Boards a boon to CAs

Canadian CAs continue to play a major role in the governance of both public and private companies, as well as not-for profit and governmental organizations. According to the latest CA Profession Compensation Survey, 27% of members hold at least one board position. The majority (54%) of CAs who serve on a board are a director of a social or charitable organization, 28% are on the board of a privately held company, 9% are on the board of an industry or trade association and 9% serve on the board of a public company or one of its subsidiaries.

Only 10% of CAs serving as directors are compensated for their board work, but the experience offers many benefits. In addition to providing CAs with a chance to give back to the community by serving on the board of a not-for-profit, board work is also good for career development, the survey findings suggest. The average compensation for CAs serving on a board is $247,626. CAs who serve on public company boards have the highest mean compensation ($468,294), followed by those on hospital/university boards ($367,640) and private company boards ($358,931). The mean compensation for CAs serving on boards of industry and trade associations ($271,518) and social and charitable organizations ($200,243) are also well above the average for all members. (See “Strong & steady,” p. 18.)

CAs who want to be on a board can post their résumé on the CICA’s Directors Source website. For more information go to www.directorssource.com or e-mail directorssource@cica.ca.

John Tabone is CICA’s manager of member value and research services