Graduation
Potential Graduate Determination
Sponsorship
Membership Approval
Certificates of Membership
Convocation
Ethics Requirement for Graduates
Continuing Professional Development
Global Partnership
Potential Graduate Determination
Eligibility for graduation is determined four times per year at the end of each Session. We will email instructions on applying for membership to potential graduates on the dates posted on the Graduation page, where you can also find details regarding the Graduation procedure and forms. To be considered a potential graduate for a particular Session, you must have met the:
- course requirements,
- degree requirement, and
- professional experience requirement.
In addition, you must have paid the full Basic Tuition Fee for the academic year. If you are registered under non-active status, you will be required to upgrade your status to active to be eligible to graduate. Any unused portion of the Basic Tuition Fee will be credited towards member dues for the following year. You must also submit the Membership Application Form by the published Graduation Deadlines.
Please be reminded that students in their final year permitted on the program will only have Session 1, 2 and 3 of that year to complete their program requirements (courses, professional experience and degree), since the release of Session 4 examination results spills over into a new academic year.
Sponsorship
Once you have successfully completed the CGA requirements, you must make a formal application for membership to CGA-BC and be sponsored by two members of CGA-Canada. Please note that retired CGA members are permitted to sign as sponsors. Since this sponsorship is an integral part of the membership requirements, you should attempt to secure sponsors early on in your program. Sponsors must sign your Application for Membership Form to express their confidence that you will represent CGA-BC in a professional and ethical manner, and will be a valuable addition to the designation.
Membership Approval
After you submit the application form, the process of preparation for approval by the Board of Governors begins. Following approval for membership, new graduates receive a letter officially welcoming them into membership with CGA-BC. The letter acknowledges that the graduate is officially a CGA and grants him or her the public use of the CGA designation. New graduates will receive an email notifying them of the membership dues, online payments procedures and deadlines. This entire process normally takes approximately eight weeks from the application deadline to completion.
Certificates of Membership
Approximately six to eight weeks after being accepted into membership, new graduates will be sent their provincial and national certificates of membership.
Convocation
CGA-BC recognizes new graduates at its convocation ceremony held each fall in Vancouver. See Graduation for more information.
Ethics Requirement for Graduates
CGA-BC leads the profession in the integration of ethics into its academic program, and it has introduced a rules and standards course for all new graduates of the CGA Program as well as an ongoing ethics requirement for members.
All new graduates must complete a one-day rules and standards workshop as a requirement for membership. Graduates will have from the date of their graduation until the end of the following calendar year to complete this requirement. For example, an August 2012 graduate must complete the course on or before December 31, 2013.
The Essence of Professionalism: Ethics, Rules and Standards course for new CGAs is offered through the Professional Development calendar several times each year and can also be completed online through PD Net. The online course will include quizzes and a confirmation of completion.
Continuing Professional Development
CGA recognizes that the knowledge and competencies required of members are continuously changing. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities develop the professional knowledge, professional skills and professional values of a Certified General Accountant. Canada’s CGA affiliates, including CGA-BC, promote CPD and maintain standards for professional development for several reasons:
- To promote the continuous improvement of competence and a commitment to lifelong learning.
- To maintain public trust.
- To enhance the credibility of the professional designation, both nationally and internationally.
- To fulfill the Association’s obligations as a member body of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
- To facilitate the regional mobility of members.
New graduates begin participating in the CPD program in their first full year of membership. Activities undertaken since their acceptance date can be included in that first report. For example, students with an acceptance date in August 2012 will submit their first annual report for the year 2013; the three-year reporting period is 2013, 2014 and 2015. Activities undertaken from September 2012 to December 2013 must be reported online by January 31, 2014. Full details about the CPD Program are available under the Members tab on the CGA-BC website.
Global Partnership
While the CGA designation opens tremendous career opportunities to work internationally, alliances between CGA and three of the world’s largest accounting designations provide even greater mobility. Agreements with ACCA in the UK, CPA in Ireland and CPA in Australia allow for recognition of the CGA designation and vice versa. See Our Global Partners for more information, including application procedures.