Accounting Designations in Canada

Introduction

Accountants wishing to practice can choose to specialize into any of these accredited accounting designations in Canada: Institute of Chartered Accountants (CA), Certified Management Accountants (CMA), or Certified General Accountants. This report about accounting designations will detail my comprehensive interviews with three professional accountants. The three accountants interviewed have different accounting designations. In this report, I have included the interviewee’s names and the current positions they hold, how I found them, the kind of courses they took in High School, and any cooperative Education in Accounting they might have done at high school level. An in depth description of cooperative education is given if there was any done at High School level. The kind of university program that was undertaken by these three interviewees is looked at.

Moreover, the path of accounting designation taken is also illuminated. Initial position held by these interviewees in Accounting after receiving designation including the kinds of duties they used to do is also delved into. Likewise, the positions these individuals took along the way to the current one is captured in the report. The report will capture description of duties in each position held. Whether jobs are plenty in the accounting field will be looked at and whether the outlook is good for the future. An overview of the kind of salary that accountant could expect ranging from entry positions for accounting personnel that are not professional accountants, to top flight experienced professional accountants will be done. The conclusion will capture outlook for a career in the accounting profession.

The three individuals who I interviewed were each Certified Management Accountant, Chartered Accountant, and Certified General Accountant.

Sean Milner (Certified Management Accountant)

Mr. Milner is a risk manager with a leading company in Canada. A friend of mine who is a member of a professional networking site who knew that I wanted to interview a certified management accountant proposed Mr. Milner to me. In the process of conducting the interview, I noted that he did economics at the university. At the high school he never did any accounting course. Mr. Milner’s duties included directing tactical and operational decision making in various companies where he worked at in different positions. Mr. Milner has held the position of management accountant in myriad companies. Milner maintains that job opportunities under this designation are countless as more opportunities still arise.

John Ainsworth (Chartered Accountant)

Ainsworth is an established chartered accountant. I knew about him at a seminar that was organized by our department. At high school level he did Mathematics and Accounting. At the university level, he did Economics. As a chartered accountant, Ainsworth majored on financial accounting. Initially, Ainsworth worked as a financial accountant at a capital market where he was tasked with maintaining financial record. He still works as a financial accountant but now does auditing. This designation commands a lot of respect and new opportunities keep coming up especially in the area of finance.

James Conor (Certified General Accountant)

I also knew Mr. Conor at a conference organized by my department. Conor is an auditor who never did any accounting related course at high school. He did economics at the university. He previously worked as a public accountant where he did all the accounting related disciplines apart from preparation of personal income tax returns. Conor currently conducts public audits. There are career prospects for certified general accountants despite legislation that have been put in place in some states like Quebec that limit the scope of their work.

Jobs available for accountants

Accountants can work as auditors, market researchers, management accountants, cost analysts, budget planners, inventory controllers, policy planners, and securities consultants (Chartered Accountants of Ontario, 1).

An overview of the kind of salary that an Accountant could expect

Management consultants fall in the Canadian salary range M, where as financial and investment analysts, financial auditors, and financial managers fall in range F. Accountants fall in salary range A (National Occupation Classification, 1).

Conclusion

All the accounting designations have promising career opportunities and more opportunities keep coming up. Some legislation that certain states have come up with like the state of Quebec will in a way scare people who would consider enrolling for certain designations.

Works Cited

Chartered Accountants of Ontario. Applying for positions. Chartered Accountants of Ontario. 2010. Web.

National Occupation Classification. Canadian Salary Survey. CanadaVisa.com. 1996- 2011. Web.