CHAIR'S PROFILE - CGA Online Learning Environment

VIEW FROM THE CEO ▪ Doug Brooks, FCGA
Listening To Our Membership
CGAs and students on the future of the accounting profession
lake Mercer, FCGA, and I recently completed
a series of town hall meetings on the future of
the accounting profession. Blake is the newly
elected chair of the board of directors of CGA Ontario and
the subject of the cover story, “Like Father, Like Son,”
which begins on page eight of this issue.
Together we hosted six town hall meetings throughout
late June and early July in locations across Ontario that
surpassed our most optimistic expectations. They were
well-attended, the level of engagement was extremely
high, and our members expressed their appreciation for
the opportunity to discuss the future of the profession
in an open, welcoming and transparent environment.
To me, as a CGA who understands the substantial
demands upon the personal time of our membership, it
was gratifying to see how many CGAs and students came
out to listen, ask questions and express their opinions.
There appears to be a consensus amongst our membership
on the future of the accounting profession.
CGAs recognize that the accounting profession is
going global. We see the emergence of global account-
ing designations just as we have seen the globalization
of accounting standards.
These developments simply mirror what is happening
all around us: at the macro level, through free trade
deals, outsourcing and the global movement of capital,
and at the micro level, where change is occurring daily
in our workplaces, regardless of the sector, employer or
clientele.
Forces of Unification
Last March, the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants, based in New York, and the Chartered Institute
of Management Accountants, based in London,
announced a proposed joint venture that would create
a new, globally recognized management accounting
designation, CGMA, which stands for Chartered Global
Management Accountant.
Similarly, in Canada, the Canadian Institute of Chart-
ered Accountants (CICA) and The Society of Management
Accountants of Canada (CMA Canada) recently announced
exploratory merger talks that might eventually lead to the
creation of a new accountancy body and designation.
Meanwhile, at the time of my writing, all three accountancy
bodies in Quebec are officially engaged in
merger talks that may lead to the creation of a new body
and designation in that province, and would most certainly
complicate matters of governance and affiliation
nationally.
With all the changes occurring in the accounting profession
at the provincial, national and international levels,
it’s not surprising that the consensus amongst CGAs and
students in Ontario is that a nationally unified profession
might work, but only under the right circumstances.
CGAs also acknowledge that the accounting profession
is evolving in conjunction with globalization and that
we need to participate in the global accounting community.
Clearly there are many options and many paths to
consider. We talked about some of those at our town hall
meetings.
The Way Forward
A unified profession that combined the strengths of the
individual bodies and was fair and equitable to all its
members would be profoundly different than the status
quo. At an international level, a unified, national body
would also have a stronger voice in international discussions
within the accounting profession.
But this is not the only path to an international presence.
The CGA designation is already well respected
internationally. We have partnerships with some of the
largest, most highly respected accountancy bodies around
the world. Our reputation internationally is solid.
Though every Ontario member and student may
not be in complete agreement with a way forward, we all
agree that our Association and designation is strong and
in a good position to move even further forward.
We are not a part of official merger talks between
the national bodies, but we are always talking to our professional
peers and our colleagues at affiliates across
Canada, and we will continue to be, as always, guided by
the interests of our members and students in Ontario.
One thing was very clear to me as I listened to our
members and students speak: our passion and commitment
to the CGA designation has never been stronger.
We continue to see more than numbers and we will
continue to keep CGAs at the forefront of the profession
in Ontario, Canada and around the world.
DOUG BROOKS, FCGA
Chief Executive Officer
CGA Ontario
2 STATEMENTS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011