OVERVIEW OF THE IMPACT OF CPA EDUCATION CHANGES FOR LAURIER STUDENTS CPA Ontario is now finalizing its education

requirements for the CPA. The new CPA Professional Education Program (PEP) is comprised of six modules (Core 1, Core 2, Elective 1, Elective 2, Capstone 1 and Capstone 2). See http://www.cpaontario.ca/Students/CPAcertification/PEP/1014page17396.pdf and the CPA Ontario website for further details. As the new CPA PEP is considered a graduate-level program by the CPA bodies, it has been agreed by the CPA affiliates across Canada that under the new CPA Certification Program students will need either an accounting (i) Graduate degree (such as a Masters of Accounting) or (ii) Graduate Diploma to be eligible for advanced standing in the new program. Therefore, during Ontarios transition period, legacy CA students without an accounting Graduate degree or Graduate diploma are required to write challenge exams to demonstrate that they have developed the required competencies of Core 1, Core 2, the Assurance Elective and Tax Elective. CPA Ontario has also required that Laurier (and all other business schools preparing students for the CPA) remap all of our CPA related courses to the CPA Competency Map. Based on this remapping, Laurier, like other Ontario universities, will need to make adjustments to its previously recognized courses and add courses to its program to ensure that all of the competencies in the CPA Competency Map are covered. We have determined that two new courses are needed to cover the map (Taxation 3 and Management Controls). Laurier has an exceptionally strong accounting program that has resulted in nine UFE gold medalists since 1993. We are very confident that our students would excel on the four challenge exams, but we do not see any benefit in our students being subject to four additional CPA exams prior to the CPA Common Final Examinations (CFE). Therefore, the Accounting Area of Laurier has developed a Graduate Diploma that it will be asking CPA Ontario to accredit under the new National CPA Accreditation Program so that its graduates are eligible to proceed directly to Capstone 1 without having to write the challenge exams for the first four Modules. The proposed Graduate Diploma in Accounting includes Taxation 3 and Management Controls, and was approved by Business Council, SBE Council, the SBE Curriculum Committee and Graduate Faculty Council in November 2013. We will be officially requesting CPA Accreditation shortly and are currently working with CPA Ontario to schedule a CPA Accreditation Review Team campus visit in early February 2014. Specifically, the Graduate Diploma will combine three add-on courses (i.e., updated versions of BU417, BU447 and BU497h) together with the new Taxation 3 and Management Controls courses. Based on our preliminary discussions with CPA Ontario, we anticipate that graduates of our existing CA-accredited programs that complete the new five-course Graduate Diploma will be eligible to proceed directly to Capstone 1 without having to write the 4 challenge exams. (This will be finalized as part of the Accreditation meeting detailed above and, ultimately, upon approval by CPA Ontarios Council later in February). These five courses will be treated like add-on courses until final approval is received from the Province of Ontario to group these courses into a Graduate Diploma in Accounting.

RECOMMENDED TRANSITION FOR STUDENTS TAKING ADD-ONS IN 2014 Non-co-op CA/CPA accounting students typically take their add-on courses in the Spring term. Non-coop CA/CPA students should ensure that they have completed either BU487 (Advanced Accounting) or BU466 (Advanced Taxation) in the Winter 2014 term. BU417*, BU447*, BU497h*, Taxation 3 and Management Controls would then be completed in the Spring term (together with one of BU487 or BU466). The changes detailed above are designed to facilitate approval from CPA Ontario for non-co-op students to be exempt from the Core 1, Core 2, and the Assurance Elective and Tax Elective challenge examinations.** Co-op CA/CPA accounting students typically take their add-on courses in the Fall term. Co-op CA/CPA students should ensure that they have completed either BU487 (Advanced Accounting) or BU466 (Advanced Taxation) in the Spring 2014 term. BU417*, BU447*, BU497h*, Taxation 3 and Management Controls would then be completed in the Fall term (together with one of BU487 or BU466). The changes detailed above are designed to facilitate approval from CPA Ontario for co-op students to be exempt from the Core 1, Core 2, and the Assurance Elective and Tax Elective challenge examinations.** If you have any questions regarding these matters, please contact the BBA office.

(* it is anticipated that these courses will be renumbered as BU517, BU547 and BU537 for the Graduate Diploma. ** It is also anticipated that when Laurier receives CPA Accreditation, students completing the full program (including the Graduate Diploma courses) will be able to choose any pair of Electives (Assurance, Tax, Finance and/or Performance Management) and proceed directly to Capstone 1 without facing any additional challenge exams).

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