By John Tabone
Since 1997, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has tracked the number of members who hold leadership positions at companies that rank in The Globe and Mail's Report on Business 1000. The results not only provide a good measure of the CA profession's success, but also indicate some interesting trends.
For example, the analysis has shown that a CA designation is practically a prerequisite to becoming a chief financial officer. Each year of the study, more than 50% of the CFOs at ROB 1000 companies have been CAs. The results for 2002 are no different, with 54.5% of the CFOs holding CA designations.
Here's another noteworthy finding that has been consistent every year of the analysis — ROB 1000 companies with a CA at the helm have realized a significant advantage over those not led by a CA. The 8.8% of companies with a CA as their top officer (usually CEO, president or some combination) perform better on several key financial measures including one-year return on equity, one-year return on capital and five-year return on capital (see chart below).
Being a CA is also part of the career path to many other senior positions: 8.2% of chairs, 8.5% of CEOs, 9.7% of presidents, 18.6% of corporate secretaries and 7.6% of COOs of ROB 1000 companies are CAs.
John Tabone is CICA's manager of innovation. | 
