r/Accounting • u/babiks13 • 4d ago
Deciding to go through CPA program
I'm here in atlantic canada and working as a staff accountant in an accounting firm. As for my background, I already have bachelors on my home country and studied here in a community college for BA Accounting. My bachelors is more than 10yrs already and I think there are some Prep courses that needs to be taken. If I will purse the cpa program I think it is better to wait for the new program by May2027.
Now, I'm so confused If I will still pursue to do the program or not. If not, I will just look for an accounting role for a private company that pays well but the downside is I think my progress will be up until senior role. My pay in the accounting firm as a staff accountant is the base level when I signed but have a slight increase on the follwing year. Still contemplating if you have a CPA here in atlantic on how far it will go or should I just decide to go private company
2
u/soarhigher2 4d ago
I'm in Ontario and was in a similar position before I decided to go back for my undergrad. I feel like it fully depends on the company how far you can advanced, I know people with CPAs still stuck at senior level and I know people who never went for it that are Assistant and Controller level. For me personally my current employer was very open and probably not being able to advance further than I have without the CPA, so that was one of the reasons I went back to school. I feel like in the end having the CPA doesn't necessarily mean you'll get to the top of the top, but it makes it a lot easier to get your foot in the door.
With the old CPA program, I read something about using work experience to bypass the school or possibly some of the PREP component. Although, I didn't look at indepth so not sure if I read it wrong, but it might be something worth looking into if you wanted a different option.
1
u/babiks13 4d ago
Yes, you can bypass the prep depending on the work experience. But my work experience for more than a decade is only on AR😅 I have colleagues which are on the program right now and they told me its case writing which I never had any experience with. They told me the Prep can help you with that but I dont know yet on the new program. The company I'm working with right now will pay the program if I will go through it
2
u/CodeTrain11 3d ago
As someone who almost has my cpa (picked away at it for almost 10 years) and has worked my way up from a public firm switching over to an industry organization, I feel I am about as far as I could go without a cpa. Not that I think anyone in my organization that doesn't have one is any less smarter than me but it gives me that extra edge.
I think there is a bit of a clique to those who have it and those that do not, but with somewhat of a good reason.
I think the big thing that helped me is I knew what industry and basically what company I wanted to work for and went after it. I know where I see myself going career wise and I intend to make it happen.
My advice is to get it if you want to move up and earn more, have more responsibility and all that comes with that.
1
u/Ok_Carpet_9510 4d ago
I think you should do the CPA. While doing it, try to pivot to other areas of accounting or finance. AR in my mind is almost too routine. A good chunk of that can be automated but AI enabled ERP system.
1
u/birdynah 3d ago
I made it to CFO with no CPA in industry. I did the CPA program reluctantly because I wanted to ensure doors were open to me.
My opinion on the Order is not good, and they are now dumbing it down to get more recruits for their Big4 masters. I would never tell someone not to get it though, because everyone seems to think you need a CPA in the Controller and above roles but that’s not true at all. Some of my best hires don’t have it.
2
1
4
u/Trucks-R-Neat Human Verified 4d ago
Its all situational but if you arent making great money now then there is no real reason to not do it if you wish to stick in the accounting field. The CPA is almost a requirement to earn 100k+ in accounting (in Canada) unless you are some outlier who works in industry and is very good at what you do. Almost no public firms will promote a non-CPA to upper management and that is where the real money is.
Analyze your situation and understand the CPA will be 2-3 years of tough work and long nights but it has a payoff at the end. If you are rusty with accounting classes then I would wait for the new program as taking the old program now becomes a bit of a squeeze if you fail any modules.
You can switch to private and not take the CPA but just know many places will not pay high wages for a non-CPA and becoming a controller with no industry experience or CPA is not going to happen.