Officials hope a new agreement will make it easier to attract chartered professional accountants to New Brunswick.
The Chartered Professional Accountants of New Brunswick (CPA NB) has signed an agreement with its counterparts in France.
It means members of L’Ordre des Experts-Comptables de France can have their credentials recognized in New Brunswick.
Officials say the aim is to attract qualified international candidates in order to address workforce shortages in the profession.
“We are leveraging our New Brunswick-specific advantages, like our bilingualism and envied quality of life, to entice economic immigrants to live and work in our beautiful province,” Mylène Lapierre, president & CEO of CPA NB, said in a news release.
The association said it is also pursuing similar agreements with other Francophone countries globally.
In addition, it is seeking financial support to develop an online resource tool to permit internationally-trained accountants to easily assess their quickest path to CPA NB membership.
As well, the association wants to adapt two courses in both official languages on Canadian taxation, law, and ethics as supplementary education to foreign candidates’ existing credentials.
“Investing in these programs is an investment in New Brunswick’s overall workforce and the health of our growing economy,” said Lapierre.
Figures provided by the association said the province’s 2,253 active CPAs boosted provincial GDP by $418 million in 2021. An additional 500 CPAs would boost annual GDP by $93 million.
