FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

This page describes our recommended courses and resources.

This page describes our recommended courses and resources.

The issue is not whether students 'need' a course; rather the issue is whether it would be beneficial. For the Comprehensive CFE Course we believe that the additional opportunity to write additional cases, have them marked and returned with constructive feedback as well as the opportunity to attend debriefings offered by very experienced instructors will provide students with an edge when writing the CFE. Students will also learn effective techniques for achieving "competent" that have been developed by PASS. Furthermore keep in mind that the large firms with whom students from small and medium firms need to compete on the CFE, generally provide training in addition to that provided by Capstone 2.

The CFE Technical Accounting IFRS/ASPE Course course is ideal for students who would like both a review of all difficult financial accounting topics as well as the opportunity to learn how to effectively apply accounting knowledge in a CFE case. It will therefore be particularly useful to students who did not already take the PEP Module/Challenge Exam course and therefore never had the chance to attend a course that offered a comprehensive review of accounting. This would include students who participated in the modules offered by CPA Canada or who participated in an accredited Diploma or Masters program that exempted them from writing the Core 1 & 2 and/or elective module exams.

The CFE Technical Management Accounting Course is ideal for students who would like both a review of all difficult management accounting topics as well as the opportunity to learn how to effectively apply this knowledge in a CFE case. It will therefore be particularly useful to students who did not already take the PEP Module/Challenge Exam course and therefore never had the chance to attend a course that offered a comprehensive review of management accounting. This would include students who participated in the modules offered by CPA Canada or who participated in an accredited Diploma or Masters program that exempted them from writing the Core 1 & 2 and/or elective module exams.

PASS has been offering courses for students wishing to obtain their CPA for over 30 years.  

PASS has provided courses to students from firms ranging from one partner firms right through to the Big Four. As a matter of fact over the years we have offered courses to all of the Big Four firms including PWC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG. For the last 22 years PASS has delivered the PWC national UFE program and is now delivering the PWC CFE program.

The live online courses are courses offered by a live instructor; they are however offered electronically rather than in a physical class room. Students have the opportunity to ask questions orally or using a chat box as the sessions are conducted in real-time (i.e. students sit at their computer and watch the instructor lead the session and students have the ability to ask questions either by text or voice).

This is quite different than a video online session which is not live where students simply watch the video.

You may wish to refer to the detailed description of course venues on our website.

Yes

In most instances we would recommend live online sessions over video sessions as it is very beneficial to have a live instructor who can answer student questions in real time. Also it is easier to focus in an online session compared with watching a video.

The only advantage of the video session is that videos can be watched at the student's convenience.

This can be very helpful when for example the student has a work schedule which conflicts with the times that live sessions are being offered. Also with a video the student can control the pace.

However, all students who take the live online sessions have access to all of the videos and can watch them whenever they wish.

Michael Levi and Ira Walfish teach most or all of the financial accounting (core 1), assurance and management accounting (core 2) sessions. Most of the tax sessions are usually taught by Professor Joanne Magee, of York University. See the list of PASS instructors for more information.

No - You can have access to all videos as long as you need them and watch them as many times as you wish.

Yes - we constantly get feedback that the live online sessions are very useful.

Students come in live, ask questions and don't have to travel anywhere. If something is missed, students just watch the video, as all live sessions are recorded and students get access to all recordings for as long as they need them.

That is certainly possible. Many former PASS students have taken advantage of this flexibility and have used both venues - live online and video online - for the same course.

Yes, that is one of the nice things about PASS. All students regardless of the venue they use, have access to all of the videos relating to their courses.

No. Students are not required to be registered with a provincial CPA Institute in order to register with PASS, although students must register with their provincial CPA Institute (or CPA western School of Business if you are writing out west) before they can write any of the exams which comprise the CPA certification program.