CGA vs CA
 

For those of you with your accounting designations, I'm curious as to why you chose that certain one over the other. I'm not asking anyone to explain to me the difference of the both. I know a bit of both and I can also search it.

So with that said, why did you choose to become a CGA over a CA? and vice versa.

Lol what the fuck is it with everyone wanting to be a CA or CGA these days!? ...that and accountants haha!

Not bashing you guys or anything, just wondering, it seems like a fucking fad these days.

back in my days it was becoming a lawyer or doctor, and of course like out of everyone I know (from my generation), only a handful got their phd/med degree, lawyer.

I'm a CGA student and I didn't want to do a CA because I didn't want to be a public accountant, doing auditing, etc. I wanted to be more of a corporate accountant. You can still do that as a CA, but I just didn't want to do public accounting AT ALL, you still have to work at a firm and do that stuff to get your CA.

If you look at what happened during this recession is that a lot of companies laid off people in PR, HR, marketing dpt etc...

I didn't hear really hear too many stories about company laying off their accountants. Companies still need to file their taxes and they still need people to report their quarter/year earnings to stakeholders.

CGA is a slackers way to get at a designation.

Doensnt mean they are not smart.....just dont wanna get worked like a dog to get CA certified.

CA is world recognized

CGA is mostly canadian.

1 is more prestiges then the other.

cga vs ca
 

whats "CMA" stands for? ......drum roll


"can't manage anything"

lol

:bowrofl:

I'm a CGA student, and the funny thing is, CAs and CGAs pretty much do the same work.....if they're in industry. If you're in a firm, then CAs get more prestige but you know what? At the end of the day it just comes down to how much you put into it. A CGA is easier to obtain now but the designation is coming up quite a ways, especially with recognition abroad. Both CAs and CGAs have tremendously strong skill sets, so yay, you can do a lot in many different sectors. CMAs are a little different as they focus primarily on internal stuffs, i.e. they can't sign audits.

From my observations, I see a lot of peeps sign on with a CA firm, go through CASB with most of their sanity gone and then find themselves working hard forever and being disgruntled, albeit rich. CGA students....I see many just give up. Take that as you will. I only know of one person doing their CMA :lol....but my boss is one. :p

thats what i'm noticing at sfu, every other person wants to go into accounting :\

Lots of people go into it now because they think it's "safe." That, or their parents think it's safe and they're forcing the (Asian) kids into it hahaha

Im in accounting as well and i think a big reason why a lot of people are getting into accounting is because of the recession. But there are way too many people trying to get jobs at accounting firms...

Not sure if you are familiar with the DAP program at UBC but it's grown a lot in the past few years, I recall it was about 400 students in the program 2 years ago and now this year there is 800. Its seems like a lot of the students are econ/psych/some science major's who (a) could not find a job in their field (b) did not realize the amount of additional schooling was required or (c) did not like lab/research work.

Personally I selected the CA route instead of CGA because of the prestige associated with it (all be it that it may not be as prestige anymore as there are crap load of CA's now).

Also it basically takes the same amount of time to get your CGA and CA, only difference is you have CASB for CA and just courses/exams for CGA. Also I recall that CGAs cannot sign off on financial statements, therefore say if you ever want to open your own accounting firm, you won't be able to provide assurance engagements unless you start a partnership with someone who is a CA and can sign off on financials.

Finally, from what I have experienced/seen, the type of work CGAs do compared to CA's are quite different, although CGA's can work on assurance engagements, I've seen a lot of CGA's do bookkeeping type of work, compiliations, tax, etc. Whereas with a CA you are focused on assurance (reviews/audits)

In the end I think going the CA route will provide you with more skill sets that will help you in the future say if you want to be a controller of a company.

CGAs can sign off on financials, CMAs can't. My controllers are a CMA and a CGA above him, so no one should limit themselves! :)
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I'm level 4 cga...I wonder if I'll ever finish :lol

Another curious question, on average how long is the CA program at CASB compared to obtaining your CGA?
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and... they go into these jobs for the sake of job security only?

That's my beef with many of those people. If you put work into building up yourself and you're good, people will notice and you'll be well on your way towards "job security." Guess what? A ballin' Finance major I went to school with was the barista who served me at Caffe Arty-G's the other day. An accounting designation is the same deal.
CASB takes typically three years to complete. They will be the three most lonely and painful years of your life, I'm told. :lol But from what I've seen, if you've always been the party-hard-study-hard type, they'll be the the three most painful and lousy years punctuated by random bouts of drunken glee. :lol

I don't really see it as a job security only thing. IMO, going into accounting is more versatile than going into HR, PR, Marketing, etc. If I want to be a corporate accountant, I can do that, if I want to do public accounting, I can do that. The big one was if I wanted to start my own business, I can do that too, any kinda business, not just an accounting firm or something. If I want my own business, I'd be better prepared than a marketing guy for example, because being good at handling cash will give you a better foundation and chance to succeed, plus you've already taught in other business aspects. Specialists i can hire.

As one of my professor said, "A CA compared to a CGA is like comparing a doctor to a nurse"
He might be biased because he's a CA himself. I went the CFA route.

CA is way more competitive than CGA, at the end of the day, i think CA will make more money than CGA.

my gf is doing her CA CASB mod 4 right now, and she has wayyy more free time than me!
i am doing a Masters in Economics and i am at school 12-15 hours a day. fuck me.

I had a prof that has every single designation (CA, CPA, CGA, CMA) and while he loves the CA to bits, he still says that CGA is coming up, as do family who are ACCAs in Hong Kong.

Either one is good, neither one guarantees a good job and good pay.

i lol'd at that one :haha:

whats an easy accounting designation to get?
im not in the field but have always been interested in it.
and by easy i mean relatively.

Easiest one to get into the program is CGA. I'd call that "most accessible," but to finish it, it's as hard as any other one.

CMA
"can't manage anything"

LOLOL
awesome

take your time man . lol
only us poor folks have to hurry