Earlier this month I received a letter from the governing body of my profession in this province, the ICAO. I wasn’t expecting it so naturally I was pretty curious. It turned out to be great news:
“According to our records, your estimated completion date of the 30-month practical experience requirement is 12/7/2007.”
Even before I had opened the letter I was treated to the new CA branding on the envelope. Not only that but the new CA logo is the only thing on the front of the envelope. The return address information is printed on the back flap at the opposite end of the envelope. Pretty cool twist for something as mundane as a business envelope.
I may have been done on December 7th, but I won’t know for sure until my firm submits the attached form with all my hours. 625 auditing hours, 100 review hours, 1,250 total assurance hours (including those audit and review hours plus other assurance engagements), 100 tax hours, plus elective hours making up no less than 2,500 total hours. I’m certain I’ve met all the hours.
Any leaves of absence taken in excess of those allowable (prescribed by Regulation I) will extend your completion date. The allowable leaves of absence are as follows:
- 8 weeks vacation
- 5 weeks staff/job training
- 5 weeks illness/compassionate leave
I did some quick calculations and I’d be surprised if I’d taken more than those amounts off over the 2 2/3 years I’ve been working in public accounting as of the end of this year. But there’s more — any other paid/unpaid leave plus time spent at the SOA and writing the UFE is also added back. 4 weeks for the SOA and 1 week for the UFE.
My best guess is that it will be sometime in mid to late January before I’m clear to put the letters behind my name. The Waiting is the hardest part.
Yeah, my letter also showed up earlier this month. I did the math I figure it’ll take slightly longer to get my 30 months. I mean, I was off for almost entire pre-UFE summer – that’s 8 weeks counting a firm-training week unrelated to the UFE. Then there’s the pre-CKE training weeks and firm orientation training … [pause]
… no jokes, I had to create a spreadsheet to add up all the training and vacation days I’ve been on… oh, just remembered two courses I need to add in.
I’ve been lucky enough to be nowhere near the “5 weeks illness/compaassionate” limit, but as for the other 13 weeks, I’m way over the minimum. I mean, I think the SOA/UFE combo alone pushes you back by 5 weeks. Including those 5 weeks, I’ve had a total of a … wow, a half YEAR of vacation and training combined. Less the 13 weeks allowance, that’s still a ton. Looks like my 30 months will be done around Easter.
I got my firm to submit my hours as of October 31 just to see and the ICAO estimated I’d be done as of January 1, 2008. But since I’ve had some time off these past couple weeks it may be pushed back a bit more.