Notes & News
2015 Accounting Educators’ Symposium
M
ore than 90 of BC’s accounting faculty members and interested CPA members attended
the 2015 Accounting Educators’ Symposium, which was held in Vancouver on May 21
and 22 at the Sutton Place Hotel.
The two-day symposium started with an assurance update by Fred Pries, CPA, CA, PhD, an
associate professor in the department of business at Guelph University. Pries reviewed the
components of the new auditor’s report, which was recently approved by the International
Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), and described the impact this new IAASB
standard is expected to have on Canada’s audit environment. Pries provided an example of the new
auditor’s report and then reviewed several of the proposed new Canadian assurance standards.
Pries was followed by Brian Hunt, FCPA, FCA, ICD.D, the CEO of the Canadian Public
Accountability Board (CPAB), who shared his thoughts on academia’s role in promoting
accountability. Hunt stressed that academics can play an important role in educating accounting
students about accountability and serve as ethical role models.
Richard Rees, FCPA, FCA, president & CEO of CPABC and the executive director of the
CA Education Foundation (CAEF), served as presenter during the luncheon, providing an
informative update on the profession.
In the afternoon, an education update was provided by Peter Norwood, FCPA, FCA, FCMA,
a faculty member at Langara College and former CAEF chair; Andrew Hilton, FCPA, FCA,
PhD, CPA Canada’s director of professional education; and Simone Leonard, CPA, CGA,
CPABC’s VP of education standards and assessment. These three distinguished academics
provided an overview of the new Advanced Certificate in Accounting and Finance (ACAF)
and discussed recent developments to the CPA professional education program (PEP).
Day 1 concluded with an insightful presentation on financial reporting and efficient capital
markets by Carla-Marie Hait, FCPA, FCA, chief accountant with the BC Securities Commission
(BCSC); and Anita Cyr, CPA, CA, BCSC’s associate chief accountant.
Day 2 began with a short update from David Chiang, CPA, CA, CPABC’s VP of member services
and the Symposium’s emcee, about the amalgamation of the existing education foundations
and scholarship fund into a new foundation.
Chiang was followed by Dean Neu, CPA, CA, PhD, a faculty member of the Schulich School of
Business at York University, whose presentation covered how both governments and criminal
organizations use accounting to help accomplish taxation—albeit to different ends. Up next
to speak was Michael McDonald, CPA (Hon.), PhD, professor emeritus of applied ethics at the
W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at UBC, who discussed how to integrate ethics
into various professional and post-secondary course curricula.
The Symposium’s final session was a presentation by Lloyd Posno, FCPA, FCA, a retired partner
of Ernst & Young and the lead volunteer for accounting mentoring with the Martin Aboriginal
Education Initiative. Posno challenged the audience to help increase the number of aboriginal
students attending and graduating from post-secondary institutions by doing more to promote
and mentor aboriginal students from elementary school through high school.
To close the two-day event, Chris Burnley, CPA, CA, chair of both the CAEF and the Accounting
Educators Symposium planning committee, expressed his thanks to all attendees and acknowledged the contributions of planning committee members, including Andrew Hilton; Judith
Watson, FCPA, FCMA (faculty at Capilano University); David Chiang; Scott Sinclair, FCPA,
FCA (instructor at UBC and BCIT); and Peter Norwood.
The Symposium was a tremendous success, with participants expressing praise for the presenters
and thanks for the opportunity to network with their colleagues. The next Symposium is expected
to be held in 2017.
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1. Fred Pries CPA, CA, PhD, was on hand to review the new auditor’s
report, recently approved by the IAASB. 2. Lloyd Posno, FCPA, FCA,
stressed the importance of mentoring aboriginal students. 3. Michael
McDonald, CPA (Hon.), described how ethics could be integrated into
curricula. 4. CPAB CEO Brian Hunt, FCPA, FCA, and CPABC president &
CEO Richard Rees, FCPA, FCA, both served as Symposium speakers.
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CPABC in Focus • July/August 2015 7