Let’s check in on the latest in Canada’s accounting wars…

You may recall that in Canada the provincial organizations are the accounting profession’s regulators and enforcers, with the national organization, CPA Canada, responsible for standards and for coordinating education and exams, among other things. Over a year ago now, CPA Ontario and CPA Quebec announced out of the blue (that’s how it seemed to most of us anyway) that they’re “concluding (their) current arrangement” with CPA Canada, with CPA Canada subsequently laying off a fifth of its employees. Kevin Dancey, member of the Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame, recently reviewed the state of play in a Globe and Mail article:

• All the while CPAs have been provided with little information, and no rationale or business case from the two provincial regulators.
• These self-serving provincial actions have been a waste of time and resources. Does any Ontario CPA know how much your provincial body has spent on lawyers and consultants; on negotiating non-disclosure agreements for a revolving staff complement; or on paying their president and CEO, Carol Wilding, to wreak this havoc?
• …CPA Canada will remain relevant even without the Ontario and Quebec bodies. It will continue to have many key responsibilities, including binding our great profession together, supporting the setting of accountancy, sustainability and assurance standards, developing national programs (certification exam and tax training), and serving as the voice of the profession domestically and internationally.
• CPA Canada is in good hands. Having spent time internationally as CEO of the International Federation of Accountants, I can assure everyone that other countries will only deal with a national body in Canada. They won’t deal with a provincial regulator.”

But still: “Last November, the two provincial bodies said this would be seamless, but with less than four months until they exit current arrangements, we are still awaiting details. Hopefully, sane heads will prevail, but sanity would have dictated not going down this road in the first place.” Regardless, Dancey steers his article to a weirdly positive closing note, evoking the inorganically tacked-on happy endings occasionally appended to Hollywood movies of the studio period: “Despite this distraction and waste of time and resources, the Canadian CPA profession has never been in a better spot. The opportunities, challenges and, indeed, public interest responsibilities of our profession have never been greater. The 220,000 Canadian CPAs know this.”

Never been in a better spot? That’s not clear, at least, to some of the commenters on the article, one of whom for example opined: “This article is delusional and complete nonsense. If this is what the leaders of CPA Canada think, you can see why they are in trouble.” And here’s another: “As Kevin Dancey might have said, while paraphrasing Monty Python, it’s only a flesh wound!” Anyway, a day or two later, I and others received the relevant invitation:

• Sign up to stay part of CPA Canada following the withdrawal of your provincial regulators from the national accounting body on Dec. 20. Register today for $195 annually and invest in the value of your designation. Together, we make the profession stronger.
• CPA Canada is dedicated to supporting Canadian CPAs, upholding and uplifting the global credibility of the designation in the way only a national body can. We work for you. We advocate on behalf of you. We are accountable to you.

Not the most compelling communication, but I rapidly signed up anyway, while certainly understanding why others might have seen no point, or at least deferred the decision. There’s a bit of a woebegone air to CPA Canada’s efforts these days, and to the Canadian accounting profession overall (this isn’t a very scientific bit of evidence, but my regular online sweeps for stimulating material have never been so unfruitful, and recent traffic on this blog is just about the lowest it’s ever been, although I hasten to acknowledge that people might just be tired of me, which would be more than understandable). Whatever one might think of the relative merits of CPA Canada’s position versus that of the errant provinces, it’s certain that the message of disunity and discord can only dissuade potential recruits assessing an accounting career versus other options (more on this in a coming post – it seems there’s always more to say on that). For another piece of recent history: in 2014 the Canadian accounting profession decided, not uncontentiously, to merge what were previously three separate disciplines (CA, CGA, CMA) into a single CPA designation. Although the current accounting wars don’t directly flow from that decision, it was cited several times in those same Globe and Mail comments; I suppose the commenters perceive both things as contributing to the slow dilution of a formerly strong, well-understood, respected national CA brand. Unfortunately, notwithstanding CPA Canada’s good intentions, it may take a while to see a turnaround…

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.