Cert in Bookkeeping and Accounting Practices is a certificate in Business Administration programme taught at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. The programme runs for 30 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 7,764 per semester (CAD 1,389 per semester for local students).
This 30-week certificate covers the full accounting cycle, from identifying and recording business transactions through to preparing financial statements, with practical work covering payroll, sales, collections, purchases and payments. Students also learn to maintain both paper and computerised financial records as part of everyday business processes.
Alongside technical bookkeeping skills, the program builds communication and math ability and a working understanding of general business practices, using commonly used accounting software and spreadsheet tools throughout. It is structured to lead into roles such as bookkeeper, accounting clerk, billing clerk, or an entry-level position handling payroll or accounts payable and receivable, and credit earned in the certificate can also count toward further study in a related accounting diploma.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Direct entry needs an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or mature-student standing (19 or older without a diploma, assessed by academic achievement testing for a fee). Program eligibility asks for Grade 12 English (ENG4C or equivalent) and Grade 11 Mathematics (MBF3C or equivalent). Applicants presenting international transcripts must document these subjects and may be asked for proof of language proficiency; a domestic applicant with international transcripts must have them assessed by ICAS or WES. Language proficiency is met by IELTS Academic overall 6.0 with no band under 5.5; TOEFL iBT overall 80 (20 per component) for tests sat before 21 January 2026 or overall 4 (4 per component) after that date; or Duolingo English Test overall 110 with at least 110 in Literacy and nothing under 95. If applications exceed available places, selection is based on proficiency in English and Mathematics.
Application Details
Start Date:Intake terms Algonquin lists for this program, read from its own availability table on 6 September 2026: Fall 2026 (AC Day 1 orientation 8 September 2026; Fall term classes start 9 September 2026); Winter 2027 (most classes start 11 January 2027). Term start dates come from the Registrar's Important Dates page, which also gives 11 January 2027 for the Winter 2027 term and 10 May 2027 for the Spring 2027 term. Availability changes as seats fill and an intake already under way may be closed, so check the program page before applying. Algonquin's academic year runs September to August.
Application Deadline:DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents). Algonquin publishes no deadline unique to this program; the dates below are the college-wide Ontario colleges cycle and apply to every full-time day program. Applications go through ontariocolleges.ca, where 1 February is the equal consideration date each cycle: apply by then and your application is assessed alongside every other one received by that date, while applications arriving later are handled first-come, first-served for as long as places remain. For entry in Fall 2027 the ontariocolleges.ca application opened on 26 September 2026, colleges may begin issuing offers on 1 November 2026, the equal consideration date is 1 February 2027 and an offer must be accepted by 1 May 2027. The equal consideration date that governed the Fall 2026, Winter 2027 and Spring 2027 intakes was 1 February 2026 and has already passed, so those three starts are now first-come, first-served while seats last.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS. Apply directly to Algonquin on the International Application Form in its International Application Portal (AC360) rather than through ontariocolleges.ca, with a CAD 135 application fee. There is no single fixed international deadline: Algonquin asks you to confirm the program is open before applying, warns that a program's status can change to waitlisted or closed before an admissions officer reviews the file, and publishes a closing-date sheet for each intake. For the Fall 2026 intake that sheet gives this program's own dates: 16 September 2026 is the last day to apply on the International Application Portal and receive an acceptance, and 21 September 2026 is the last day to register.
