Are CA firms the only place where students can obtain the experience needed to practise public accounting?
Yes. Only CA Training Offices providing audit, assurance and taxation hours — as defined under current standards and regulations — offer the qualifying experience necessary to practise public accounting. This includes CA firms and the Offices of the Auditor General of Canada and the provincial Auditors General. CA students who qualify without having acquired all of the required public accounting experience can do so post-qualification. They can become eligible to practise public accounting if they subsequently acquire the necessary public accounting experience in a CA Training Office, including the chargeable hours (i.e. CA Firm or the Offices of the Auditor General of Canada or the provincial Auditors General). They will not have to rewrite the UFE.
