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Retention of Top Performers
In the last issue of Folio we published the first of several articles on CA
Training Programs in the corporate and public sectors as well as the non-audit
practice areas of CA firms. In this issue, we look at retention of top performers.
Management from Great-West Life, Union Gas and Cummins Western Canada
Limited Partnership discuss their recent experience in retaining top performers
by providing existing employees with an option to obtain a CA designation
through their organization.
Becoming an accredited CA Training Office
not only enhances participating organizations’
prospects of attracting the best and brightest
university students, including those in co-op
programs; it can also assist participants in
retaining employees who want to pursue their
CA designation after graduating.
It might even carry a special allure for
existing employees who are interested in becoming
CAs.
The CA Training Office program has significantly
benefited The Great-West Life Assurance
Company. Headquartered in Winnipeg, Great-
West Life became accredited under the program
in 2007.
“We had experiences in the past where we
lost some Bachelor of Commerce graduates
after working with us for only a year because
they decided they wanted to pursue the CA
designation, and their only alternative was to
go into the public accounting field for their
training,” says Charles Henaire, FCA, Senior
Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer for
Great-West Life.
“Since we’ve started offering CA training
opportunities here, we’ve been able to better
retain these talented staff,” he adds.
There are currently 14 people in the Great-
Conversion to
Accounting
Standards for
Private Enterprises
This concise booklet provides eight
basic steps to help in the transition
to accounting standards for private
enterprises and includes a summary
of one-time
exemptions
and mandatory
exceptions from
retrospective
application.
Find it online at
cica.ca/privateenterprises.
Conversion to Accounting
Standards for Private Enterprises:
Basic Transition Steps
West Life training program, which offers CA
students broad rotational exposure to the
company, including its business units, and
investment and operations divisions, as well as
its tax, internal audit, financial reporting, and
performance management areas.
“The CA Training Office program is a very
important strategy for us to help ensure we
attract the talent that we need to continue to
run and grow our organization,” says Henaire.
“We see this as a tremendous opportunity
to support our growth and be attractive to
potential employees. We have a strong organizational
culture and feel that when we can attract
people earlier on in their careers it shows our
support and loyalty to them. In return we get
good loyalty back from our staff, and that is a
win-win from our perspective,” he adds.
Great-West Life’s status as an accredited
CA Training Office has also interested some of
the Great-West Life’s existing staff, who have
inquired about entering the CA study program,
since they can now stay with the company while
receiving their requisite training.
“This opportunity is available to all interested
staff who qualify,” emphasizes Henaire.
Becoming an accredited CA Training Office
in 2009 has also helped Union Gas Limited,
which is headquartered in Chatham, Ont.,
retain talented employees who are interested in
becoming CAs.
“I can think of three excellent employees
we lost prior to having the CA Training Office
program, who went to public accounting firms
to get their experience,” recalls Lorie Baker,
Manager of Employee Relations at Union Gas.
“We thought, ‘what are those accounting firms
offering that we can’t?’ With a very large finance
department, we knew we had the talent, expertise,
and experience to teach our own students.”
Union Gas will have four recent accounting
graduates and two internal employees participating
in its CA Training Office program as of
May 2011. They can choose to participate in
three different rotations that will allow them to
gain experience and knowledge in a variety of
financial roles such as financial accounting, tax,
and audit, to name a few.
These students “see opportunities develop
- they notice that our organization gives
them time off for study; and that they have
the support and materials they need to continue
learning and gaining acumen about our
organization and industry,” says Baker.
“It is a real plus for them,” she stresses.
Furthermore, “our employees do not want to
leave behind their career with Union Gas to go
to an accounting firm to obtain a CA, and then
try and get back in. They lose ground that way,”
Baker explains.
“With the CA Training Office program, they
can stay.”
The training program is available to all
Union Gas employees, even those currently outside
of the accounting and finance departments
who might not initially have aspirations to the
accounting profession, but ultimately decide
they want to pursue their CA designation.
“We post within our organization and say
‘you have to meet the minimum criteria of having
51 credited hours, but if you’re interested
you can transfer into the program,’” says Baker.
“We have employees ranging from brand new,
up to 30 years of experience, who have the
opportunity to say, ‘I’d like to get my CA,’” she
adds.
Cummins Western Canada Limited Partnership
in Surrey, B.C., the western Canadian
distributor for Cummins Inc., a manufacturer
of diesel, engine and power generation equipment,
became an accredited CA Training Office
in February 2011. Cummins is authorized to
train three CA students through rotations that
include financial reporting, internal audit, tax,
and treasury, among other types of field and
operational work.
“We’re very excited about having that as a
tool in our employee retention kit,” says Peter
Young, CA, Chief Financial Officer at Cummins
Western Canada.
“The reason we liked this program is because
we were having difficulties keeping younger
employees who were looking to get accredited,”
notes Young. “When CA students had to be in
an external audit path, a couple gave us their
notice, and indicated they were planning to
pursue working in a public accounting firm
environment,” he recalls.
Since that was the only avenue for students
to get their requisite experience at that time,
“we started wondering, ‘could we become an
accredited facility or training centre?’ We met
with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
British Columbia and identified that as a possibility,”
Young explains.
In addition to presenting Cummins with
greater opportunities to hire and retain top
notch co-op students from universities, the CA
Training Office program is enticing some people
in the company to consider a career change into
the accounting profession.
“We have already had some interest from
people outside of our finance group,” Young
says.
FOLIO 7