Ladies & Gentlemen,

I have been working as a Company Secretary in a reputed company( the job mainly involves handling corporate legal and paralegal matters) in Kolkata, India for around five years now.

My wife is a Chartered Accountant and has been in charge of audit work in one of the Big 4 audit firms for last few years.

Though both me and my wife are professionally qualified by Indian standards we understand that neither the education nor the experience gained would be reckoned by our prospective employers there as they would insist on Canadian Experience.

Though we acknowledge that the initial days in Canada would be hard, we are very keen to know from you what really you have to say about our possible future prospect in Canada. Maybe, a few Company Secretaries and Chartered Accountants from India who are settled in Canda after starting their life from scratch in that new country would be in a position to help us out with teir valued opinion.

As per our plan we should be reaching Toronto by September, 2005.

Your views would be of great help to us.

Thanks

Interesting..never heard of a company secretary in Canada

But for your wife, the best action plan would be to complete US CPA before coming to coming to Canada (BEFORE). Once she has cpa,she can apply for reciprocatory with canadian CA institute and get CA designation from Canada. it would not be difficult to get into accounting/auditing. I guess accounting is one of the career in demand in canada.

check with http://www.icao.on.ca" rel="nofollow">LINK for details.

I dont know whether company secretary qualifications are recognized in canada.

Timon

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"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be"

Dear Ani
I am also a CS working with a MNC in India as CS and Mgr. Legal and Collections. I filed my immigration case in April 2001. I know some people will tell you that CS qualification is not recognized in Canada. Its true. For the simple reason that their laws are different. But then I am sure you must be holding other qualifications like B.Com/ M.Com. Like in my case, I hold a degree in Law and experience in Legal, Collections and Recovery. I know I will have to work hard there. But then who gets things easily? For me reaching and settling in Canada is not a decision. It is a challenge. You must have heard of ICSA, London. That institute which offers you paper-wise exemptions in their course in UK has a branch in Canada also. If not exemptions, they will definitely offer the course to you. Go through it and gain a professional qualification there. Anyways your wife will also have to upgrade her qualification according to their standards. So what. The facts remains that everyone has to do that. But be sure that you will get a decent job with your five years of experience. You may also think of taking up LLB and becoming a lawyer there. But then, does it really matter whether you work as a CS or a Lawyer? What is the harm in driving trucks? or for that matter anything else? Aren't you fed up of the same routine jobs of a Company Secretary? Don’t you want to do something new and interesting? Well, may be I am comparing you with me. But I would definitely like to do something different. Anyways, it was nice writing to you.
Sonu

For CS from India ICSA is a good combination. I would suggest you both to go for CPA before you land here. It will allow you to directly enter in CA in Canada. OR than you go for CGA.Having experienced in Accounting would help you getting a job in accounting but no one knows how long it may take and where would you have to start.

Myself is LLB, CA from India with wife ICWA. By the grace of God we got accounting jobs and never did any odd jobs. Your luck plays an important role here.

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Live and Let Live. Together we can make a difference.

DP JAIN, CPA, CGA, CPA (US), CA(I), LL.B.(I)
416-305-0080
(Loans, Mortgage, Tax, Accounting, Investments)

I have been here for about 7 months. Your wife would stand a better chance even before landing since she's working for the Big Four (I am assuming she continues to work till you land here) provided she can manage to get an internal transfer from India to Canada - it's not difficult if the partner in India backs her up. I am talking this with experience because I personally worked for the Big 4 firm and have been around Dubai and London (UK). Although, I was not working with that Big 4 firm any longer based on my previous work experience the Canadian counterpart of the Big 4 firm where I worked offered me a job a couple of months before I landed here. However, my existing employer which is an MNC with operations in Canada gave me a better offer and hence I rejected the Big 4 offer. (to be honest I was fed up working in an audit firm).

Due to Sarbanes Oxley Act compliance there is a lot of demand for staff in Big 4 firms and because your wife is already working in an Big 4 firm she would stand a better chance.

As for CS I do not know. Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Also as other members have suggested do your CPA before you land so that you can exchange CPA license with the Canadian Chartered Accountant license.


Daks

Never heard of the CS or equivalent designation in Canada. I think such work is handled by lawyers with specialization in corporate law.

There seem to be a lot of jobs in accounting but foreign qualifications are not recognized. CA qualification of India is not recognized. To get a job in accounting, it is neccessary to have either a CA or CMA or CGA designation. I know of a guy who worked in Arthur Andersen in India but could not get into a Big 4 firm for his articleship. So working in Big 4 firm in India may not really make a difference.

I myself am a CA and ICWA from India and found it very difficult to get a job in my field. I have nearly finished my CGA (2 more courses to complete). I chose CGA as I did not want to really be in Public Practice. CA designation is mostly identified with Auditing and Public Practice. CPA by itself may not be of too much use unless it complements a Canadian Accounting designation.

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JM

Arthur Anderson has gone down under a long time back thanks to Enron. I've known a friend who worked in Big 4 back in Pakistan. He resigned and came to Canada. After a couple of months he got recruited by the counterpart of the Big 4 firm he worked in Pakistan.

All I am trying to say is that no two persons experiences can be the same.

I definitely don't want to say that a CA qualification is no good when yours truly is also just an Indian CA and is employed in his own field.

I don't want to discourage anybody nor at the same time give a rosy view of things out here. The experiences of some of the people posted here are proof enough that some people have gone through some tough times but there are success stories as well.

Regards
Daks