Law, accounting, finance and insurance exams
If you want to practise law, sign off accounts or sell investments and insurance, you'll almost always pass a professional exam first. The exam is usually written by a national body, but the right to work comes from a regulator, a state board or a law society. Many of these exams also need a sponsor, a degree or work experience before you're allowed to sit them.
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United States
Canada
United KingdomUnited States
Money and law in the United States
United Kingdom
Money and law in the United Kingdom
Becoming a lawyer
Every country handles this its own way. In the US you apply to sit the bar exam in one state or territory, and those that use the Uniform Bar Exam may add a test on their own law. In England and Wales, the Solicitors Regulation Authority sets the SQE: you pass SQE1 and SQE2, complete two years of qualifying work experience and hold a degree or an equivalent level 6 qualification.
Canada's lawyers are licensed by provincial law societies, and in Ontario that means the Law Society of Ontario's licensing exams. If your law degree is from outside Canada, the National Committee on Accreditation first looks at your education and may assign you exams. As of October 2026 it offers them twelve times a year, and you can write them remotely.
Money and insurance
Accounting and finance follow the same pattern of national exam, local permission. In the US, NASBA runs CPA Exam services for state boards of accountancy, and a board has to declare you eligible before you can sit a section. Securities work starts with FINRA's SIE, which anyone 18 or older can take without a firm behind them. It has 75 multiple-choice questions in 1 hour 45 minutes, but on its own it doesn't let you work. You still need a qualification exam such as the Series 7, and for that a member firm has to sponsor you.
Insurance and financial advice are much the same elsewhere. US insurance agents get licensed by their state. In Canada, investment advisers go through CIRO and brokers through bodies like RIBO in Ontario, while UK advisers usually hold exams from professional bodies such as the CISI, the CII or, for mortgages, CeMAP.
Questions people ask
FAQ
What is the exam to become a lawyer called?
It's called the bar exam in the US. In England and Wales it's the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), in two parts. In Ontario, new lawyers write the Law Society of Ontario's licensing exams, and lawyers trained abroad usually start with exams assigned by the National Committee on Accreditation.
Is there a bar exam in Canada?
Not one national exam. Each province's law society sets its own licensing process, so the exam in Ontario comes from the Law Society of Ontario. People with a foreign law degree, or a Canadian civil law degree who want to practise common law, go through the NCA first.
Can I take a finance exam without a job in the industry?
For some, yes. FINRA's SIE is open to anyone 18 or older, with no firm needed. The Series qualification exams that let you actually do the work need sponsorship from a FINRA member firm.
Which accountant exam do I need?
In the US, it's the CPA Exam, and your state board of accountancy decides when you're eligible to sit it and later grants the licence. The US also has the Enrolled Agent exam for tax work, set by the IRS. Other countries have their own accounting bodies, so check where you'll practise.
How long does it take to qualify?
Longer than the exam itself. The SQE route alone asks for two years of qualifying work experience alongside both exams. In the US, the state board decides when you can sit the CPA Exam and the bar admits you only after its own checks, so plan for the whole route, not only the test date.
Sources: NCBE, SRA, National Committee on Accreditation and 2 more. Checked October 2026.
- NCBE: Uniform Bar Examination ↗
- SRA: Solicitors Qualifying Examination ↗
- National Committee on Accreditation ↗
- NASBA: CPA Exam ↗
- FINRA: Securities Industry Essentials exam ↗
Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.