Reflections
Letter from the President and CEO
Creating success at home
FROM:
SEP-OCT 2004 ISSUE
When I arrived at CGA-Canada a year-and-a-half ago, one of my major goals was to raise the profile of the CGA designation. I wanted to make sure Canadians — the public at large, but even more the business community — thought "CGA" when they heard the word "accountant." Since then, we have worked hard to accomplish that objective through a number of key initiatives.
In my capacity as President and CEO, I've travelled around the country to talk to the Canadian business community. I have given speeches to the Halifax and Calgary chambers of commerce, as well as to
CGA-BC's annual MLA luncheon in Victoria; other speaking engagements are planned for the fall in Vancouver and Winnipeg.
The topic I focus on during these events is clarity, trust, and accountability in financial reporting. In the wake of Enron, Parmalat, WorldCom, and most recently Nortel, it is crucial that this country's business leaders see that CGAs are committed to these concepts and restoring the public's confidence in the corporate sector.
CGA-Canada's latest major policy paper,
Addressing the Pensions Dilemma in Canada, was another excellent opportunity to raise the public profile of CGA. The report highlights a
$160 billion shortfall in defined benefit pension plans, and that rather sizeable figure, along with several significant conclusions in the paper, caught the media's attention.
The report was first profiled in
The Globe and Mail, and the story was picked up by the Canadian Press, as well as dozens of other print, radio, and television outlets around the country. Rock Lefebvre, the
CGA-Canada Research and Policy Manager, and I did numerous radio and television interviews following the release of the report, and CGA received more than
18 million media impressions from the resulting coverage.
We have also made our expertise known by speaking out on other important social, political, and economic issues. This past June's federal election gave us an opportunity to further elevate our presence in Ottawa, most notably through an open letter to the leaders of each political party.
Paul Martin is now aware of the issues we believe are crucial to the success of the Canadian economy: improving inter-provincial trade, restoring confidence in financial reporting, implementing tax reform, and strengthening government's fiscal management.
CGA-Canada will work with the Liberal minority government, along with members of the other parties, on these items when the House resumes sitting.
Those aren't the only areas where CGA has distinguished itself recently, however. CGA's contributions to the accounting profession have been recognized by our peers and we are extremely pleased to have representation on Canada's accounting standards-setting bodies. This past spring, Gilles Bédard, FCGA, was appointed to the Accounting Standards Oversight Council (AcSOC) and
Robert Morgan, CFA, CGA, joined the Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) at the same time.
In addition, CGA is taking great strides forward with industry member status on the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) for one and possibly more CGA provincial affiliates. This decision came about after the CPAB recognized its earlier structure wasn't sufficiently representative. Looking slightly further abroad,
CGA-Canada's past Chair and CEO,
Sylvie Voghel, B.Sc., FCGA, has been serving on the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) board, which in turn lends tremendous credibility to our reform efforts at home.
We are living in an environment of change, one where we have to be proud of our recent successes and confident about the future. These accomplishments, both individually and collectively, make CGA stand out and they enable us to grow, to challenge and advocate, and to better serve the needs of our clients. At the end of the day, those are the things that will secure our place as a leading accounting designation in Canada.
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