Sunday News Roundup 23.07.16: CPA BC quiet on rift, the Big Manitoba Con, and more Canadian accounting news

Wrapping up the odds and ends from the past week in Canadian accounting news

Jul 17, 2023 Author: Canadian Accountant

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TORONTO, July 16, 2023 – The latest news out of CPA Canada and the provinces is no news at all. The Glacier Media Group, which is based in BC, asked CPA BC for its take on the national-provincial rift in the Canadian accounting profession. It got nowhere.

“CPA BC is very neutral in terms of the discussion that’s happening right now,” said Lori Mathison, the chief executive officer of CPA BC. “We are not directly involved in this matter. We have our own legislation here in B.C. We’re neutral, and we really have no position.” The rest of the article is based on quotes from media releases.

If you wanted to parse Mathison’s statement, you might say remaining neutral in the fight represents support for the status quo, as Mathison recognized the role of the CPA Canada. But that is simply speculation. And now, on to the rest of the news from the past week in Canadian accounting.

From PwC in Australia to KPMG in Manitoba

As we have discussed previously, the PwC tax scandal in Australia is having repercussions for the Big Four consultancies elsewhere in the world, as critics use PwC Oz as the foundation for their arguments. Australia and Manitoba seem like worlds apart, but that didn’t stop retired professor Paul G. Thomas, in The problems with consultants, from using PwC Oz to point a finger at KPMG Canada.

After building a well-reasoned argument about the dangers of consultancies, Thomas lists the effects of the Pallister PC government’s contracts with KPMG, from excessive spending to influence. Some of the same arguments have been made in the The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments and Warps Our Economies, published by Penguin Random House in 2023.

American praise for Canadian carbon taxes

For the second week in a row, a major American publication is praising Canada and the policies of the Liberals. Last week it was Politico and its disbelief that Canada could lure multinationals (and their jobs) to Canada from the US. This week it's Bloomberg and praise for our carbon tax. In How Canada Figured Out a Carbon Tax and Gave the Money Back, Bloomberg notes Catherine McKenna marshaled support for a carbon tax in part by calling it “a price on pollution.” It also points out that Canada is a leading producer of oil and gas and also one of the few G7 members with a carbon tax.

Of course, tell that to Gwyn Morgan, the former head of Encana, who is disingenuously described as "a retired business leader who has been a director of five global corporations" in Troy Media. The carbon tax is still wildly unpopular in some parts of Canada, although one might argue the commitment to fighting climate change through a revenue neutral tax led to the election of the Liberals. But Morgan argues Trudeau's carbon tax crusade a war on Canada's poorest, alleging that Canadian small business is in jeopardy (despite a hot economy) due to fuel taxes, and "the deliberate debilitation of the oil and gas industry."

Accounting Dealbook: MNP buys Strategex

Canada’s largest homegrown accounting firm, MNP LLP, has hoovered up another accounting firm. This time it’s Strategex, which is based in Vancouver, and was founded in 2002. The Strategex team of three partners and 15 staff will remain at their present location at 900 West Hastings Street in Vancouver.

It seems like a good time to acquire some Vancouver real estate, so to speak. As reported by Canadian Accountant, three prominent Vancouver accounting firms have been publicly censured by the Canadian Public Accountability Board, and banned from accepting new, high-risk clients. The firms may be vulnerable to competition or even amenable to mergers.