Like Currency, Like Professional Designation: "CPA" Going Canadian?

Canadian Accountant Bodies Plan to Merge

CPA Canada website

Three major professional organizations in Canada: the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Certified Management Accountants of Canada and the Certified General Accountants of Canada are in talks to merge the organizations into a single body for Canadian accountants. The designation of choice for the proposed new organization is Chartered Public Accountant (does the acronym look familiar?). The four goals of the new professional organization are to insure public confidence through a single certification program and high ethical standards; to insure that the new CPA designation is respected both within Canada and internationally; to make that Canadian accountants continue on a prosperous path and to govern accounting matters effectively. Accountants in Quebec have already agreed to merge; giving "la belle province" accountants a chance to demonstrate to the rest of Canada the potential benefits of combining.

It is worth watching Canada to see whether this new merger is beneficial to Canadian accountants. Certainly, the AICPA and IMA could stand to be on better terms (national bodies, not necessarily problematic at local chapter levels).