Program Regulations
Enrolment
Course Materials
Basic Tuition Fee
Change of Student Status
Program Sequence
Changing Program Sequence
Time Limit Policy
Course Prerequisites
Language and Numeracy Expectations
Maximum Courses Per Session and Year
Transfer Credits
Waiving Exemptions
Enrolling in a Course
Changing Sessions of Courses or Challenge Examinations
Changing Pace Electives
Minimum Number of Examinations
Examination Failure Policy
Withdrawals and Refunds
Withdrawal and Re-Admission Policy
Student Appeals
Transfers Out of B.C.
Enrolment
The CGA-BC academic year runs from September to August. Students are required to pay the applicable Basic Tuition Fee each year in August to maintain their CGA student status for the upcoming year.
Each new student receives an official assessment that indicates exempted courses, courses left to complete, the number of years the student has to complete the program, and whether the student has fulfilled the degree requirement.
Students should use this official assessment to identify which courses they must complete. Appendix 2 provides more detailed information about the meaning of the course codes found on an assessment .
Students enrol in courses via the online Enrolment system, found under the Students tab on the CGA-BC website.
Students are sent a reminder in July to ensure they pay the Basic Tuition Fee on time. Please note that this fee is non-refundable and is separate from the course fees required to enrol in a course. Students who do not re-enrol by the deadline will be required to either pay late enrolment fees or may be required to apply for re-admission to the program in the subsequent year. CGA-BC reserves the right to determine a student’s eligibility for re-admission and to prescribe a specific program of study.
The Basic Tuition Fee
The Basic Tuition Fee covers the following services:
- academic and career advising,
- access to secure areas of the CGA-BC website,
- chapter functions,
- access to CGAjobs.org and related CGAjobs.org functions,
- mailings and publications, and
- the Student Advisory Group.
Students enrolling in the CGA Program for the first time in the middle of the academic year will pay a pro-rated Basic Tuition Fee. These students will pay the corresponding pro-rated (reduced) tuition fee for the given Session in which they enrol. However, no matter when they happen to enrol during their first year in the program (Session 2, 3 or 4), they are required to pay the full Basic Tuition Fee in the upcoming August and each August thereafter, until they become a member.
There are two tuition types:
- A) ACTIVE (enrolling in CGA courses or exams) – This applies to students wishing to enrol in a CGA course or exam in a given Session. The active tuition fee will automatically be charged, along with the required course/exam fees.
B) ACTIVE (not enrolling in CGA courses or exams) – This applies to students wishing to either pay only their active tuition fee in August and wait to enrol in courses later in the year, OR students who will be taking their courses outside of CGA at a post-secondary institution for the transfer credit and therefore only need to pay their active tuition fee in August.
*New students must enrol as active students in their first year of studies. Paying a pro-rated Basic Tuition Fee meets this criteria.
- NON-ACTIVE – This applies to students who are postponing their studies, but who still want to maintain their CGA student status. Each student is given a proportional number of allowable non-active years, based on the number of years given to complete the program. Refer to your “Academic Assessment for CGA Course Credit” emailed to you at the time of admission or the table in the “Time Limit Policy” section below. Time spent as a non-active student does not count toward the time limit given to complete the program. Students who have used up their allowable non-active years, or who wish to take one or two Sessions off, must still pay the full Basic Tuition Fee, since students are not required to enrol in courses for all four Sessions.
*Non-active students are eligible to write deferred or supplemental examinations. Non-active students will also continue to receive Association mailings and are entitled to all the services provided by CGA-BC. However, they are not permitted to enrol in CGA courses, challenge examinations or enrol in courses for transfer credit at post-secondary institutions for the entire academic year.
Course Materials
You will receive all required materials when you enrol in a CGA course. The fee for these materials is included in the course fee. You must purchase the course materials from the Association and CGA materials are non-refundable. If you are retaking a course and the course materials have not changed from the previous year, you will not be sent the course materials and the old course materials can be reused. A reduced course fee would apply in this case. If you are retaking a course and the course materials have changed, the course materials will be sent (if applicable) and you will pay the full course fee. If you are enrolling under the challenge exam status, you will not receive shipped course materials along with your enrolment. However, since some PACE Level courses now include online versions of Selected Readings through Blackboard OLE, you will have access to this material as well as all information found in the Course Content link, under the challenge status. Please see the Challenge Examinations section of this Handbook for further details.
CGA ships through Canada Post and most deliveries in the Lower Mainland arrive in two to three business days.
*Due to mailbox size limitations, course materials shipments are undeliverable to most residential addresses containing a suite or apartment number. In these cases, you will need to wait for the pick-up notice or visit your local postal outlet to pick up your course material package. See Distribution Centre for further details on out-of-province and country shipments.
Change of Student Status
| Non-Active > Active |
- The entire academic year will count as part of the time limit allowed to complete the program.
- You are required to pay the balance of the full Basic Tuition Fee as well as the course addition fee, if applicable.
|
| Active > Non-Active |
- The entire academic year will not count as part of the time limit; however, tuition fees paid are non-refundable.
- You must not have taken any courses throughout the whole year either with CGA or at a post-secondary institution for transfer credit.
- Contact a Student Advisor at advising@cga-bc.org to request this change.
|
Program Sequence
When you first enrol in the CGA Program, you are to follow a designated program sequence as described in Student Details on My CGA-BC. A list of the various program sequences and their corresponding course requirements can also be found in Schedules, Fees & Forms.
Changing Program Sequence
Students may request to change from a prior program to the current CGA Program that came into effect in 2006-2007 (Program 06). If students make this change, it is permanent and students cannot switch back to their old program. As well, students are not permitted to change to an earlier program under any circumstances. Student considering changing their program should discuss this option with a Student Advisor at advising@cga-bc.org.
Time Limit Policy
All students are required to complete the CGA Program within a specified time limit. We will assign you a time limit when you apply to the program based on the number of exemptions we granted you upon admission. Please refer to the My CGA-BC, Student Details and Grad Year to confirm your time limit. Any non-active years used do not count against the time limit to complete the program. If you are enrolling in the first year of the program with no exemptions, you must complete the program within 10 years of initial registration. Your time limit starts from your first full year of studies (September to August). Given this, for those students who first enrol in Session 2 or later, their start year will be considered the next academic year.
If you are entering the program with course exemptions, we will pro-rate your time limit for the CGA Program as follows:
| Number of Exemptions |
Years permitted on the CGA program |
Non-active years allowed |
| 0,1,2 |
10 |
4 |
| 3,4 |
9 |
4 |
| 5,6 |
8 |
4 |
| 7,8 |
7 |
3 |
| 9,10 |
6 |
3 |
| 11,12 |
5 |
3 |
| 13 |
4 |
2 |
| 14,15 |
3 |
2 |
NOTE: We will adjust the time limit if a student submits proof of completing additional courses before they have been admitted to the program.
If you have not completed the bachelor’s degree requirement when you enrol in the CGA Program, we will grant you an additional two years to complete the program. If you are in your last year allowed in the CGA Program, you will receive a warning letter advising you that your time limit is approaching. If you are in your final year, you will only have Session 1, 2 and 3 of that year to complete the program requirements (including courses, professional experience and degree), since the release of Session 4 examination marks spills over into a new academic year.
Those who reach the end of their allowable time limit without completing all program requirements will be required to appeal for additional time or withdraw from the CGA Program subject to CGA-BC’s Program Withdrawal and Readmission Policy. Please see the Student Appeals section for more information.
Course Prerequisites
To enrol in a CGA-BC course or challenge exam, you must meet the required course prerequisites by successfully passing (65 per cent or C+) the prerequisite courses listed in the Course Prerequisite Schedule. You will not be allowed to enrol in a course if you do not meet the course prerequisites. You should plan to complete courses in Levels one through three before taking courses in Level 4 and the PACE Level, as courses progress in terms of complexity and difficulty.
Please note that because it takes eight weeks to mark CGA examinations, you will need to plan your schedule to ensure there is one Session in-between the prerequisite course and the course you want to take to confirm a passing grade (65 per cent). If you complete a prerequisite course outside of CGA, it is your responsibility to submit a Request for Transfer Credit form, along with an original transcript from the post-secondary institution, so that we can grant you an exemption for the prerequisite before you enrol in the CGA-BC course.
Language and Numeracy Expectations
Courses that have no prerequisites still assume that you have basic proficiencies in language and numeracy. You are expected to have a good understanding of the essential elements of business arithmetic and basic algebra, including arithmetic operations, algebraic concepts, simple and compound interest, annuities and statistics.
In addition, CGA students require a high level of language proficiency to be successful in both the academic and professional work experience components of the program. A minimum requirement of grade 12 English or Canadian language benchmark (CLB) levels at 8 or above is suggested. Generally, students with CLB levels below 8 will need to assign additional time to their studies. Therefore, the CGA Association recommends that students with CLB levels at 7 or below improve their level of language competence.
Canadian language benchmarks are a standard national measure of English proficiency used in Canada, demonstrating to an employer or instructor an individual’s ability to competently use English to complete certain tasks. The CLB categorizes language skill up to 12 levels of competence in the areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. See www.language.ca for more information about the CLB.
Maximum Courses Per Session and Year
CGA-BC recommends that you enrol in only one CGA course per Session (with the exception of Public Speaking). CGA courses require approximately 20-25 hours of assignment preparation and studying per week. Although you can take more than one course or examination in a Session, the resulting workload may be too demanding and conflicts could arise. In addition, the Assignment Due Date Schedules and Exam Schedules are not set up to support this practice. You should develop a careful plan that takes these issues into consideration. No special consideration will be given to students who attempt to take more than one course per Session.
Since there are no breaks between academic Sessions, you may want to consider taking a Session off each year to allow time for rest and recovery.
Transfer Credits
As a CGA student, you may complete approved equivalent courses at post-secondary institutions for transfer credit to many courses in the CGA Program, provided that you maintain active student status. You are responsible for ensuring that any non-CGA courses you take are recognized for transfer credit by CGA-BC. For full details of which non-CGA courses are approved for transfer credit, see the Transfer Credit Guide (available in print from CGA-BC) or see Transfer Credits online for the most current information.
To receive credit with CGA-BC, you will need to submit a Request for Transfer Credit form, along with an original transcript from the post-secondary institution. Please submit the request form as soon as you have completed the non-CGA courses so that CGA-BC’s records are up to date. Courses transferred into the CGA Program are subject to a transfer credit fee for each CGA exemption (except Public Speaking, Business Cases and Challenge exams).
A new policy regarding the receipt of official transcripts will come into effect as of June 30, 2013 as outlined below. We encourage applicants to begin using this policy immediately.
If you are seeking transfer credit for your post-secondary studies completed either within Canada or outside of Canada, you must submit your official, sealed transcripts directly to our CGA-BC office.
In order to obtain official, sealed transcripts, you must contact your post secondary institution and request them to send your transcripts directly to:
Certified General Accountants Association of British Columbia
c/o Assessments
#300 - 1867 West Broadway,
Vancouver, BC V6J 5L4 Canada
Transcripts must arrive at CGA-BC’s offices unopened in a sealed envelope.
Important Additional Information:
- If your official, sealed transcripts will be prepared in a language other than English, they must be accompanied by a notarized translation.
All transcripts received will be kept in your file and will not be returned to you. Therefore, if you require a record of your official transcripts for your own records or you require an additional copy of your transcripts to send to a translator, we suggest that you order more than one at the time of your request to your post-secondary institution.
Waiving Exemptions
You may wish to waive an exemption granted at the time of admission and choose to take the course again through CGA. This is a permanent change, and you should be aware that once an exemption has been waived it cannot be reinstated.
Enrolling in a Course
Once you have paid the Basic Tuition Fee in August each year, you have two options when enrolling in courses:
- enrol in courses for the entire academic year in August, or
- enrol in courses each Session, by the enrolment deadlines posted under Enrolment on the CGA-BC website.
You can add courses through the online Enrolment system. We will charge you a Course Addition Fee each time you use the online enrolment system to add a course after you have paid the Basic Tuition Fee for the year.
Changing Sessions of Courses
or Challenge Examinations
Students may request a Session Change to move their course(s) to another Session during the same academic year. To do so, please submit the Session Change Request Form by the published deadlines for each Session. If you wish to request a Session Change for a challenge exam, please refer to the posted Exam Schedules, as this often differs from the Course Schedule.
Session changes do not apply to deferred or supplemental exams. For more details, see the Examination section of this Student Handbook.
Changing Pace Electives
In the PACE Level of study, students must complete two elective courses in addition to the required capstone courses PA1 and PA2. Once a student has attempted the course and exam for a given elective, they may discover that the course was not a suitable choice. If the student has been unsuccessful in their attempt at the elective, they may request to change electives by emailing their request to a Student Advisor at advising@cga-bc.org.
Please note that you cannot complete both AU2 and MU1 as your two PACE elective courses. Only one of these upper-level audit courses can be completed. However, you can declare an elective change from one course to the other (AU2 to MU1 or MU1 to AU2).
If you want to change electives, you cannot enrol in the new elective until your request is received and permission is granted. In accordance with the examination failure policy, you are only allowed up to four attempts at an elective. Any failure(s) in the first elective are carried forward and included in any subsequent count of failures for the new elective. For example, if you attempt TX2 twice, and then change electives to MS2, you have only two attempts remaining at the new elective, MS2.
Program 98 students can complete either PA1 or PA2, and should note that the elective change policy also applies to PA1/PA2 changes. A student may be allowed to change from one PA course to the other (for example, from PA1 to PA2). As with electives, attempts in the first PA course are carried forward and included in any subsequent count of failures for the new PA course.
Students are not permitted to take a third elective course. If you are interested in completing another elective course, you should consider taking the course once you are a member to fulfill your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement.
Minimum Number of Examinations
Students who enter the CGA Program with advanced standing are required to pass a minimum number of CGA examinations in certain fields. Please contact assessments@cga-bc.org if you have any questions about this policy.
Examination Failure Policy
Students are allowed up to four attempts to pass each CGA course. Any course is considered to have been failed when a student:
- does not qualify to write the examination (DNQ), or
- writes any examination (including primary, challenge, supplemental and deferred) and achieves a mark of less than 65 per cent, or
- receives a mark of S or F in PA1/PA2.
Each DNQ, examination grade of less than 65 per cent, or examination grade of S or F (for PA1 and PA2) is considered to be one of the four attempts allowed to pass a particular course. Marks of ETR or DEF (Deferred) are not considered failures. Please refer to the Examinations section of this Handbook for more information.
Three Times Failed
Any student who fails a course three times will be sent a letter advising them that their next attempt must be successful if they wish to maintain their status in the CGA Program.
Four Times Failed
Any student who fails a course four times (including an applicable elective change) will be subject to mandatory withdrawal from the CGA Program at the end of the academic year. The withdrawal and re-admission policy will then apply.
After failing a course four times, a student has the right to appeal to the Director, Education & Student Services, to waive the requirement for mandatory withdrawal. The appeal must be made within 90 days of the date that the student is notified of reaching this limitation. Please see the
Student Appeals section of this Handbook for more information.
Withdrawals and Refunds
Withdrawal from a Course
CGA-BC provides students with two withdrawal dates per session. See Refund, Withdrawal and Session Change Deadlines for details.
- Partial refund and no academic penalty – We will refund you the course fee, less an administrative withdrawal fee and material fee. You may request to leave the credit balance on your record for future enrolments or you may request a refund. All refunds are issued using the same method in which the payment was made.
- No refund, no academic penalty – We will not refund the course fee. There will be no academic penalty.
Course materials are not returnable or refundable. To withdraw from a course, you must complete and submit the Course and Exam Withdrawal Request form.
If you withdraw from a course, this will not appear on your transcript of marks. All withdrawal requests will be confirmed by mail within two weeks of receipt. Please contact a Student Advisor at advising@cga-bc.org if you do not receive confirmation by this time. Withdrawing from a course will not count as either an attempt or failure of the course. You will be required to complete the course later.
Since examination qualification is not required for courses in Levels 1-4, please note that if you do not withdraw by the posted withdrawal deadlines or defer your exam by the posted deferral deadlines, a mark of ETR (Elect To Re-enrol) will show on your transcript. This will not count as a failed attempt at the course. You will be required to complete the course later.
Examination qualification is required for all PACE Level courses. Please note that if you do not withdraw by the posted withdrawal deadlines or achieve the minimum examination qualification, a mark of DNQ (Did Not Qualify) will show on your transcript. A DNQ is considered a course failure and will count as an attempt at the course. You will be required to complete the course later. See the Assignment and Exam Qualification Summary for more information.
Please note that course withdrawals are not permitted after the posted deadlines. See Refund, Withdrawal and Session Change Deadlines for details.
Withdrawal from a Supplemental or Challenge Examination
If you wish to withdraw from a supplemental or challenge examination, you must submit the Course and Exam Withdrawal Request Form by the published deadline found under the Schedules, Fees & Forms page. There will be a partial refund of the examination fee, less an administrative fee for each examination. You will be eligible to enrol in a challenge examination at a later date; however, after withdrawing from a supplemental exam, you will have no further opportunities to re-enrol in this supplemental exam and you must re-enrol in the full course.
Withdrawal from a Deferred Examination
Students may withdraw from deferred examinations. In order to do so, you must submit a Course and Exam Withdrawal Request Form by the final withdrawal deadline for courses in that session. By meeting this deadline, the scheduled deferred exam will be removed from the student transcript. If you do not submit the Withdrawal Request form by the specified deadline or do not sit to write the exam you will receive a mark of ETR (Elect To Re-enrol) on your transcript and you must re-enrol in the course. The unwritten exam will not count as a failed attempt at the course. Compassionate Withdrawal from a Course or Examination
CGA-BC expects students to complete the required assignment and examination requirements for their program of study. CGA-BC also recognizes that this may not be possible due to family and medical reasons or other compassionate grounds. In such cases, CGA-BC will consider the individual circumstances through the Student Appeal process, and we will make every effort to assist the student in completing their studies while meeting the operational and professional requirements of the Association.
Voluntary Withdrawal from the CGA Program
Students who voluntarily withdraw from the CGA Program will not receive a refund of tuition, exemption fees, software or administrative fees. The student may receive individual course or examination refunds, subject to the withdrawal and refund policy outlined above. A student wishing to withdraw completely from the CGA Program should submit a Program Withdrawal Request form.
Mandatory Withdrawal from the CGA Program
In the event that a student violates the Exam Failure Policy (fails a course four times) or violates the Time Limit Policy (is unable to complete their studies by their graduation year), they will be mandatorily withdrawn from the CGA Program and subject to the withdrawal and re-admission policy outlined below. Please note that students may appeal this mandatory withdrawal to the Director, Education & Student Services, through the Student Appeals process.
Withdrawal and Re-Admission Policy
Re-admission Policy Following a
Voluntary or Mandatory Withdrawal
Subject to the provision in the appeal process, students who have voluntarily withdrawn or who have been subject to mandatory withdrawal from the CGA Program may be able to apply for re-admission as follows:
- If a student voluntarily withdraws, they must wait one full academic year following the year of withdrawal before applying for re-admission.
- If a student has been subject to mandatory withdrawal, they must wait two complete academic years following the year of withdrawal before applying for re-admission.
- Students will be required to complete the program in effect at the date of their re-admission. Students will not be permitted to complete an earlier program.
CGA-BC reserves the right to prescribe a specific program of studies for an individual student.
After the time has elapsed as outlined above, students will be required to submit an application form and CGA-BC will re-evaluate previously completed CGA courses or exemptions to determine if they are equivalent to the current program. This may require the student to re-enrol in courses previously passed or exempted. This re-evaluation will only be completed once the application and assessment form is received by Student Services staff.
Students will retain all previous marks on their permanent record. The number of failures previously recorded will reduce the number of attempts allowed to complete a course. In the case where a student was withdrawn due to four failures in one course, the student will be allowed two additional attempts upon re-admission.
The student will have a new time limit assigned to complete the CGA Program upon re-admission. No student will be re-admitted to the CGA Program more than once. If a second application for re-admission is made, the student will be directed to appeal to the Director, Education & Student Services.
Student Appeals
CGA-BC has adopted certain performance standards, rules and regulations that apply to all students in the program. These standards protect the integrity and the value of the CGA designation. However, CGA-BC has an appeal process that recognizes that students can face extenuating circumstances clearly beyond their control, such as a marital breakdown, a death of a close family member or continuing health problems (doctor’s statement required).
To begin, student will need to submit a student appeal letter. While preparing the appeal letter, students should consider the following:
- The appeal is based solely on the student’s written submission and should include appropriate supporting documentation, such as a doctor’s statement. Students will sometimes refer the Association to outside persons such as doctors, counsellors or clergy for details. Since the student is the only person who can explain how the situation affected his or her studies, the student should supply the supporting documentation from these individuals and give CGA-BC permission to contact them.
- The specific personal circumstances that negatively affected performance as a CGA student need to be explained. Almost all CGA students can state honestly that they are under pressure on the job. If the student is going to claim that job-related issues were part of the specific personal circumstances, the student should be prepared to explain why the situation is different from the job stresses faced by an average CGA student. A letter from the student’s employer may be warranted.
- Students should explain how their personal circumstances have changed. If their situation has not changed, the appeal committee has no reason to assume that the student’s performance would change.
- Students will need to detail a specific plan for completing CGA studies if the appeal is approved. When presenting the appeal, a student should consider his or her future in the program if the appeal is granted. If the appeal is based on problems with a specific course or examination, the student will need to indicate the additional specific steps he/she will take to assure success if granted additional time. For example, the student will seek assistance from a paid tutor or attend a seminar on time management. Students should provide a timeline for success. If the appeal is a request for additional time to accomplish some specific goal (e.g., pass an examination, complete other courses in the program, etc.), the student should show how the remaining time in the program would be used to reach these goals. The plan must look beyond the immediate appeal.
- The appeal should be a presentation of facts and a plan directly relating to the above issues.
Please address the appeal letter to Bill Johnson (Director, Education & Student Services) and email it as an attachment to the Coordinator, Student Advising, Christina Skinner at cskinner@cga-bc.org for processing. For further assistance in preparing your appeal, please contact Christina at 604.730.6201 or at the email address above.
Transfers Out of B.C.
CGA-BC students must have a permanent (residence) address within British Columbia or the Yukon Territory. Students who reside outside of British Columbia or the Yukon for more than one year must request a transfer of their student file to the new CGA affiliate (province or territory) of residence if they wish to continue the CGA Program by completing and submitting the Student Transfer Application. Transfers are processed at the end of the academic year. For temporary moves of less than one year or a move taking place mid-academic year, students can change their Exam Centre accordingly under Student Details on My CGA-BC. CGA also maintains some offices internationally. Students wishing to transfer outside Canada to another CGA affiliate will also be required to complete a Student Transfer Application.