We are planning a move to Calgary, but my wife is unsure about how well her accountancy qualification would be received. Has anyone moved out with ACCA and Financial Controller experience? Were jobs available? Any comments?

Any help appreciated thanks.

Hello, and welcome to BE!

I can't speak to the jobs part of your post, but CICA (the Canadian accountancy body) has this page - http://www.cica.ca/becoming-a-ca/item55869.aspx - which outlines the reciprocal agreements which includes the ICAEW. There's information there about how to get your qualification recognised in Canada. I would highly recommend your wife go through the process to get her credentials officially recognised in Canada, particularly if she is looking for a job where she will be needing to practice as an accountant. Good luck!

Perhaps also consider CGA Canada:
http://www.cga-canada.org/en-ca/Inte..._acca_cga.aspx

This is a much easier route for the OP's OH to get a Canadian accounting designation (which will greatly enhance her employability). But she better get her skates on as CGA-Canada will cease to exist soon - possibly as soon as next year.

Many thanks for all your responses.

We moved out here about 2 years ago, me with an ACA qualification and Controller experience. I had no trouble getting a job, and apart some tax knowledge I've not felt the need to get a Canadian qualification. A colleague of mine arrived Dec 2012 with an ACCA qualification, and again no problem, although she's here temporarily on a SOWP so the long term is not relevant to her.

My own view is that it's probably worth trying to convert if you're at a fairly early stage in your career, but for me (closer to retirement than qualification) it's not an issue.

The ACCA/CGA conversion is relatively easy and quick. Assuming you don't need public practice rights you can do the course in a weekend and it only costs a few hundred dollars. I understand the ICAEW/CICA conversion is a lot more complex and time consuming.

I don't know much about the difference, so thanks for posting to clarify. My husband has his ACA through the ICAEW, he looked into doing whatever the equivalency is for when he was job hunting but ended up getting a job that doesn't require him to practice as an accountant, they were happy with him just having the knowledge/UK certification, so he didn't go through the whole process.