predicting a reviewer’s specific preferences, receiving comments doesn’t necessarily mean you did something wrong. It simply means that your specific reviewer needs a little more context to connect the dots and confidently approve your competencies. We talked about this in detail, specifically for Alberta PERT candidates who have a reputation of facing a more challenging reviewer hurdle.

Managing Expectations: The Reality of Progression

Another common reason you might receive reviewer comments is related to where you are in your CPA journey. CPA reviewers expect to see progression in your experience over time; they will almost never approve a Level 2 technical proficiency right out of the gate.

This is a topic we have talked about in the past on the blog as well. For example, in our article, Is One Example Enough for PERT Enabling Competencies?, we discussed how the core strategy for completing your competencies relies on demonstrating a gradual progression. In your first report, you might claim a Level 0. In your second, a Level 1. It isn’t until your later reports, after providing multiple complex examples over time, that a Level 2 is typically granted.

Similarly, we have highlighted this expectation in our guide on Catching up on CPA PERT Reports. Even if you are submitting multiple catch-up reports at once, you must still show a chronological progression. If you submit your very first 6-month report and request a Level 2, the reviewer will likely ask for revisions or downgrade you to a Level 1. They need to see your duties evolve and your autonomy increase over the full 30 months.

5 Key Steps to Respond to CPA Reviewer Comments

Understanding these expectations helps frame the reviewer’s feedback. Now, let’s look at how to tackle the revisions efficiently through a clear, 5-step process.

Step 1: Note Your Response Deadline

Before you review the comments or begin drafting a response, you must make note of your submission deadline and set yourself as many alarms and reminders as required to ensure you don’t miss this. This is critical. It is not a suggestion. You cannot request an extension. You must reply within the timeline.

Missing this deadline essentially causes you to “surrender” any experience within the report that did not get cleared on the first pass. If you do not respond within the time allotted, you lose your ability to go back and edit or revise those comments to utilize your experience. We have seen students lose the ability to use over 2 years of hard-earned experience simply due to failing to respond within the allotted time limit. Treat this deadline as an absolute priority.

Step 2: Read and Process the Feedback Objectively

When a report is returned for revisions, it is important to process the feedback objectively before making any edits. Read the reviewer’s comments carefully. Reviewers often leave specific notes about what is missing or what requires clarification. Your objective in this step is simply comprehension: understand exactly what the reviewer is saying and what aspect of your role they are trying to clarify.

Step 3: Pinpoint the Targeted Area of Your Report

PERT reports are comprehensive and contain multiple sections. Once you have read the feedback, you need to pinpoint exactly which section the reviewer is targeting. Start by identifying:

  • Is this a Technical Competency or an Enabling Competency?
  • Which specific sub-competency is being targeted? (e.g., Financial Reporting vs. Audit and Assurance).
  • Which specific part of your response is in question? (Are they looking at the Situation, the Action, or the Result?)

By isolating the exact area of your report the reviewer is speaking about, you keep your revisions focused and avoid unnecessarily altering sections of your report that were already approved.

Step 4: Identify the Actionable Change Required

Next, identify what actionable change the reviewer wants you to make. Ask yourself what the core of their request is. Reviewer comments usually fall into a few common categories:

  • Lack of specific examples: You may have explained a process generally (e.g., “I perform variance analysis”), and the reviewer requires a real-world example of a specific, non-routine variance you analyzed.
  • Missing the “How” and “Why”: You might have stated what you did, but the reviewer needs to understand how you did it step-by-step, and why it matters to the organization.
  • Clarifying Autonomy: The reviewer might need you to use “I” instead of “We” to clarify your independent role versus your manager’s or team’s role.
  • Progression/Complexity: Based on the progression expectations mentioned earlier, they may need you to demonstrate more complexity to justify granting a higher proficiency level.

Translate their comment into a direct instruction. (For example: “The reviewer needs me to add an example of a complex accounting standard I applied.”)

Step 5: Draft a Targeted Revision

With a clear understanding of the targeted area and the required change, you can now draft your revision.

When writing your response, be clear, concise, and direct. Address the reviewer’s comments explicitly. If they asked how you calculated a specific metric, provide the exact methodology. If they asked for the impact of your work, explicitly state: “The impact of this analysis was…”

You rarely need to rewrite your original response entirely. Usually, you only need to add a few specific sentences or a new paragraph to your original draft to bridge the gap. Provide the specific evidence the reviewer requested so they can confidently approve your level.

  • Pro-Tip: Before resubmitting, read the reviewer’s original comment, and then immediately read your new draft. Ensure your addition directly and thoroughly answers their prompt.

Final Thoughts

Navigating PERT is a detailed process, and receiving reviewer comments is simply a standard step on your path to the CPA designation. The reviewer’s goal is to ensure your experience meets the requirements set by CPA Canada. Guard your deadlines carefully, manage your expectations regarding progression, and follow a systematic approach to your revisions to get your reports cleared efficiently.

Looking for additional support with your PERT reports, aiming for Level 2 competencies, or studying for the CFE? Review the resources, templates, and CPA coaching programs available at www.gevorgcpa.com to help navigate your path to becoming a Canadian CPA.

Tackling Unknown AOs on the CFE

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How to Tackle Unknown AOs on the CFE

Picture this: You are writing Day 2 or Day 3 of the CFE. You just systematically completed a standard inventory valuation, worked through a variance analysis, and you are managing your time perfectly. You flip to the next appendix, read the first paragraph, and realize you are being asked for the accounting treatment of a crypto-backed joint venture in deep-sea mining.

Welcome to the “Unknown AO.”

Every year, the Board of Examiners (BOE) includes Assessment Opportunities (AOs) on the CFE that are completely non-routine, obscure, or nowhere to be found in your standard study templates. As a CPA exam coach here at Gevorg CPA, I see our candidates struggle with these issues very often. In the recent release of the May 2025 report, BOE told candidates to prepare better in this area. As part of our review of this most recent BOE report, we are tackling this issue within this article. We will highlight some of the key tactics we teach to handle these unknown AOs.

The Perspective Shift

Why does the BOE do this?

The BOE explicitly includes these unusual AOs because they want to see if you, as a future Canadian CPA, can handle the unknown in a professional environment. The test isn’t just about your technical memory; it’s about applying the CPA Way (Assess → Analyze → Conclude → Communicate) to an accounting scenario you have never encountered before.

They are testing your ability to process the unknown quickly, provide a commercially reasonable response, and move on. Spending 40 minutes hunting through Knotia for the perfect technical answer to one unknown FR AO is like spending three hours perfectly formatting the fonts on a balance sheet while leaving the income statement completely blank. You have robbed precious time from the routine AOs that actually guarantee your pass.

Remember: If it’s weird to you, it’s weird to everyone. You are competing against the curve. The candidate sitting next to you is grappling with this exact same issue. Keep your composure and execute your strategy.

Have a Planned Response

When you encounter the unknown in Financial Reporting, where we see the majority if Unknown AOs, you need to stop and think about the issue first before jumping to find the applicable handbook section. First, consider how to bucket the topic, then guide yourself to apply a framework:

1. Labeling the Unknown: Identification IS Half the Battle

First things first: simply identifying and labeling an AO as “unknown” is half the battle.

The unknown AO trap on the CFE happens when you panic and try to treat a non-routine AO exactly like a routine one. Trying to forcefully fit an obscure, software licensing issue into a standard 5-step IFRS 15 Revenue Recognition template won’t work, and it will certainly burn valuable time that should be spent tackling the rest of the exam. 

True exam confidence doesn’t mean having a photographic memory of the CPA Canada Handbook. Confidence comes from knowing what is not routine. When you read a prompt and recognize that it is highly unusual, validate that professional judgment. Actively labeling it as an “Unknown AO” in your mind stops you from wasting time searching for a perfect template that does not exist.

2. Bucket the Issue

For technical FR AOs where you aren’t clear what it is, what the actual accounting issue is, and therefore what the actual GAAP standard to consider is, the trick is to first avoid panic. Stop and really think about: What IS the thing in question?

If you had to bucket it into a category, or describe it to someone, where does it fit?

  • Is it kind of like an asset? Is it a piece of equipment, is it cash, or an investment?
  • Is it kind of like a liability? Are you going to owe someone money?
  • Is it kind of like an expense? Has someone done work for you, or will you owe someone because of a service?
  • Is it kind of like equity? Have you issued shares, or granted an ownership stake?

For example: Imagine the case introduces a complex “government carbon emission credit.” Instead of freezing because you’ve never studied carbon credits, bucket it. The company purchased them, owns them, and will use them to avoid future fines. It holds future economic value, so it is kind of like an asset—specifically, an intangible one.

Thinking about the issue in this way is going to make your Knotia search significantly easier, and will help get you somewhere in terms of answering the “what is this?” question before you apply a formal framework.

3. Apply a Technical Framework

Once you have bucketed the issue, try searching Knotia. Search the specific trigger words right out of the case alongside your new bucket category. Grab the closest criteria you can find, framed with support from your bucketing activity above, and apply it. We say this often to our students, you need to practice desperate Knotia searches as part of your studying. You will quickly learn that searching in Knotia is not as slick as you would like it to be. The more specific and unique your search word is, the more useful the search result. Do not try this for the first time on exam date.

If your search comes up empty and you are completely lost in the Handbook, stop, and default to the three key components of any accounting standard:

  • Recognition: When does it go on the books?
  • Measurement: How much is it worth?
  • Disclosure: What do we tell the users of the financial statements?

4. Bare minimum: Case facts + so what + recommendation

When all else fails, write whatever reasonable accounting logic comes to mind, but you MUST apply case facts from the appendices, and you ALWAYS provide a recommendation.

You can draft the most logical analysis in the world, but if it doesn’t use the specific numbers, quotes, or situations provided in the case, you aren’t scoring points. You need to integrate the case facts (to Assess the situation), structure your logic using handbook criteria or the Big Three (to Analyze the issue), make a definitive journal entry or treatment recommendation (to Conclude), and ensure your advice is clear and actionable for the client (to Communicate). The BOE rewards candidates who make a decision over those who skip the issue. 

Get support at Gevorg CPA

You don’t have to face the CFE curveballs alone, register for a Gevorg CPA CFE Prep program today.

We will help you navigate this exact challenge and much more. From mastering “Unknown AOs” to perfecting your time management and building rock-solid technical frameworks, we provide the grounded, strategic coaching you need to conquer the CFE.

Don’t leave your exam success to chance. Join us today.

CPA Canada 2025 Pass Rates Released

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CPA Canada has now released the 2025 Professional Education Program (PEP) and Common Final Exam (CFE) exam pass rates. The 2026 pass rates will be released in February 2027.

2025 CFE Pass Rates

Below are the official exam pass rates as reported by CPA Canada.

The 2025 CFE pass rate is 69.8%.

CFE Offering

Cumulative Pass Rates

First Attempt

Second Attempt

Third Attempt

May and September 2025*

69.8%

n/a

n/a

May and September 2024*

67.3%

n/a

n/a

May and September 2023*

70.5%

n/a

n/a

May and September 2022*

71.3%

n/a

n/a

May and September 2021*

73.6%

n/a

n/a

September 2020

75.8%

n/a

n/a

September 2019

76.3%

87.4%

n/a

September 2018

77.6%

87.5%

90.8%

September 2017

77.6%

88.1%

90.6%

September 2016

76.8%

88.6%

91.4%

May 2016

68.7%

75.4%

79.9%

September 2015

82.9%

94.6%

96.6%

*In 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021, there were two offerings of the CFE. The 69.8%, 67.3%, 70.5%, 71.3% and 73.6% pass rates are the combined averages of the first-time writers in both the May and September CFEs.

The 2025 pass rate increased 2% versus the 2024 CFE which was the lowest pass rate on record at 67.3%. 

2025 Professional Education Program (PEP) Pass Rates

Below are the updated 2025 PEP exam pass rates:

CPA PEP Module

2025 Pass Rate

2024 Pass Rate

2023 Pass Rate

2022 Pass Rate

2021 Pass Rate

2020 Pass Rate

2019 Pass Rate

Core 1

72.4%

71.9%

72.1%

74.0%

77.1%

81.9%

79.4%

Core 2

81.8%

80.4%

78.4%

82.5%

85.3%

86.2%

84.3%

Taxation

87.5%

86.8%

87.6%

87.5%

88.1%

88.0%

88.1%

Assurance

86.6%

88.1%

87.6%

89.7%

90.5%

89.1%

89.2%

PM

87.0%

87.1%

90.2%

89.5%

90.9%

90.7%

90.6%

Finance

83.4%

84.8%

87.1%

87.2%

89.1%

89.0%

89.9%

The pass rates above are the average rates for first-time writers for the 2025 year (March, June, September, December).  There is a minor increase in 2025, compared to 2024, in Core 1, Core 2, and Tax. Assurance and Finance dropped slightly in 2025 and PM was flat. 

PEP and CFE Exam Coaching

My name is Erika, a CPA exam coach at Gevorg CPA.  If you need helping passing your CPA Canada exams, contact us for more details or check out our tutoring courses.

 

 

Members Approve the New CPA Canada Governance Model

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I attended the special CPA Canada members meeting where members have voted for a new governance structure that will change how every CPA in Canada connects with the national body. The shift takes effect April 1, 2026, and it moves the profession from a provincially routed model to a more direct national relationship.

For CPA students, this means that you’re entering the profession at a time when its structure is changing. In this blog post, I’ll break down each part so you can plan ahead.

[Further reading: The New 2027 CPA Professional Program]

What this means for your future membership

Members voted in favour of allowing all CPAs across the country to become direct members of CPA Canada. This marks a full transition toward a model where the national body has a direct relationship with individual CPAs, instead of relying on the provincial/territorial bodies as intermediaries.

The national CPA body wants a clearer connection with each CPA. Whether this improves things or not is something we’ll see over time but the structure is changing and you should understand the direction the profession is moving in.

Until March 31, 2026, nothing changes. CPAs remain part of CPA Canada through their provincial or territorial regulator.

After April 1, 2026, the connection to the national body continues but membership in CPA Canada becomes an individual choice. Instead of automatic membership through your province, you’ll be able to apply directly.

Students in Ontario and Quebec should note that existing CPA Canada subscribers will automatically become full members as of April 1, gaining voting rights and other benefits for the remainder of their subscription term.

Your exams, designation and mobility

Your CPA letters, your rights and your mobility across provinces stay the same. These governance updates don’t change recognition of the designation. National mobility remains a priority and CPA Canada says that it will continue coordinating with provinces to protect that.

There is no impact on the CPA exams. The exams are the same no matter what province you’re located.

How this may affect your fees

Fees will shift from being collected through provincial bodies to being collected directly by CPA Canada. The intention is to create more transparency about what you pay for and what you receive. Details on pricing haven’t been released yet. 

Who qualifies to join CPA Canada under the new model

Starting April 1, 2026, any CPA in good standing will remain part of the national body and can apply to become a member of CPA Canada.

Good standing with your provincial body remains a requirement. The difference is that joining CPA Canada becomes optional and no longer automatic.

Once students become a CPA, membership with province is still mandatory but membership with CPA Canada becomes a personal decision. I recommend to get the membership with CPA Canada to gain access to the resources noted below.

How to join CPA Canada

In early 2026, CPA Canada will release the direct membership process. It’s expected to offer flexible options that reflect the varied needs of CPAs working in industry, firms or solo practice. More info to come in 2026.

What CPA Canada will offer

The new membership model focuses on delivering tools, guidance and resources that CPAs can use in their day-to-day work. It includes:

  • Custom approach with options based on your individual needs
  • National resources, firm tools, community platforms like Tax 360 and internationally aligned PD
  • A stronger individual voice through voting rights, audited financial statement access and board elections

This means the national body wants CPAs to choose their involvement. The offering will be customizable, and you will have more direct influence than before.

Why the changes are happening now

The Collaboration Accord between CPA Canada and the provincial bodies ends on April 1, 2026. CPA Canada is updating its governance documents consolidating to one class of members and shifting board election rights to individual CPAs.

This is being positioned as aligning governance with best practices. The changes were coordinated between CPA Canada and the remaining provincial and territorial bodies. Those bodies voted unanimously to support the governance amendments before the Nov. 21 member vote. 

The model is meant to give CPA Canada a more defined role as serving members. Provincial bodies will continue regulating, licensing and enforcing standards. 

What to expect

This is a major signal that the national structure is evolving, aligning with the changes we’ve seen in the New 2027 CPA Professional Program.

As you continue on your journey towards your CPA designation, reach out to the Gevorg team for educational support.

Steps to CPA Canada for ICAN Nigeria Members

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CPA Canada recently signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with ICAN Nigeria. If you’re a qualified ICAN member, the path to becoming a Canadian CPA is now much more direct. Many ICAN members have been reaching out with questions, so I want to walk through how this new process works and what you should focus on.

New ICAN-CPA Canada MOU

Before this agreement, ICAN members had to complete the CPA Canada Professional Education Program (PEP) with six modules before writing the final CPA exam. That requirement is now removed. You can go straight to the Common Final Exam, known as the CFE. Once you pass CFE, you receive your Canadian CPA designation.

CPA Canada recommends taking Capstone 1 and Capstone 2, but I don’t recommend them. Capstone 1 focuses on teamwork and presentations, which don’t appear on the CFE. Capstone 2 gives past exams with some feedback, but the feedback is usually generic. Most students get better results by practicing past exam cases and using focused study strategies.

Steps to CPA Canada for ICAN

Step 1: Confirm your eligibility

You must be a fully qualified ICAN member in good standing. You also need either:

  • Recognized university degree, or
  • At least 8 years of experience in any CPA competency area like Financial Reporting, Audit or Strategy.

You also must have obtained your ICAN designation while living outside Canada.

Step 2: Register for and pass the CFE

All ICAN members must pass the CFE. You get three attempts. If all three attempts are unsuccessful, your registration is cancelled and you would need to start over.

Most candidates study around 5–6 months. The CFE format is different from ICAN exams.

  • Day 1 tests strategic writing
  • Day 2 goes deep into your chosen role
  • Day 3 tests breadth across all technical areas

The exam is case-based and very very time constrained. Cases are 4 to 5 hours long. You’ll write memos, analyze scenarios and explain your decisions. It’s less about calculations and more about judgment, time management and clear writing.

Key areas ICAN members need to study for CFE:

  • Formatting your case responses clearly and effiienctly
  • Canadian-specific standards like ASPE and Canadian tax
  • Typing speed, because time pressure is high

Step 3: Meet the practical experience requirements

If you already have more than 2 years of post-designation ICAN experience, it’s accepted automatically. If you have less than 2 years, you’ll submit a detailed report for review. Your experience must come from your time as an ICAN student or member.

Getting your CPA doesn’t give you audit signing rights automatically. For that, you need a public accounting licence. That requires showing depth in Financial Reporting and Assurance on the CFE and completing your province’s licensing steps.

When choosing your CFE Day 2 role, you have Assurance, Performance Management, Tax or Finance. If you’re not sure which role to choose, Assurance is a flexible choice because it keeps pathways open in public practice. PM is also a good choice for ICAN members. You can reach out to me if you’re not sure which role to choose.

Step 4: Get study resources

CPA Canada provides the Learning Ebook and the optional Capstone modules. Most candidates also use private resources to prepare for CFE. Students in public practice firms like KPMG, PWC and EY all get extra support. Many MOU students do the same, because their academic background is rusty.

Check out Gevorg, CPA CFE exam coaching programs and learn how to pass. Our comprehensive courses cover every stage of the CPA CFE process, ensuring you’re fully prepared. With a proven track record of helping over 4,500 students succeed, you can be next.

The New CPA Collaboration Model from April 1, 2026

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CPABC members recently received a notice  about a new Collaboration Model. It’s an important update that ties directly to the broader shift I discussed earlier in my post about the CPA Ontario and CPA Québec separation from CPA Canada. This latest announcement marks another milestone in how the Canadian CPA profession is being reshaped. 

In short, the changes that happened to Ontario and Quebec in 2024 are now happening to CPABC.

What’s changing

CPABC, and potentially other provinces and territories, has agreed to move forward under a modernized collaborative model. This means:

  • CPABC will continue regulating the profession in BC, granting the CPA designation, setting rules, and protecting the public interest.
  • Funding will now flow differently. CPABC will no longer collect national dues on behalf of CPA Canada. Instead, standards and education will be funded through provincial fees.
  • CPA Canada will adopt a new governance model, giving every Canadian CPA the chance to join directly with the national body.

In short, the old “Collaboration Accord” between CPA Canada and provincial bodies is ending, and a new structure is taking its place.

There’ll be change in responsibilities:

  • Provincial bodies will focus on regulation, licensing, and member support.
  • CPA Canada will focus on national standards, education, and advocacy.

This change may sound administrative, but it can have broader impacts.

What this means for members

For now, CPAs in BC, and potentially other provinces/territories, remain members of CPA Canada until April 1, 2026. After that, each CPA will have the option to sign up directly with CPA Canada under the new model. This is similar to what happened with CPA Ontario & Quebec and CPA Canada at the end of 2024.

CPA Canada has published a detailed FAQ about the process which I recommend that you review.

If you don’t keep your membership with CPA Canada from April 2026 onwards, you’ll still be a CPA BC member. You’ll pay lower dues, but you won’t have access to broader resources. 

On the other hand, if you do keep your membership with both CPA Canada and CPA BC, you’ll likely pay higher dues and access broader resources. 

There is no impact on the CPA exams. The exams are the same no matter what province you’re located.

What to expect

In the coming months, CPA Canada will share how members can join directly. Until then, nothing changes operationally for CPAs in BC and other provinces/territories. You’ll still pay your provincial dues as usual and remain a member of CPA Canada through your province.

This is a major signal that the national structure is evolving, aligning with the changes we’ve seen in the New 2027 CPA Professional Program.

As you continue on your journey towards your CPA designation, reach out to the Gevorg team for educational support.