News from the profession

A summary of current CICA projects and initiatives

Canadian auditing standards now available in the Handbook for preview

Uniformity, clarity and quality are the big drivers behind Canada’s new auditing and quality control standards. As of December 15, 2009, a new standard called Quality Control for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of Financial Statements and Other Assurance Engagements, or CSQC 1, will come into effect for all assurance engagements in Canada.

In total, 36 final international standards on auditing will be adopted as Canadian auditing standards (CASs) for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 14, 2010.

However, the new quality control standard comes into effect first and introduces a robust quality control system standard that will benefit public accounting firms by allowing them to demonstrate a strong commitment to quality.

The adoption of CSQC 1, which only applies to assurance engagements, provides clients and users of financial statements increased confidence in Canadian audits and other assurance engagements. It also gives Canadian firms a framework to further promote an internal culture of excellence.

There are a few key differences between CSQC 1 and the existing standard, GSF-QC. For example, engagement reviews must be substantially completed prior to the audit report date. Another new rule is that the monitoring team assigned to review the file as part of a cyclical monitoring inspection can’t have been part of the engagement team or the engagement quality control reviewer.

To help Canadian auditors and other users prepare, the Canadian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has made available the new auditing and quality control standards, which will be effective later this year and next. The CICA Handbook — Assurance is available through Knotia.

Firms must act now to ensure they have the processes, procedures and documentation in place to meet the quality control requirements. Learn more about how to get started in the transition to CASs, including CSQC 1, at www.cica.ca/cas.

New website for CA training offices

A new website for CA training offices (CATOs) launched by Canada’s chartered accountants will be of interest to CA firms and other organizations wanting to become CATOs. This site offers comprehensive information on the profession’s national standards for practical experience and links to specific provincial institute/ordre information.

Opportunities to train CA students have broadened considerably in most of Canada. For example, outside Quebec, corporations and government sector organizations can now train CA students and CA firms can expand student training into areas such as taxation, business advisory services and/or assurance and compilation engagements. Currently in Quebec, CA training can be provided only in CA firms and only in audit and assurance.

Since assessment for the new nontraditional career path is based on competencies and not chargeable hours, it greatly expands the number of firms eligible to train CA students. Getting approval to train CA students is straightforward, and provincial institute staff is available to help. To learn about CA student training, visit www.CATOadvantage.ca.

IFRS – are you in catch-up mode?

Planning to adopt international financial reporting standards, but don’t know where to start? Take a look at the Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) paper called IFRSs: Guide for Procrastinators. It provides concise and practical advice for people who are not sure how or where to begin their preparation. “This paper will be a big help for people who, for a variety of reasons, have put IFRS preparation on the back burner,” says Gord Beal, project leader for the CICA’s IFRS implementation support strategy. “Each circumstance is unique of course, but ideally, IFRS adopters should be moving beyond the assessment and planning phases and toward the implementation stage.”

The last quarter of 2009 is an important period in the IFRS timeline. Adopters need to start collecting comparative information the year prior to their adoption to ensure they have the appropriate information for their opening IFRS balance sheet. That means a company whose fiscal year ends December 31, 2011, needs to start collecting information in accordance with IFRSs on January 1, 2010.

The AcSB has also updated its publication that outlines which IFRSs can be safely studied and planned for now. “Which IFRSs are expected to apply for Canadian changeover in 2011?” is available for download at the CICA’s IFRS website. Visit www.cica.ca/IFRS for IFRS resources, including guides and comparisons, sample financial statements, checklists and other practical planning and implementation tools.

CICA launches improved knotia.ca website

CICA has just introduced version 3.0 of its knotia.ca website, offering an enhanced online research experience for users of its more than 100 accounting and tax titles.

“We listened to subscribers’ feedback on speed, features, and search requirements,” says Brian Loney, director of publishing, member services. “I think they'll be pleased with this latest version of knotia, which builds on an already robust platform.”

Loney credits longstanding technology provider Ernst & Young Electronic Publishing Services Inc. (EYEP) for developing cutting-edge solutions. “Our 20-year relationship with EYEP has helped us stay ahead of the curve and bring innovation to our publishing operations.”

Many of the improvements to the website come from optimizing the underlying web architecture, says Margaret Hoffman, vice president of operations for EYEP. “Users consistently told us they wanted faster searching, so our development team got to work reducing average document download size from 200 kb to 6 kb, minimizing JavaScript server requests by 35%, and compressing these transmissions by 37%.”

All in all, Hoffman says users will find the site significantly faster, especially with web 2.0-optimized browsers, such as Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3.0. While improved speed is the number one request, Hoffman says that users also ask for a more seamless interface. “So in addition to beefing up the search engine, we’ve also paid attention to how users work and made it much easier to search, save, and share documents.

More than 75,000 CICA members access their CICA Handbook on knotia.ca, and many of them will get their first taste of the improvements when they receive their October 2009 email update. “We’re constantly striving to improve the member experience,” says Loney. “In these economic times, it’s important to provide value. Having everything in one place makes it easy to find the information you need quickly. That means you can focus more time and energy on your business.”

To learn more about the changes to knotia.ca, visit knotia.ca/revolution

For a complete listing of CICA's online accounting and tax reference titles, go to knotia.ca/store/internetcollection.