Update on Unification Survey

March 30, 2012

Measuring Your Feedback

I am pleased to provide you with an update on the Association’s recent all-member survey. One of our objectives is to ensure that all members are kept up to date on the unification talks, and we have sought your views during this process. CGA-BC conducted a member survey on the matter in the wake of announcing the National Unification Framework and the BC Merger Proposal from March 9 to March 19. Some 2,799 CGAs out of 10,181, or 27.49% of our members, responded. The survey followed our town hall sessions where members also had the opportunity to offer feedback and participate in open discussions.

Results showed that when asked the question, “How likely are you to support a Board recommendation to proceed with a merger as presented in the proposal and based on feedback from other stakeholders and progress in other provinces?” 54.44% said that they were very supportive; 29.59% were somewhat supportive; 11.01% were neutral; 3.27% were somewhat opposed; and 1.69% were very opposed. To put it another way, 84.03% of our membership supports the merger as presented in the high level proposal. The results largely mirrored the outcome of a similar survey completed by CGAs who participated in the 10 town halls and those who watched the presentation online.

Just over 400 CGAs had additional questions or requests for information in this survey. The most common questions from the survey related to

• The effect the merger would have on fees and dues;
• The desire for more details about the rules that govern public practitioners, including registration, peer reviews and insurance;
• Concerns around the length of time associated with tagging;
• Questions around what happens to a national merger if professional accounting bodies in other provinces don’t participate in unification;
• Rules affecting the status of FCGA, Life and retired members;
• Transitional details for current CGA students and ensuring that the flexibility is maintained in the new CPA designation; and
• The effect the merger would have on agreements with international accounting bodies now and in the future.

In recent weeks we have answered scores of your questions in phone conversations and via email correspondence. For many of your questions, the answers have not yet been supplied because the details have yet to be determined. Once these issues have been resolved we will share the results with all members and students.

Next Steps
Thank you to the members who provided feedback in this process. Your input is very important in helping guide the Board in its decision-making.

The Executive Committee continues to work with the other two bodies to address some of the outstanding details and issues. We expect to have a recommendation ready to take to the membership for its endorsement in May. The Board would then make a decision, likely at a meeting held no later than June, whether to request the provincial government draft legislation to merge. The Board’s decision would consider direction received from the members and other stakeholders, and the status of the proposed merger with the other provinces and territories as well as the national bodies.

I urge you to keep up to date on the matter by visiting the Merger Section of the Association’s website.

Gordon Ruth, FCGA
Chief Executive Officer