Sunday News Roundup 22.07.31: Big Four split, CPA salaries and more Canadian accounting news 

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TORONTO, July 31, 2022 – While it was a quiet week in Canadian accounting, there were developments around the world that may eventually impact the profession in Canada. For example, Ernst and Young (EY UK) announced this past week that it had hired Rothschild & Co., the financial advisory company, to advise on a potential separation of its audit and consulting services. 

Who do you call for business advice if you’re a Big Four professional services firm? You can’t call another Big Four firm and you don’t want to call a consulting competitor like McKinsey or Boston Consulting. So EY UK called Rothschild, which tells us they’re serious about splitting, even in the face of criticism from their rivals — Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC. According to this perceptive article, EY would have the easiest rebrand and could grab the early lead in market share by splitting up. Meanwhile, even the boss of UK accounting watchdog says EY split would bring benefits. 

And speaking of the UK, it was recently reported that an overhaul of accounting regulatory legislation could be delayed by as much as five years. But in the meantime, the Financial Reporting Council, desperate to buff its reputation with the public, has tripled the value of its fines over the past year, “more than half of the total levied against KPMG after its involvement in a series of audit failures and misconduct scandals,” according to the Financial Times. 

And in the US, pundits were shocked this past Thursday by news that US Senator Joe Manchin had done an about-face and was supporting a climate change and tax bill that would impose a 15% minimum tax on corporations with profits over $1 billion. Few on both sides of the border thought this would happen and the deal will be fodder for more analysis to come. And now, on to the rest of the news from the past week in Canadian accounting. 

How much money does a CPA make in Canada?

Now there’s a loaded question. But Indeed, the global job listings platform, says it has come up with an answer: $65,108. That’s the national average, of course, and the salary you earn can typically depend on how much experience you've gained in your role, as the website rightfully states. Still, it’s not exactly a ringing advertisement for the profession, which is why the associations tend to focus their ad campaigns on high-profile, highly successful accountants. Indeed also published an update or you can go down the rabbit hole of salary discussions on r/accounting. 

ESG opposition from Canadian small business sector

Amid all the hoopla around the new Montreal office of the ISSB comes a sour note from the small business lobbyist sector. Catherine Swift, the former head of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, is now leading something called Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada. 

In a PostMedia editorial for the Sun chain of newspapers, Swift blames IFRS (really the IASB and IFRS Foundation) and a cabal of “politicians, financiers, accountants, Environmental Non-Government Organizations (ENGOs) and others in the climate crisis movement,” as well as the Liberal government. You can see the seeds of a movement coalescing here against any imposition of another layer of regulatory bureaucracy on small business, even though new sustainability standards would more likely apply (at least at first) to large public companies in Canada. 

Quick Hits: Articles of Interest

Canada’s OSFI releases final insurance capital guidelines for IFRS 17 (Reinsurance News)
Some rural Saskatchewan taxpayers shortchanged on carbon tax cash back (Globe and Mail)
Editorial: Victoria council governance report has lessons for candidates (MNP, Times Colonist)
RSM Canada opens Kitchener office (The Record)
Ex-Vancouver mayor's old juice company sues for $570,700 in fraud losses (Business in Vancouver)
We’ve got windfall taxes already. Main Street pays them (Financial Post) 

By Canadian Accountant staff.