Greening and dealing

The world is preparing to update its environmental policy in Copenhagen this month, and CA students article in industry

By Christian Bellavance, Editor-in-chief

Later this month, more than 15,000 representatives from many countries will meet in Copenhagen to carve out the next global environmental accord. Success is far from guaranteed, as the stakes are high and will impact states and individuals in many ways. To mark the event, billed as the new Kyoto, CAmagazine has two stories on environmental issues and how they will provide opportunities to members of the CA profession who take notice.

In “The business of climate change” (p. 28), CICA consultants Julie Desjardins and Alan Willis explain that climate change and other environmental and sustainability issues have changed the way business is conducted. “Unlike the recent financial crisis, from which most economies will gradually recover in time,” they write, “climate change as a formidable business issue is here to stay.” This has broad implications for CAs, particularly those in the fields of regulation, risk, reporting and valuation. The writers look at the challenges and opportunities ahead.

What is Canada’s stance on this? The country’s position evolves daily as various stakeholders try to influence public policies. Brigitte Alepin, CAmagazine’s technical editor for small business taxation, Julie Larocque and François Therriault in “Toward the green deal” (p. 36) provide background to help us understand what is at stake and offer potential solutions.

The CA profession is also moving ahead in new directions to continue attracting the best and the brightest. CA students now have the option of completing their practical experience requirements in the corporate world, outside the audit path traditionally offered through public accounting firms. Robert Colapinto presents the program in “Industry approved” (p. 22) and talks to students articling in such companies as Nexen, J.D. Irving, Great-West Life and Royal Bank.

Our Regulars department for this last issue of the year presents articles on taxation (p. 40), technology (p. 43) and assurance (p. 46) .

The importance of financial systems to generate appropriate information is also pointed out by Jim Carroll in Netwatch (p. 12). Such systems, he says, will prove crucial for what he calls the next economy, which will be based on ever faster business cycles. This ties in with Michael Burns’ Work in process (p. 13), in which he presents CAmagazine’s latest survey on business intelligence and corporate performance management systems.

Finally, Marcel Côté reflects on good governance in today’s corporate environment. In “Who is being served?” (p. 56), he argues that “good governance means much more than defending the rights of minority shareholders.”