A Specialist in Public Accountancy
Since December 15, 2008, Quebec law has allowed CGAs interested in practicing public accounting to apply for a public accountancy permit. This permit confers the right to perform, in addition to the assurance engagements that all CGAs may already carry out:
- audit engagements
- review engagements
- compilation engagements
The practice of public accountancy consists in:
- expressing an opinion to provide a level of assurance about a financial statement or any part of a financial statement, or about any other information related to the financial statement; this corresponds to an assurance engagement, which comprises the performance of both an audit engagement and a review engagement, as well as the issue of special reports;
- issuing any form of certification, declaration or opinion in respect of information related to a financial statement or to any part of a financial statement, or in respect of the application of specified auditing procedures with respect to financial information, other than financial statements, neither being intended exclusively for internal management;
- performing a compilation engagement that is not exclusively for internal management purposes.
Ref. Chartered accountants act - Division VI - [1973, c. 64, a. 19; 2007, c. 42, a. 4; 2009, c. 35, a. 46.]