CA Training Positions in Canada

[paheli]

I would like to become chartered accountant after graduation. In which city is it easiest to get a big 4 accounting CA training job? It seems like Toronto is the most competitive in Canada. Does anyone know the competition, ratio of applicants to jobs available for the big 4 in the following cities, etc?

Toronto
Montreal
Edmonton
Vancouver - I think 40 in total are hired in each of the big 4 firms this year.
Calgary
Winnipeg
Saskatoon/Regina
Ottawa

[DarkAbyss]

For this year based on all the firms I have talked to in Vancouver, there should be around 200 for the National 6 with PwC hiring the almost a 1/3 of them with 65 full timers. Also most of the mid-sized firms are hiring 1-8 students each, my best guesstimate is that there is probably 280 positions available this year. The national 6 will get about 1200-1500 applicants each. I am not too sure about the mid-sized firms, probably less than 1000 for sure.

[Magnus]

I would guess that Calgary & Edmonton are your best shots, simply because of the strong Economy in Alberta. CA firm hirings go up in strong economic times, particularly in audit and consulting. If you want more stable employment prospects, consider specializing in tax - in good times or bad, you can always count on the government making tax laws more complex as they try to buy our votes. :(

Not sure about Toronto, but here in Ottawa hirings seem to be the same as in past years.