Why become a CPA?

Learn about the benefits of becoming a CPA in Canada and how having your CPA can enhance your career goals and earning potential.

Become a CPA at CPA Atlantic School

Every organization needs an accounting and business professional. Every tech start-up, financial institution, entertainment company, non-profit, government agency — everyone — needs the skills you can provide as a Chartered Professional Accountant. You have the widest range of opportunities, so you can choose your working environment. Regardless of your industry sector, your job is to be a forward-thinking financial leader and to apply the knowledge you’ve gained from the CPA designation to make important financial and business decisions.

Highly qualified professionals in the accounting, business and finance field will always be in demand. With a Canadian CPA designation, you can be sure that you’re trained to meet Canadian and international market needs and that there is always room to grow.

Why become a CPA? Five CPAs in the Atlantic provinces have an answer to this question, the benefits of the CPA designation, and the most important thing one learns as a CPA.

What is a CPA?

  • A CPA is not a degree, it’s a business designation – and it is among the the world’s largest and most prestigious.
  • CPAs are one of a handful of “regulated” professions, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc..
  • On behalf of CPA Canada, CPA Atlantic School of Business promotes and delivers the program in Atlantic Canada and Bermuda.
  • CPA Bermuda is affiliated with the Canadian CPA designation.
  • Over 900 members in Bermuda and over 210,000 members internationally with the Canadian CPA designation.

Unique career advantages

As experts in “the language and toolkit of business,” CPAs have a distinct advantage in being able to choose careers, sectors, and places in which to apply their unique skillset. While CPAs do analyse the past and present, it is always with the strategic aim to envision and build future opportunities.

5 Advantages that a CPA Career will provide:

1
Work in any sector you choose
From wealth conservation to environmental conservation, gold mining to cannabis farming, trading floors to digital platforms.
2
Work in any role you can imagine
From VP finance of a professional sports franchise, as an international forensic auditor, to a niche entrepreneur.
3
Work wherever in the world you like
from your home town to Toronto’s financial district, to Fogo Island in Newfoundland, to Europe, the US, Caribbean or Asia.
4
Enjoy incredible job security
With a network of 220,000 CPAs, you can count on a consistent high demand from employers, and great CPA salaries.
5
Ability and opportunities to give back
Become a volunteer treasurer for your favourite cause or as a highly credible community leader.

Career Opportunities for a CPA

Industry
CPAs working in industry provide valuable input on key decisions, apply a unique blend of expertise to identify new market opportunities, ensure corporate accountability, manage risk and help the company maintain a long-term competitive advantage.
Public Practice
CPAs working in public practice provide their clients with services such as: Start-up counseling, Purchases and sales of businesses, Business valuations, Business planning and financial projections, Developing strategies for securing financing, Corporate and personal income tax planning, Assurance (audits and reviews), Preparing and analyzing financial information, and more.
Government
CPAs work at all levels of government providing accounting expertise to guide financial planning and to maintain fiscal control. Roles include tax auditors, policy planners and financial analysts.
Education
Many CPAs are educators who teach future leaders about business, strategy and ethics. CPAs are also regularly found running major educational institutions around the world.
Not-For-Profit
Stakeholders, including the general public, are taking a greater interest in the administration of organizations receiving donor dollars, tax benefits or government grants. CPAs help not-for-profit bodies with effective strategy development, accounting stewardship and the delivery of high-quality transparent annual reports.
The CPA designation gives you the set of skills to do anything.
Lindsay Power, CPA, CMA, MBA
Senior Business Analyst - Strategic Projects, StandardAero
You have this massive family of CPAs on which you can lean on and use as much as you can, as often as you can.
Craig Farewell, CPA
Co-owner & Director of Operations, Banished Brewing & Brewdock
The skills you acquire through the CPA program prepare you to lead in any organization and in any industry.
Courtney Burns, CPA
President and CEO, Greater Moncton International Airport Authority Inc.
It’s the differentiator when someone has a stack of resumes. People with a CPA designation will stand out.
Leah Boody, CPA, CMA
President, Pineapple Bytes
The CPA designation first ignited my entrepreneurial spirit. It certainly helped me get to where I am right now.
David Arsenault, CPA
President, Arsenault Properties
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