CGA

4. Professional Experience To achieve certification, you must obtain 36 months of professional work experience related to accounting and/or financial management to complement your course knowledge. 24 of the required 36 months must be at a professional level. CGA students may meet this experience requirement in any business sector in a variety of fields. Generally speaking, it takes students a minimum of 36 months to gain the appropriate breadth and depth of competencies for certification. However, some student may complete the requirement in less than 36 months. 4 Growth through Responsibility Professional Level Responsibility Examples: Before qualifying for certification as a CGA, you must demonstrate that your work experience has progressed to a high degree of knowledge and responsibility. To meet the professional experience requirement, we recommend that students be concurrently employed, full-time, in a position progressing toward acquiring sufficient experience and responsibility. Finance, Accounting & Management Control • Accounting for business combinations • Calculating earnings per share • Supervising employees • Performing job costing • Preparing budgets and variance analysis • Cash flow planning • Evaluating cost of capital For the professional experience to be considered acceptable, you are expected to be employed in a position that requires the application of knowledge, independent thinking, and responsibility for preparing and interpreting financial information. If you have obtained acceptable professional experience before enrolling in the CGA program, up to two years may be applied toward the requirement. Experience in any Sector You may obtain professional experience in any sector of the economy. During the course of their studies, many students change their employment positions, moving not only from one industry to another, but from one branch of the profession to another. The freedom to obtain experience in a variety of accounting and financial management positions is one of the major advantages of the CGA program. Information Systems • Performing analysis of requirements • Preparing systems and user procedures • Testing systems Taxation • Share disposition on reorganization of capital • Purchase or sale of assets of a business • Computing capital dividend election Auditing • Audit of sales and collection cycle • Testing of internal controls • Analyzing audit results • Program development • Auditing through the computer system Public Service • Accounting for funds, revenues and expenditures • Exercising commitment authority • Preparing budgetary reports • Presenting public information General Management • Strategic planning • Team building • Preparing and delivering presentations 10 13/14 P R O G R A M O F P R O F E S S I O N A L S T U D I E S

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