CMA Ontario Merger Viewpoint

[qshahzad]

Hello Friends,

I needed your views on the following update i received in my email today. Would appreciate if some accountants from CA can comment on this.

Earlier today, the leaders of the Certified Management Accountants of Canada and the Chartered Accountants of Canada announced they have entered into discussions to explore the possibility of uniting the CMA and CA organizations through the creation of a new professional designation.

Given your expressed interest in pursuing a career in accounting, we know that you may have questions or concerns with respect to this announcement.

First and foremost, you should know that these discussions and any possible outcome from them will not have an impact on the nature or value of the existing CMA designation. If you have been planning to pursue the CMA, you should continue to do so with every confidence that upon completion you will have earned a leading and internationally respected accounting designation.

Registration deadlines for the Accelerated Program and Entrance Exams remain unchanged.

We want to ensure that you have all the information you need to understand the changes being considered. To this end, please visit www.CPACanada.ca for information about the future of the accounting profession in Canada.

If you have any questions or comments about how this impacts your registration for a CMA program please do not hesitate to contact the CMA info@cmaontario.org.

God bless,

 

[xtc2011]

A view from CGA

I am writing to tell you that CGA recently participated in exploratory discussions with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and the Society of Management Accountants of Canada (CMA Canada) to consider opportunities for a national merger of the accounting profession in Canada.

We recognize the potential value of bringing our profession closer together and these talks were initiated with the interest of all accounting professionals and the public in mind. CGA was determined to explore all possibilities for a three-way collaboration towards a single national designation and hoped that we could have succeeded. However, throughout our preliminary discussions we were unable to resolve a number of key issues. Therefore, the three-way national talks have now ended, and CICA and CMA Canada have moved on to two-way merger consultations.

As part of the initial discussions, CICA and CMA Canada set out a number of pre-conditions which CGA was required to agree to before full negotiations could commence. The following terms were unacceptable to us:

§ Members of the proposed body would be required to identify their designation of origin alongside a new designation for at least 10 years in a process called “tagging.” For example, a CGA could be referred to as CPA-CGA. New members who completed their education under the merged organization would only display the new CPA designation. We believe that the 10-year window is too long and would have increased the likelihood of discrimination and bias against CGAs. Tagging would have also introduced four accounting designations into the marketplace adding more confusion than exists today.

While not part of the direct terms, we were also not able to address other issues that were a source of concern. New provincial legislation would have to be enacted before the new designation could be used in the marketplace – a process that would likely take several years. And while CGAs would have participated in the new governing body, CA members would have likely formed the majority, which given our competitive history was a concern.

§ Immediate cessation of our support for national labour mobility for CGAs, including the current deliberations underway between provincial governments on mobility under the Agreement on Internal Trade.

While CGA recognizes the potential value of bringing the three Canadian accounting bodies together, we are also committed to protecting the rights and opportunities of CGAs and our students now and in the future.

Most recently, we communicated our principles for further discussions to both the CA and CMA bodies in order to resolve some key issues that we felt were a barrier to further progress. The CICA and CMA Canada were not prepared to modify their terms and terminated discussions.

Whatever the outcome of any further discussions between CICA and CMA Canada, CGA has always been, and continues to be, open to opportunities within the profession in Canada. We continue our commitment to protecting the public interest, contributing to matters of public policy and to shaping the future of the accounting profession.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon Ruth, FCGA

Chief Executive Officer

 

[LEAP]

I have been writing about this merger and how it will affect immigrants in the future who are re-designating as accountants in Canada.

I suppose they are posts asking CPA Canada to comment on how they will construct the process in the future to cater to Internationally Educated Professionals (IEPs) that make up a large portion of CA and CMA candidates today - and the numbers are only going to keep growing.

CA Alberta and CMA Ontario have some infrastructure in place today to cater to IEPs and so far there hasn't been much discussion on how CPA Canada will address IEPS.

Feel free to visit my posts on CA CMA Merge:
"CEOs make informative videos but no insight on processes for immigrants joining the profession.....yet" wp.leapesl.ca/?p=517

"Diverse and well-versed: The Uniting CA and CMA designations, Internationally Educated Professionals and Soft Skills as a professional must-have" wp.leapesl.ca/?p=465

xtc2011 thanks for the info