September 2025 CPA CFE results: Congratulations to 4,188 aspiring Canadian accountants!

TORONTO, Nov. 28, 2025 – CPA Canada has announced that 4,188 aspiring accountants successfully passed the profession’s Common Final Examination (CFE) in September. Fifty-seven future chartered professional accountants made the national honour roll, which was dominated by those in public accounting, particularly by the Big Four accounting firms. 

The top writer and recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal Award and a cash prize of $5,000 for the highest standing in Canada was Beth Klassen from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Canada) in Calgary, AB. “I was busy at work when I got the call informing me that I had won the national gold medal, so it came as a complete shock," says Klassen. "After hanging up the phone, I wasn’t convinced I’d heard it correctly until one of the Partners at PwC Calgary told me for a second time. It was so exciting to hear the news and to celebrate with everyone whose support throughout the CFE journey made this possible.”

Regional gold medals and cash prizes of $2,500 for achieving the highest standing in that part of the country were awarded to: 

• •      Samuel Delaney, Doane Grant Thornton LLP, Moncton, NB (Atlantic Canada)
• •      Charles Lucas Distefano, KPMG LLP, Toronto, Ontario
• •      Xavier Cyr, Olivia Capital, Terrebonne, QC 

“It takes an unwavering commitment to excellence to reach this level,” says CPA Canada president and CEO Pamela Steer, FCPA, FCA, CFA. “These remarkable individuals have met one of the most challenging milestones in the profession, proving they are ready to take on critical roles and contribute meaningfully to organizations and communities across the country.” 

September CFE honour roll dominated by firm experience

The September CFE is dominated by aspiring accountants who tend to wait until the conclusion of tax season before focusing on the Common Final Examination. (The May Common Final Examination is written by a more diverse group, with a wide range of students in management accounting, as well as the public and non-profit sectors. Just two of the 16 awardees of the May 2025 honour roll were employed by public accounting firms.) 

Of the fifty-seven accounting students who made the honour roll, more than 50 awardees came from public accounting firms. Of those, almost half of the honour roll winners were employed at the Big Four accounting firms with Ernst & Young (EY Canada) leading the way: EY Canada (11), PwC Canada (8), KPMG (6), and Deloitte (3). 

Some awardees have been known to buck the trend, however. The winner of the Governor General Gold Medal for the 2024 September CFE was Myckaël Charbonneau of Quebec, who worked in the charity sector at an agency for people living with HIV/AIDS. (Charbonneau, also a university lecturer in taxation, was profiled in La Presse earlier this year.) 

Some surprises, trends emerge

While three of the four gold medal recipients work at accounting and audit firms with a national presence, the size of a public accounting firm — or the sector — is no barrier to top results. 

Several students work at smaller, regional accounting firms, such as Adam Gélinas of Savard CPA Inc., in Amos, Quebec; Dalton Kiedrowski of HSA Chartered Professional Accountants in Humboldt, Saskatchewan; and Keith Alan Seehaver of SB Partners LLP in Burlington, Ontario. 

A few of the awardees are listed as working outside public accounting, such as Marc-Antoine Laforge of Constructions Proco (an engineering firm) in St-Nazaire, Quebec; Rebekah Xin-Yi Tong of Brookfield in Toronto, Ontario; and Sophia Cherkashyn of Telus in Vancouver, BC. 

One trend worth noting was the number of honour roll awardees working at investment firms, whether in private equity or at pension funds. Among the employers listed were AYCE Capital of Waterloo, Ontario; Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in Montreal; Oliva Capital of Terrebonne, Quebec; and Brookfield, which has both real estate and pension investment subsidiaries (Rebekah Xin-Yi Tong worked in Brookfield’s asset management business). 

Twenty-two of the fifty-seven honour roll students hail from Ontario, which reflects the demographics of the CPA profession, but the overwhelming majority are in Toronto, reflecting the preponderance of Bug Four firms.

Words of advice to unsuccessful candidates

For unsuccessful writers, there are several articles in the Students section of Canadian Accountant, which offer advice from columnists such as Gevorg Grigoryan, a CPA program coach and mentor), on how to achieve success in the CPA program. If you are considering an appeal, we recommend that you read “Is it worth it to appeal the CPA CFE? Let's look at the stats,” written by Grigoryan. 

Colin Ellis is a contributing editor to Canadian Accountant.