Specialization--what's in a dot?

For many years, CAs have earned supplementary designations in fields in which they work, such as business valuation and internal audit. Now, with the advent of CICA's specialization program, GAs are able to earn profession-recognized specialist designations and identify themselves as CA*designated specialists.

The distinctive dot linking the specialist designation with the CA (as in CA*IFA) distinguishes members as qualified CA*designated specialists. These designations, developed either by CICA or by organizations accredited by CICA, have met CICA's National Specialization Council guidelines. The guidelines address certification criteria for education, ethics, evaluation and experience, and also designation maintenance criteria, principally ongoing experience requirements and continuing education.

Members can qualify as CA*designated specialists by declaring in a registration with their provincial institute that they are designated by a CICA-recognized specialist body, that they continue to devote a significant amount of time to the specialty and that they continue professional development relevant to the specialty. Current specializations are:

For more information about CA specializations, please visit our Web site at www.cica.ca/specialization, or contact Chris Hicks, CA, at chris.hicks@cica.ca.