Reference Materials
Note: This list is provided for candidates’ information only and does not imply endorsement of our services by the organizations mentioned below, or vice-versa.
- Prep Courses and Links
- CKE and CARE – Multiple Choice Exams
- UFE, School of Accountancy, CASB, and ASCA – Case-Study Exams
- Technical Resources
| Institutes and Professional Programs: |
| Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants |
| Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario |
| CA School of Business |
| Atlantic School of Chartered Accountancy |
| Comptables agréés du Québec |
| Professional exam preparation courses: |
| Densmore Consulting Services |
| ICAO |
| PASS |
| Other useful links: |
| www.myCAsite.com |
| Money Matters Workshops |
CKE and CARE – Multiple Choice Exams
Guides and Information
The Ontario CA Students’ Guide to the ICAO Core-Knowledge Exam
Prepared by Mick Norgrove, this two-volume set includes an introduction to the CKE and to responding to multiple-choice questions, as well as technical discussion of the various competency areas, and a variety of practice questions in each competency area, as well as some “practice papers” so you can study by answering multiple choice questions.
Practice Questions
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario
Accessible by all ICAO Members and Students, the Institute has a series of Multiple Choice Question Tutorials available for free on its website, allowing you to directly answer multiple choice questions and receive immediate feedback and solutions to the questions.
From the publisher: This book consists of 400 multiple choice questions at the Ontario CKE (Core Knowledge Exam) level. The questions are organized by competency area within 8 exam sets. The exams are in the front section and the questions with the answers are in the back section. The book has been updated to give appropriate coverage of IFRS, CAS and private enterprise GAAP.
UFE, School of Accountancy, CASB, and ASCA – Case-Study Exams
Guides and Information
The CICA’s “Publications to Download” page includes all the essential references and guides for candidates to start with. Having an understanding of the exam process and system is key to passing the UFE. This page includes the Institute’s “Preparing for the UFE” guide which concisely explains the exam process, as well as the Competency Map in which all examinable subject areas are described.
UFE Success (Densmore Consulting Services)
From the publisher: This book is a guide to how to tackle the UFE...published for over 15 years, the book covers the whole range of what you need to know to prepare for this exam. It is included as part of Densmore Consulting Services’ UFE Prep course, but it can be purchased on its own as well. Covers a range of topics from designing your study plan to approaching different types of exam questions and competencies.
Practice Questions
DCS provides a number of updated questions from its previous year’s course offering on its website. In order to properly debrief these you will require the evaluation guides which can be purchased from DCS at the link above. exaMENTOR can mark these papers for you, provided you have purchased the guides from DCS yourself.
Technical Resources
CICA – Standards in Transition website
This website is maintained by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and hosts a variety of resources on changing standards. This is particularly useful for candidates who have learned “old GAAP” or “old GAAS” in school and need to brush up their technical knowledge of IFRS, ASPE, and CAS. There are free e-learning modules for a number of the major topics which serve as a great technical review.
Candidates’ Guide to the CICA Handbook (Accounting & Assurance) – ICAO
The IFRS, ASPE, and Assurance guides include coverage of examinable CICA standards, including overviews of the significant knowledge requirements, descriptions of the likely applicability of the standards to the various exams, summaries of the standards, and suggestions for ways the subjects could be integrated into case simulations.
UFE TAX: A Guide to Understanding the Basics of Canadian Income Taxation, Second Edition
From the publisher: This book focuses on giving students a technical but basic understanding of income taxation. It is designed to introduce readers to the basics of income taxation using plain language. Introductory tax texts are normally very lengthy due to the complexity of the Canadian income tax system. The author of this work has endeavoured to eliminate the highly technical aspects of Canadian taxation and has provided the basic principles in an easy to understand readable book.
Competency Map Study Notes (Densmore Consulting Services)
From the publisher: This book is a complete resource for UFE technical knowledge, updated to December 2010 (2011 edition)…. It summarizes the handbooks, as well as the knowledge list requirements in the other competency areas. This book covers all competency areas and for each area, common UFE scenarios are noted. A detailed listing of past UFE testing is included in each competency area. The 2011 edition has fully updated coverage of IFRS, ASPE and CAS.
Financial Accounting on the UFE (PASS)
From the publisher: The purpose of this booklet is to summarize the ways in which various financial accounting topics have been traditionally tested on the UFE. This will assist students in preparing for the Performance Measurement and Reporting competency, most of which consists of financial accounting.
IFRS Technical Summaries 2010 (PASS)
From the publisher: PASS has prepared extensive notes on the 21 Standards and 7 Interpretations examinable on the 2010 UFE. These detailed notes explain each Standard and Interpretation, focusing on the key differences between IFRS and GAAP and providing candidates with guidance on likely areas to come up in the UFE. The publication also includes 2 comprehensive cases along with detailed solutions, which are used to illustrate how various areas of IFRS can be tested in the SOA and UFE.
