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All rights reserved. These materials or parts thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. Every reasonable effort has been made to obtain permissions for all articles and data used in this edition. If errors or omissions have occurred, they will be corrected in future editions, provided written notification has been received by the publisher. Contents
Purpose of this guide . Objectives of professional experience ? Fulfilling the GA Association and AFC mandates ћ Supporting academic learning . Providing opportunities to learn from other professionals Satisfying key stakeholders 2 GA professional experience requirements 4 Focus on advanced level work experience Career planning . Overview of the GA competency groups Demonstration of competencies . Lapses in employment and part- Time Limit . Employment time work outside Canada 5 7 8 Early-stage experience Professional level career Steps for creating your career strategy Sample career paths 9 11 15
Substantiating your experience 16 Team roles ћ When to involve your supervisor and verifier ћ Meeting with your verifier . Acting on suggestions and guidance from your supervisor and verifier portfolio, or other documentary evidence 20 21 22 Getting ready to report in the PEER 23 Frequency of Documenting your experience claims Questions to ask yourself . Gathering documents to submit 24 25 3 6 Using the online PEER system . 26 Creating a profile ? . Creating an employment file the first time Keeping a journal, Your employment files – with one or more employers Entering experience in the PEER questionnaire
Submitting a PEER file status of your PEER Intervention by your affiliate PEER administrator . Reviewers consolidated assessment Time limit 27 28 32 35 42 43 How the PEER system evaluates your experience……… Flags in the system Consolidated assessment 45 Working with your GA Association 47 The Association’s expectations Verification and Appendix A: Glossary Appendix B: Frequently asked questions 49 Appendix C: Sample career 50 Purpose of this guide Professional experience is essential for GA qualification.
Together with the education and examination requirements of the GA program, it helps ensure that students develop and can effectively demonstrate the skills and abilities needed to succeed as a newly certified professional accountant. Professional Experience Required for Certification (PEER) is the professional experience reporting process for students in the GA program. This Student Guide lays out the details of how to document your experience as it’s gained.
In the guide, you will find information on the objectives of professional experience the areas of experience you need to develop career planning how to work with the online PEER system to record, report, and monitor your regress Find out more For more information on PEER or other issues important to your studies and career path, contact your local GA affiliate office at www. GA. Org. Objectives of professional experience Every profession requires a period of applied training, such as internship, residency, articling, or some other form, prior to awarding its professional designation.
Whatever its form, the purpose of this training is the same – to equip students with the necessary technical skills and to ingrain in them, as aspiring professionals, the values of the profession. Professionals have a duty o the well-being of society and to those who engage them. It is during the period of applied training ? or initial professional development – in dealing with the realities of the workplace, that students develop and hone their professional judgment. GA professional experience criteria are rooted in the GA competency framework.
The framework establishes three ways in which your competence is evaluated prior to earning the GA designation: education, examination, and experience. These three assessment approaches are similar to the threads of a fabric; they are inter-woven and continually overlap. Just as each thread is important to the integrity of the completed fabric, each assessment approach is essential to measuring your development as a professional accountant. The competency framework further recognizes that some skills such as leading others or managing conflict – are better evaluated through work experience than through examination or course work.
In addition to establishing the three forms of assessment, the GA competency framework outlines the professional competencies that GA candidates must demonstrate in order to be certified. The framework consists of more than 00 competencies in 17 subject areas across three broad competency groups: Leadership, Professionalism, and Professional Knowledge. The importance of professional work experience in helping you to acquire the skills and values deemed essential for professional accountants is well established and recognized globally.
The International Federation of Accountants (AFC), a body to which GA-Canada and most other professional accounting associations around the world belong, mandates a period of professional experience that students must have prior to attaining their professional certification. Supporting academic learning Your work assignments and responsibilities give you the opportunity to apply the formal learning from your GA courses to the business needs and problems of today’s workplace. The experience you gain in accounting and management positions not only reinforces this learning, it expands on it.
Your workplace – with its pressures and demands – gives you a richer and more nuanced picture of accounting and management issues than you get through study alone. It provides a context for the theory and principles, making them more relevant because you see how they apply to professional business robbers. Equally important, you gain a better understanding of organizations – whether they are in the business, not-for-profit, or government sector. You also gain a better understanding of how accounting contributes to organizations and to society.
PEER Student Guide By studying and working at the same time, you synthesize your learning from both environments and strengthen the process of developing competence in the skills and abilities of a professional accountant. Providing opportunities to learn from other professionals Not all of your on-the-job learning will be accounting specific. As an accountant, you may work in business, government, education, or not-for- profit. You can learn a lot from the people you work with about your industry and organization, and about business in general.
Every’ person you encounter has a unique perspective, shaped by their role in the organization, their experiences, and their personal values. In problem-solving situations, you need to understand the interests of a variety of stakeholders. The more you learn now from a wide range of people, the better you will be able to anticipate and understand the viewpoints of 20th errs. Finally, others in your organization can help you successfully navigate the politics and systems of the organization. They know the organizational history, and they know how to get things done.
Satisfying key stakeholder expectations Who cares about accounting? You do, right? So does your employer, your organization’s clients, your colleagues, other accountants, investors, creditors, public interest groups, taxpayers, the GA Association, and many others, either directly or indirectly. Each of these groups has a vested interest in the work that accountants do, and the qualifications, education, and experience f accountants. In some way, the work that accountants do will affect everyone.
The interests of some of these stakeholders are more obvious, such as those of your employer or supervisor, the Association, investors, and creditors. Others may be less obvious. For example, the public is affected when accounting information is used to influence a public policy decision, such as when stakeholders use accounting information to make their case or to refute arguments put forward by others. Stock markets function effectively because the information reported is, for he most part, accurate and reliable.
The effective functioning of stock markets is essential to the effective functioning of the economy. The acts of even a single accountant can enhance or discredit the reputation of the entire profession. Thus, it is of concern to all accountants that each one receives a high caliber of education and training that includes development of ethical and professional judgment. As a professional accountant, you will communicate and interact with a wide variety of stakeholders. You will represent their interests, consult with them, and sometimes advise them.
You ill need to understand their perspectives and interests. As a student in the GA program, it is important that you learn to recognize the needs and expectations of these stakeholders. PEER student Guide Adherence to COPPER You were introduced to the GA Code of Ethical Principles and Rules of Conduct (COPPER) in your course studies. COPPER outlines the obligations that Gas and students in the GA program have to the stakeholders in the profession. Gas and students must put their duty to society ahead of their own interests. Doing so is an obligation incumbent on every professional.
It is also one of the ethical principles of the Association. In addition to the principles, there are specific rules. For example, there are rules related to the use of the term “specialist” and to the need for continuing professional development after certification. The rules may vary among the provinces and territories. For instance, some provincial Affiliates prohibit students from engaging as an independent public practitioner. You need to know both the general principles and the rules of conduct where you are registered as a student.
The first accounting job for most students is an entry-level position. The experience you gain in such a position helps prepare you for more advanced accounting or financial management roles. As you progress in your studies and at work, you take on more complex work and assume greater responsibility in your department and organization. Whether your work is in accounting, assurance, finance, tax, systems, or another area, you will do work that is entry-level and work that is more advanced.
It is the more advanced level work experience that you will draw from to report your professional experience and to demonstrate your professional competence as an aspiring accountant. Overview of the GA competency groups The three broad competency groups that make up the GA competency framework reflect the major responsibility areas of your work experience. Leadership is an integral aspect of a Saga’s work in any business field or organizational role. Leadership competencies relate to strategic management, business activity analysis, innovation, change management, and team development at all levels of an organization.
They ensure that Gas move beyond technical mastery to develop the personal qualities and non- technical skills that are essential for senior executives and managers. In documenting your experience, you must demonstrate that you are competent in the three Leadership subject areas: Strategic and organizational leadership Organizational effectiveness Individual and team leadership and development Professionalism refers to the integrity, objectivity, analytical skills, self- evaluation, social responsibility, and professional and ethical judgment that Gas exercise in all aspects of their work.
The professionalism competencies enhance a Saga’s performance as well as the reputation of the profession. Gas are guided by the GA Code of Ethical Principles and Rules of Conduct. This Code and the professionalism of Gas are just two of the reasons the GA designation is held in high regard. Impotent in the seven Professionalism subject areas: Ethics and trust Sat Koehler focus Communication Integrative approach Problem solving Professional development Professional self-evaluation Professional Knowledge is the foundation on which Gas build their technical expertise and meet the demand of the global business environment for specialized knowledge and skills. Competencies in financial accounting and related financial management areas ensure that Gas are able to analyze and liver clear, reliable financial information and develop successful business strategies.