Certified General Accountant

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Certified General Accountant (CGA) is a professional designation representing accountants and members of the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada), provincial and territorial CGA Associations as well as CGA Associations overseas, which was founded in 1908 and was officially established by an Act of Parliament on June 6, 1913. Having over 41,000 certified members and 23,000 students in 2006, CGA is the second largest and fastest growing professional accounting designation in Canada.

In order to become a CGA, one must successfully complete the CGA professional studies program, which consists of 15 foundation and advanced courses, four professional admission certification examination (PACE) courses, and two business cases. A candidate must also hold a post-secondary bachelor degree and satisfy practical experience requirements before certification.

The CGA program of professional studies is currently being offered in Canada, in Bermuda, in several Caribbean countries, and in a number of universities throughout China and Hong Kong. CGA currently has about 2,000 international members.

CGAs are employed by businesses of all sizes and from all sectors. A number of them are partners in public practice firms; others work in government, industry, commerce, or non-profit sector. As of 2005, CGAs are authorized by provincial legislations to perform audits of public companies in every province and territory in Canada, except Quebec.

Judicial rulings have granted CGAs the rights to audit a selected list of public bodies in Quebec. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement of Internal Trade (AIT), CGA-Canada has commenced challenges to the audit restrictions in Quebec. The AIT panel ruled that the Government of Quebec must take actions to resolve the barrier of entry into Quebec public accounting for CGAs. As of December 2006, the Quebec Government on introducing legislation that, if passed, will open the field of public accounting to CGAs in Quebec.

On 18 December 2006, CGA Canada and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants(ACCA) announced a Mutual Recognition Agreement to take effect on 1 January 2007. Details