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CPA Reciprocity Education and Examination (CPARE) Program

If you are an eligible internationally trained accountant seeking to become a member of CPA Ontario through a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) or a Reciprocal Membership Agreement (RMA), you may also become eligible to apply for a licence to practice public accounting in Ontario.

To be eligible, you must meet the appropriate education, examination and experience requirements. By successfully completing the CPA Reciprocity Education and Examination (CPARE) program you will meet the education and examination requirements. CPARE enables the Canadian CPA profession to measure the requisite public accounting professional competencies in a Canadian context.

CPARE consists of a mandatory preparatory module and an examination that covers the competencies of tax, assurance, financial reporting and business law.

For more information, please refer to the CPARE webpage, or download the CPARE Program and Information Guide.

For eligibility inquiries, please email CPA Ontario’s Office of the Registrar.

CPARE Preparatory Module overview

The CPARE Preparatory Module covers the technical knowledge required for Canadian practice. Applicants must enrol in the CPARE Preparatory Module to be eligible to write the CPARE.

The preparatory module is self-study, consisting of reading resources, practice problems, and multiple-choice questions covering the CPA Competency Map at the elective level. There are no deadlines, submissions or face-to-face components of the module, nor is there access to a facilitator or assignment feedback. Participants will have access to an unmonitored, online discussion board to communicate with other participants.

Click here for more details on the CPARE and examination.

The CPARE examination is written electronically, using a lock-down software that prohibits all laptop functions aside from:

being able to search the CPA Standards and Guidance Collection and the Federal Income Tax Collection
inputting your responses to multiple-choice questions and submit them electronically for marking purposes

The CPA profession will provide a CPA-issued laptop to write the examination on. The software that will be used to write the examination is to be determined.

CPARE is a non-disclosed examination. All examination materials are collected at the writing centres. Examination questions, solutions and pass rates are not published.

All participants are bound by the Examination Rules and the policies outlined in the CPARE Program Information Guide.

Submit an eligibility assessment

We require members to submit an eligibility assessment request to CPA Ontario. Log in to My Portal, select Obligations and Requests ► Member Requests ► New Requests ► CPA Reciprocity Education and Examination (CPARE)

Registration details and dates

Module and examination $1300 + HST (includes self-study materials)
Examination only: $1000 + HST

CPARE eligibility assessment requests: April 20 – May 18, 2026
CPARE Enrolment period: May 18 – July 17, 2026

Module materials release date: May 16, 2026
Module dates: May 16 – September 24, 2026
Results release date: December 11, 2026

CPARE Deferral Policy:

Module and examination: There is no refund once you receive access to module. You are eligible to defer your exam with no fee if it is more than 6 weeks before the exam date. Exam deferrals within 6 weeks of the exam are subject to a fee of $200. Deferral requests must be completed prior to the scheduled start time of the exam. Writers may only defer the CPARE exam once per attempt. If you do not attempt the examination at the next offering, you will be unsuccessful, and an attempt is charged.

Exam only: 80% refund up until the schedule start time of the exam.


Toronto GTA	TBD	September 24, 2026 9:00 a.m.
Ottawa	Ottawa Conference and Event Centre – 200 Coventry Road, Ottawa ON K1K 4S3	September 24, 2026 9:00 a.m.