Graduate Certificate - Professional Accounting Practice

The Professional Accounting Practice graduate certificate is a one-year program with a work placement, designed for degree holders with an accounting background who need Canadian professional context.

The program addresses the specific gap internationally trained accountants hit: technical knowledge transfers, but Canadian standards, tax rules and professional expectations do not. Coursework covers financial reporting under IFRS and ASPE, Canadian personal and corporate taxation, assurance and audit practice, management accounting and performance measurement, accounting software used in Canadian practice, professional ethics and regulatory obligations, and business communication in a professional services context.

Because it is built around CPA educational requirements, this is a bridging credential rather than an introduction — applicants without prior accounting study will find it steep. For those with it, the combination of Canadian standards coursework and a placement is close to the fastest route into the profession here.

The work placement is a graded part of the program, so you finish with documented Canadian experience and a referee rather than only a transcript.

Humber Polytechnic — formerly Humber College — is Ontario’s largest public college and a Designated Learning Institution (DLI O19376943122). The North campus in Etobicoke is its main site, running technology, engineering, health science, business and skilled trades programs in purpose-built labs and shops rather than lecture halls, with three intakes a year and the deepest employer network in the Greater Toronto Area.

Its field maps to CIP 52.0301 (Accounting). Important: this is a college credential rather than a degree, so it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s eligible list when you apply. Humber publishes a PGWP-eligible program list with CIP codes; check it, and confirm with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. IRCC makes the final decision.