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CPA Canada says it’s reached agreements with its Ontario and Quebec counterparts on education, exams and standard-setting for the accounting profession.

CPA Ontario and the Quebec CPA Order will officially split from the national organization on Dec. 20, the end of an 18-month withdrawal period.

News of the split, first announced in June 2023, raised questions about the future role of the national organization for chartered professional accounts in Quebec and Ontario.

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The future of the education and exam program was one of the biggest questions.

The provincial and territorial organizations regulate and enforce the accounting profession while CPA Canada is responsible for standards, and co-ordinates education and the common exam taken by would-be CPAs across the country.

CPA Canada said the three organizations have finalized an education agreement previously announced last November which preserves the current education pathway for students.

The organizations have also agreed to binding terms on standard-setting, ensuring continued funding as well as access for Ontario and Quebec CPAs to the CPA Canada handbook.

CPAs are required to be members of the provincial, territorial or Bermudian organizations in order to practice the profession.

In September, CPA Canada announced that CPAs in Ontario and Quebec could separately continue to be members of the national organization, after consulting members on what they wanted.

“We’re the only organization dedicated to CPAs right across Canada,” said president and CEO Pamela Steer in an interview at the time.

There was no precedent for the decision by the two provincial organizations to split with CPA Canada. When they made the announcement a year and a half ago, the organizations chalked it up to disagreements over governance after a multi-year review process.

At the time, CPA Ontario president and CEO Carol Wilding said the organization was “too far apart with (CPA) Canada on some fundamentals, and it got to a point where the status quo was not sustainable.” The Quebec CPA Order said the change would help it be more efficient.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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