FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

You need to be an Indian CA.  You register with one of the Provincial CPA bodies or if you writing the exam in Western Canada (i.e. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba) with the CPA Western School of Business(CPAWSB)..  If you are registering with CPA Ontario it could take between 8 - 12 weeks to register you and confirm you are eligible to write the CFE.  Registration with CPAWSB is quicker.   In our experience, if you have an Indian CA, you should not experience any problems registering and being able to write the Canadian CFE exam.

If you are an Indian or Pakistan CA, you can go directly to the CFE and not have to take Capstone 1 and 2.

The CFE written two times a year - late May and mid Sept.

You write the CFE in the Canadian Province in which you registered.  It does not really matter where you write, as the CFE is a Canadian wide exam, the same for everyone in Canada.

You can write write 3 times in total.

The CFE is only written on the computer, using word and excel.  It is an open book exam - you have access to the Handbook and Tax Act on the computer.

Yes - it is a case based exam and you will need to practice and learn case writing, in addition to being familiar with the technical. There are no multiple choice questions on the exam.

No.

No - Day 1 is marked separately - pass or fail.  Day 2 and 3 are combinded and marked together, pass or fail.  If you fail Day 1 or Day 2/3, you only have to re-write the day(s) you failed.

Yes, PASS has put together an extensive course specifically for Indian and International Students which covers both a technical review and intensive training on how to write CFE cases..

Yes - Capstone 2 is duplicated.  Students purchase the Capstone 2 material and hand in for marking the practice Capstone 2 exams, to PASS, who mark them.  For Capstone 1, students will write 2 practice cases, attend a live online session and receive a handout, all necessary to be prepared for Day 1 of the CFE.  Therefore, PASS recommends that students do NOT attend the CPA Canada Capstone 1 and 2 courses.  They are not necessary.

No - you can live anywhere in the world and take the entire course.  You will have to make 1 trip to Canada to take the CFE.

No - only PASS/Orbit has developed a dedicated course to prepare students with an Indian CA to pass the CFE and are the only ones offering a course in India.

This page describes our recommended courses and resources.

This page describes our recommended courses and resources.

Live online classes are where you sit at your computer and log in and watch the instructor live, teach the class. You can ask questions by using the chat box to text or you can unmute your microphone and ask the question orally.

No problem - all live online classs are recorded, so you just watch the video.  the video is uploaded the following day.

Until you pass!

If you have technical questions, contact Ira (iwalfish@passyourcpa.ca) or Michael (mjlevi@passyourcpa.ca).  We are happy to answer questions.

Yes, you certainly can.  As a matter of fact most students work while they study.

Difficult to answer - if working full time, you should begin no later than the beginning of January if writing the CFE in May and no later than the beginning of May for the Sept. CFE. If not working, can start a bit later. The earlier you start the better the chances of passing.

No  - It will just mean more time is required to review the technical and get up to speed.

The exam covers 6 competencies: Financial reporting, management accounting, audit, tax, finance and governance. Financial reporting and management accounting are the 2 biggest areas.

If one adds the PASS course fee, plus the registration fee with the CPA Province, plus the student fee, plus the CFE exam fee and the travel to Canada to write the exam, the approximate cost is $5,000 US or $6,500 Cdn.

You can register on the PASS website by clicking on the course description for the course for Indian and Other International CAs currently living in Canada or not currently living in Canada and then scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking on register for this option.

The following: (a) You receive an online confirmation (b) We will send you a technical binder (c) you will have immediate access to an online technical binder and all of the technical videos and (c) We will send you an email with practice cases (online) as well as guidance for getting started.

Yes - there will be additional material e-mailed to you as the course progresses.

PASS has been offering courses for students wishing to obtain their CPA for over 30 years.  

PASS has provided courses to students from firms ranging from one partner firms right through to the Big Four. As a matter of fact over the years we have offered courses to all of the Big Four firms including PWC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG. For the last 22 years PASS has delivered the PWC national UFE program and is now delivering the PWC CFE program.

The live online courses are courses offered by a live instructor; they are however offered electronically rather than in a physical class room. Students have the opportunity to ask questions orally or using a chat box as the sessions are conducted in real-time (i.e. students sit at their computer and watch the instructor lead the session and students have the ability to ask questions either by text or voice).

This is quite different than a video online session which is not live where students simply watch the video.

You may wish to refer to the detailed description of course venues on our website.

Yes

In most instances we would recommend live online sessions over video sessions as it is very beneficial to have a live instructor who can answer student questions in real time. Also it is easier to focus in an online session compared with watching a video.

The only advantage of the video session is that videos can be watched at the student's convenience.

This can be very helpful when for example the student has a work schedule which conflicts with the times that live sessions are being offered. Also with a video the student can control the pace.

However, all students who take the live online sessions have access to all of the videos and can watch them whenever they wish.

Michael Levi and Ira Walfish teach most or all of the financial accounting (core 1), assurance and management accounting (core 2) sessions. Most of the tax sessions are usually taught by Professor Joanne Magee, of York University. See the list of PASS instructors for more information.

No - You can have access to all videos as long as you need them and watch them as many times as you wish.

Yes - we constantly get feedback that the live online sessions are very useful.

Students come in live, ask questions and don't have to travel anywhere. If something is missed, students just watch the video, as all live sessions are recorded and students get access to all recordings for as long as they need them.

That is certainly possible. Many former PASS students have taken advantage of this flexibility and have used both venues - live online and video online - for the same course.

Yes, that is one of the nice things about PASS. All students regardless of the venue they use, have access to all of the videos relating to their courses.

No. Students are not required to be registered with a provincial CPA Institute in order to register with PASS, although students must register with their provincial CPA Institute (or CPA western School of Business if you are writing out west) before they can write any of the exams which comprise the CPA certification program.