Quote:
Originally Posted by The Yen Man
Oh, I hope it does come down to a vote, because as a CMA, I'd tell your CA institution to go pound sand. Why the hell would I want to merge with a body that would continue to look down at us? As far as I know, it was the CA body approaching the other two in hopes of the merger, not the other way around, just so they can have access to a lot more funds available to them. Tell the CA body to either suck it up or charge 2 or 3 times more for their annual dues. Afterall, I would think all you rich CAs and the companies you work for can definitely afford it.
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I think there would be a lot of annimosity from the CMAs to the CAs and vice versa. If I was in your shoes I'd vote against the merge as well. I'd vote against it no matter what side I'm on.
It's not about money though. They are saying that each designation spends so much trying to differentiate between the three, it is wasting marketing dollars.
What the merge is about, is that the CGAs are the fastest growing designation in Canada. From the latest presentation I went to the CGAs will soon have over 50% of the total professional accountants in Canada. The fear is that if the CGAs merge with the CMAs and that merge will hold 75-80% of the accountants. The CAs will then lose their voice nationally and internationally. They will not be able to sway how the reporting, accounting and auditing standards and would have to follow along with whatever the CGA/CMA merged group says. Play this out over 10 years and they will garner more of the students coming out of school, since it doesn't make much sense for a student to join a dwindling designation with no voice. The CA then fades out and/or has to merge with the bigger body on their terms.
The reason the CAs are proposing it now, is they are still the one with the biggest voice and the most prestige. It's why they want to have original designations next to the CPA for ten years. They want to display that and still guide the merge process. They don't want to lose any of that.
If there has to be a merge, which I hope doesn't happen, I obviously want to be with the designation in charge. The money has nothing to do with it right now.