The Society of Professional Accountants of Canada

RPA Educational Program

The Table below compares the SPAO's Mandatory Accreditation Examinations with the corresponding examinations required by two of the "designated bodies" under the Public Accounting Act, 2004: the Certified General Accountants ("CGAs") and the Certified Management Accountants ("CMAs").

Registered Professional Accountant	Certified General Accountant	Certified Management Accountant
Advanced Accounting & Reporting	Financial Accounting 4	Financial Accounting
Advanced Auditing, Business Law & Professional Responsibilities	Auditing 2	No Equivalent
Advanced Taxation & Tax Planning	Tax 1 & 2	Tax
Advanced Finance Management	Finance 2	No Equivalent

For detailed descriptions of SPAO's four Mandatory Accreditation Courses, click here. The subject areas covered are similar, if not more comprehensive, than the mandatory courses of the CGAs and CMAs.

By way of example, the SPAO "Advanced Accounting & Reporting" examination covers the issues of Accounting for Long-Term Investments, Consolidations, Segment Reporting, Interim Reporting and Accounting for Not-For-Profit Organizations. The CGAs and CMAs examine these same topics under their Financial Accounting 4 and Financial Accounting examinations, respectively.

The SPAO's "Advanced Auditing, Business Law & Professional Responsibilities" examination Auditing course is equivalent to the CGAs "Auditing 2", (the CGAs most advanced auditing examination). Both CGA and RPA courses are similar except that the RPA course includes Business Law and Professional Responsibilities components. The RPAs and the CGAs take an in-depth look at the role of the external auditor and the report he or she issues. Internal control, as well as the objectives and techniques applied to the various transaction cycles, are also emphasized. The CMAs have no equivalent.

"Advanced Taxation and Tax Planning" (RPA), "Tax 1 & 2" (CGA), and "Taxation" (CMA) all cover the taxation of corporations, capital gains, Corporate T2 Returns, Rollovers under Section 85 of the Income Tax Act and the purchase and sale of a business. Tax planning issues and the death of a taxpayer are also covered.

The final RPA Mandatory Accreditation Course is "Advanced Financial Management". This is equivalent to "Finance 2" for the CGAs. Both accounting bodies cover virtually the same material, namely, the determinants of valuation, capital decision-making under certainty and uncertainty, and working capital management decisions. The CMAs have no equivalent.