Hey guys so I'm confused a little right now. I'm in 2nd year commerce right now, and I'm thinking of being an accountant and getting a CA designation. So I was looking ahead at the courses I should take, and this is the list of classes that I need to take. http://www.degroote.mcmaster .ca/MBA/documents/CA.pdf. So on that list, I still need to take three level 3 commerce courses and ten level 4 commerce courses, of which only 1 (3FA3) is a compulsory course in completing an honours commerce degree. So that is 12 commerce electives I need. For my year 3, I only get 6 units of commerce electives and year 4 I only get 15 units, meaning combined that is only 7 commerce elective courses I can take. I need those 12 commerce electives on the list, but have only 7 spots...does this mean I would need to stay longer then 4 years at mac? Does anybody here have experience with this and can help me? Thanks

what are the requirements for commerce? there should be overlap in the required commerce courses for accounting and the courses you need for a CA.

contact a commerce academic advisor.

I couldnt open up the link that you sent me, but from the Ontario CA website these are the courses you need to take at mac. You have choices in some categories.

Financial Accounting (15 credit hours required)
IntroductoryCOMM2AA3 (3 credit hours) Required
IntermediateCOMM3AB3 (3 credit hours) COMM3AC3 (3 credit hours)
AdvancedTwo of (6 credit hours)COMM4AC3COMM4AF3COMM4AG3

Cost and Management Accounting (6 credit hours required)COMM2AB3 (3 credit hours) RequiredCOMM4AA3 (3 credit hours)

Advanced Accounting Elective (3 credit hours required)One of (3 credit hours)COMM4AC3COMM4AF3COMM4AG3

Auditing (9 credit hours hours required)COMM4AD3 (3 credit hours)COMM4AH3 (3 credit hours)COMM4AI3 (3 credit hours)

Taxation (6 credit hours required)COMM4SB3 (3 credit hours) RequiredCOMM4SC3 (3 credit hours)

Business Information Systems (3 credit hours required)One of (3 credit hours)COMM2KA3 RequiredCOMM4AE3

Finance/Financial Management (3 credit hours required)COMM3FA3 (3 credit hours) Required

Economics (3 credit hours required)ECON1BO3 + ECON1BB3 Required

Law (3 credit hours required)COMM4SD3 (3 credit hours)


If you go through it all you have 11 courses you will have to complete that aren't required by your degree. You dont have that many spots open in your commerce electives. However that seems very strange to me. All I can say is talk to your faculty advisor because they should know how to do it. I am pretty sure they will have a sheet with the info you need.

I know people who have taken the classes for CA designation and it was done after graduating, so after 4th year. But you can work at the same time as taking these classes. If you look up some accounting firms they actually have positions posted for students working on their CA designations. But def go talk an advisor!

From what I understand: the General Idea is to get have to get 6 units of summer courses (somewhere in between 1st and 2nd, 2nd and 3rd, or 3rd and 4th) to allow you to be able to have all the PreReq's to do the 3 courses (9 units) in the summer after you graduate.

Your before graduation summer courses can be whatever you wish, many people take electives or a 'hard' class coming up in their year.

Alternatively, some people overload and take 6 courses in each of their terms in 4th year (because they could not do summer school), in order to have all the required courses before taking the 3 extra after graduation.

Bottom line : 5 Extra Courses at Mac.

Originally Posted by james2255

From what I understand: the General Idea is to get have to get 6 units of summer courses (somewhere in between 1st and 2nd, 2nd and 3rd, or 3rd and 4th) to allow you to be able to have all the PreReq's to do the 3 courses (9 units) in the summer after you graduate.

Your before graduation summer courses can be whatever you wish, many people take electives or a 'hard' class coming up in their year.

Alternatively, some people overload and take 6 courses in each of their terms in 4th year (because they could not do summer school), in order to have all the required courses before taking the 3 extra after graduation.

Bottom line : 5 Extra Courses at Mac.

Wait, 3 courses after graduation??

COMM 4AG3
COMM 4AH3
COMM 4AI3

all must be taken after graduation ( they are only offered in the summer).

Originally Posted by james2255

COMM 4AG3
COMM 4AH3
COMM 4AI3

all must be taken after graduation ( they are only offered in the summer).

What? why are they only offered in the summer? And can you take them the summer after 3rd year then?

No.

They are advanced courses that require pre-req's. They aren't really a part of the undergrad program, but CA requires them due to their advanced Audit topics.

Originally Posted by james2255

No.

They are advanced courses that require pre-req's. They aren't really a part of the undergrad program, but CA requires them due to their advanced Audit topics.

hmmm I see. I just checked out the master timetable and none of those 3 are offered this summer or the regular school year...

hey guys
I'm a second year and I want to do a CA. I was wondering what is the advantage of doing Hon. Comm. to the regular B. Comm. Is the honours program way harder than the regular program? By any means will it aid in getting a job with a CA firm for the 30 months intership?

Originally Posted by brownsugar

hey guys
I'm a second year and I want to do a CA. I was wondering what is the advantage of doing Hon. Comm. to the regular B. Comm. Is the honours program way harder than the regular program? By any means will it aid in getting a job with a CA firm for the 30 months intership?

You NEED to do Honors Commerce in order to even be able to take courses that go towards getting your CA. Non-Honors commerce students are not able to take all the CA classes because they can't take as many commerce electives as Honors students.