PACE prepares candidates for the business world through sector-specific professional education. Here, candidates apply the knowledge, skills, and competencies they have learned to date. PACE courses and examinations cover a range of material to ensure the candidate’s ability to integrate knowledge and issues and to fully demonstrate the competencies required for certification.
Career options
PACE consists of both career elective and capstone courses. There are four different career options to choose from. Each option contains:
- Two elective courses, each with a four-hour subject examination, in finance, auditing, taxation, public sector financial management, or management information systems, depending on a candidate’s selected career option, plus
- Two capstone professional applications courses, each with a four-hour certification examination
PA1 and PA2: Capstone courses
The capstone courses and examinations are the final requirements in the certification process leading to the professional designation of Certified General Accountant (CGA). The PA1 and PA2 courses use case studies and business simulations to cover new topics in two separate but related contexts. They are designed to ensure the candidate’s ability to demonstrate the competencies required of a newly certified CGA.
- PA1: Issues in Professional Practice draws on knowledge of financial accounting, taxation, assurance, general business, and information technology. Candidates develop and demonstrate the ability to anticipate and solve the real-world problems faced by external auditors and professionals providing assurance, tax, or business advisory services. Some information on current issues in professional practice that has not been included in previous courses will be included. (View details in the Syllabus.)
- PA2: Strategic Financial Management develops the professional competencies required to effectively manage an organization’s financial affairs from an internal perspective. Candidates demonstrate their ability to integrate and apply knowledge of financial accounting, management accounting, finance, and information technology. Current information on strategy and strategic financial management will be included. (View details in the Syllabus.)
The PACE examinations
The purposes of the four PACE examinations are as follows:
- The subject examinations assess candidates’ proficiency in the areas of academic and technical knowledge as well as ethics and information technology. That is, they assess the knowledge, skills, and professional values at the advanced levels of the major subject areas in the professional accounting curriculum.
- The PA1 and PA2 examinations are the capstone, competency-based examinations of the Program of Professional Studies. Passing these examinations is an essential step in the process leading to the granting of the CGA designation. They assess the integration of knowledge and decision making in the context of the work of the professional accountant
As a whole, the PACE examinations are comprehensive, as they assess the wide range of knowledge, skills, and abilities required by a CGA. They are also integrative, as they require candidates to bring together technical and professional knowledge and apply it to realistic situations in the context of accounting and financial management.
For more information, see PACE exam blueprints and PA1 and PA2 exam information.
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