CAs For Change - Internationally Trained

“The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario has helped set the benchmark for best practices in the regulated professions, and that speaks volumes about the accounting profession’s commitment to investing in skilled international graduates.”

The Honourable Chris Bentley, Attorney General of the Province of Ontario

Welcoming internationally trained accounting and finance professionals

Successive Ontario governments have consistently praised this province’s CA profession for having created and implemented many innovations to facilitate entry to Ontario by internationally trained accountants. These include membership in the International Qualifications Appraisal Board (which measures substantial equivalency among international accounting bodies against Ontario and Canadian requirements), collaboration with many government bodies and advocacy organizations on this issue, and developing web-based resources enabling would-be immigrants to Canada to determine Ontario professional accounting requirements before they leave their country of origin, among many other initiatives.

Most notably, the CA profession in Ontario has created a transparent registration and appeals process that includes full participation by independent public representatives as voting members.

Together these constitute acknowledged “best practices” in the field for financial services professionals. We seek to work with the Ontario government to ensure that these best practices are adapted for use by other professions, to create a pan-professional “entry pathway” for the internationally trained financial services professionals and others who are equally critical to our province’s continued prosperity and productivity.

Globe and Mail / Ontario CA Publication on Internationally Trained Professionals

Page 1: Professional Mobility and the Public Interest, an Introduction- pdf
Page 2: Skilled Professionals are Key to Our Future - pdf
Page 3: Ontario's Attorney General, Immigration Minister Speak Out - pdf
Page 4: Canadian CAs who Work Abroad Bring Home the Goods - pdf
Page 5: The Challenge: Providing Access while Keeping Standards High - pdf
Page 6: Ad Campaign - pdf

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the current immigration situation in Canada?
How important are immigrants to Canada’s growth?
How many immigrants are professionals?
How successful are internationally trained immigrants?
How many immigrants seek to become professionals in Ontario?
How much of a difference could immigrants working in their field of choice make for Canada’s economy?
What is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario doing to help the internationally trained become CAs?
Does the Institute recognize accounting designations from other countries?
What about prospective CAs from accounting bodies that have not achieved reciprocity?

What is the current immigration situation in Canada?

In the 1990s, the natural population increase in Canada due to births was surpassed by immigration. Each year, Canada receives between 220,000 and 245,000 immigrants. In 2005, over 130,000 skilled workers were admitted to Canada and these numbers are expected to continue to increase.

Ontario receives more than half of Canada’s immigrants - 84 per cent of Ontario’s new immigrants settle in the Greater Toronto Area, 50 per cent in the City of Toronto.

How important are immigrants to Canada’s growth?

Canada has the second highest proportion of immigrant population in the world after Australia. Immigrants account for 18.5 per cent of the total Canadian population, the highest proportion in Canada since 1931.

Of immigrants arriving in the 1990s, 94 per cent went to urban centres with 73 per cent living in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.

By 2011, 100 per cent of Canada’s net labour market growth will depend on immigration. Immigration currently accounts for 70 per cent of the net growth in the Canadian labour force and will account for all the net growth in the next six years.

How many immigrants are professionals?

Over 40 per cent of immigrants arriving in the 1990s had at least one university degree, compared to the Canadian average of 22 per cent.

Over half of the newcomers in the past two years have university degrees. Ontario alone has estimated that 72 per cent of them have some post-secondary education and/or training. More than 60 per cent of people who immigrate to the GTA are specifically selected for their skills.

How successful are internationally trained immigrants?

Despite the fact of skills shortages and that immigrants to Canada are more highly skilled than ever before, immigrants are struggling to enter their fields of expertise.

Of immigrants arriving in the 1990s, 60 per cent were under-employed in work not in their field; 25 per cent with degrees were employed in jobs requiring only a high school education.

Six out of ten immigrants are forced to make a downwardly mobile shift into a career or job other than the one they were qualified for.

Among persons aged 25 to 54 with a university degree, unemployment for recent immigrants has consistently been at least triple the rate for Canadian-born. In 2003, the rates were 7.4 per cent versus 2.3 per cent for men and 10.5 per cent versus 2.7 per cent for women.

In 2001, the proportion of recent immigrants with a university degree working in low-education jobs was 25 per cent for men and 38 per cent for women.

How many immigrants seek to become professionals in Ontario?

Between 2000-04, nearly 69,000 immigrants to Ontario aged 25 to 64 declared their intended occupation as a regulated profession. Of this total, 92 per cent planned to work in one of the following professions:

Accountant
Engineer
Engineer Technician or Technologist
Medical Laboratory Technologist
Nurse
Pharmacist
Physician
Teacher

How much of a difference could immigrants working in their field of choice make for Canada’s economy?

The Conference Board of Canada estimated that if all immigrants were employed to their proper level of qualifications, $4.97 billion would be added to the economy each year, with the largest share in the Toronto region.

What is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario doing to help the internationally trained become CAs?

The Ontario Institute and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities have worked in partnership on a project to produce a Career Path outlining licensure and certification requirements for chartered accountancy and public accounting, for use by prospective immigrants and newcomers to Ontario. An immigrant’s education and training can be assessed before they immigrate and they will be told what additional requirements they will need to complete in Ontario. This assessment helps them make better career decisions.

Does the Institute recognize accounting designations from other countries?

The Institute has reciprocity agreements with several international accounting bodies. These include:

The Institutes of Chartered Accountants of:

Australia
England and Wales
Ireland
New Zealand
Scotland
South Africa

Ordre des experts comptables et des comptables agréés, France
The Institute des Reviseurs d’Enterprises de Belgique
The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants having completed the Qualifying Program (Professional Program and Final Professional Examination)
The Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Publicos
The Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants
The Netherlands Institute of Register Accountants
Any State Boards of Accountancy in the United States of America which exempt Ontario CAs from the requirement to pass the AICPA final examination. These are the 47 of 55 U.S. jurisdictions that are Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) compliant.

What about prospective CAs from accounting bodies that have not achieved reciprocity?

The International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB) has determined that programs offered by non-recognized accounting bodies are not substantially equivalent to the qualification program offered by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

However, all members of the non-recognized accounting bodies are granted exemption from:

the university degree requirement, if a degree is not held;
48 credit hours (16 courses) of the 51 credit hours (17 courses) of prescribed university degree-credit courses (exemption from the three credit-hour, one course, requirement in Canadian business law is not automatically granted to such applicants); and
the five-day Staff Training Program.

The Institute’s Applications Committee may, following assessment of an applicant’s previous education, professional qualifications and accounting experience, grant additional exemption from any of the other education or examination requirements of the Institute, except for the Uniform Evaluation (UFE); and/or exemption from or reduction of the practical experience requirements of the Institute.

NOTE: Some statistics courtesy of Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) and ACCES Employment Services

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario Website Resources for the Internationally Trained
Fact Sheet: An Overview of Processes for Internationally Trained Professionals
Seeking Access to the CA Profession
News Release: Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario welcomes legislation for internationally trained
Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)
ACCES Employment Services
Ontario Regulators for Access

KEY POINTS

Ontario CAs have a proven track record of leadership on helping internationally trained professionals enter our profession. This record has been recognized by successive Ontario governments and political parties
Ontario Attorney General the Hon. Chris Bentley, in 2008: “The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario has helped set the benchmark for best practices in the regulated professions, and that speaks volumes about the accounting profession’s commitment to investing in skilled international graduates.”
Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Hon. Michael Chan, in 2008: “Last year, Bill 124, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, became law. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario was one of the earliest supporters of the bill.”
Former Liberal Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Mary Anne Chambers, in 2003: “The Ministry recognizes the role the Institute has played to improve access for internationally trained accountants.”
Progressive Conservative MPP and former Minister Frank Klees, in 2005: “I think, frankly, (Ontario’s CA profession) should be one of the best practices examples that the government should take for the work you have done and continue to do.”
The Institute holds membership in the International Qualifications Appraisal Board, which assesses the qualification standards of accounting bodies in other countries against Canadian CA standards
The Institute has created a transparent registration and appeals process that includes full participation by public representatives as voting members
The CA profession works with accounting bodies in other countries – including many in Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim – to help them achieve standards equal to those in Canada.
The CA profession supports the goals of Ontario’s Fair Access to the Professions Act, 2006.
We want to work with the Government of Ontario to adapt our own “best practices” for use by all professions to help them welcome highly-skilled newcomers to our province