CPA Canada Holiday Spending Survey Background document On behalf of: Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada October 23, 2015

Study Information The 2015 CPA Canada Holiday Spending Survey was conducted by Harris Poll via telephone between September 3 and 9, 2015 with a national random sample of 1,007 adult Canadians aged 18 years and over and is considered accurate to within ± 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. About CPA Canada The new Canadian designation, Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), is now used by Canada’s accounting profession across the country. The profession’s national body, Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), is one of the largest in the world with more than 200,000 members, both at home and abroad. The Canadian CPA was created with the unification of three legacy accounting designations (CA, CGA and CMA). CPAs are valued for their financial and tax expertise, strategic thinking, business insight, management skills and leadership. CPA Canada conducts research into current and emerging business issues and supports the setting of accounting, auditing and assurance standards for business, not-for-profit organizations and government. CPA Canada also issues guidance and thought leadership on a variety of technical matters, publishes professional literature and develops education and professional certification programs. cpacanada.ca CPA Canada Holiday Spending Backgrounder

KEY SLIDES

Over half of the respondents intend to save money for spending on the upcoming holiday season: 35 per cent have already started saving and an additional 18 per cent plan to do so. Forty-six per cent do not plan to save for the upcoming holiday season, one per cent do not know. Q9. Do you intend to save money specifically for the upcoming holiday season? Base: All respondents Number of respondents: 1,007 Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. CPA Canada Holiday Spending Backgrounder

Roughly four in ten (38 per cent) of the respondents indicate they “always” or “usually” save money specifically for the holiday season, a slightly lower proportion than the 44 per cent who say the “rarely” or “never” do so. Of the remaining 18 per cent, 16 per cent indicate they “sometimes” do so, while two per cent don’t know. CPA Canada Holiday Spending Backgrounder Q10. Do you always, usually, sometimes, rarely or never save money specifically for the holiday season? Base: All respondents Number of respondents: 1,007 Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. *Rarely and somewhat 16.5% and 27.4% respectively before rounding. Adding the two yields a combined total of 43.9%, which rounds up to 44%.

One in three respondents indicate that they find managing spending during the holiday season stressful. Q12. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement: You find managing your spending during the holiday season stressful. Base: All respondents Number of respondents: 1,007 Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. CPA Canada Holiday Spending Backgrounder

Almost one third of respondents plan to spend at least 25 per cent of their holiday shopping dollars online. Q13. How much, if any, of your holiday spending do you plan to do online this year? Base: All respondents Number of respondents: 1,007 Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. CPA Canada Holiday Spending Backgrounder 32%