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Changes to Independence Requirements The Canadian CA profession's Public Trust Committee formed an Independence Task Force to review the independence provisions included in the Rules of Professional Conduct and determine whether any changes are needed. The review was precipitated by the changes made to the independence standards included in the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (Code) issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) last year. The CA profession is a member of IFAC and the profession's Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the Provincial Institutes/Ordre should be not less stringent than the requirements included in the Code unless in respect of a particular provision it is prohibited by law or regulation or it is determined not to be in the public interest. There are two phases to the proposed changes. First is an exposure draft proposing that the current Canadian requirements related to rotation of the engagement partner and the engagement quality control reviewer change from rotation after five years followed by a five-year "time-out" period to seven and two years respectively. The second is a consultation paper seeking feedback from stakeholders on adopting the IFAC Code to the extent possible. Click here http://www.cica.ca/about-the-profession/protecting-the-public-interest/item36957.aspx to read the details of this process, and to download the exposure draft and the consultation paper. Deadline for comments is 15 June 2010. |
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