For the in the greatest degree part...

For the in the greatest degree part, the term "young CAs" connotes images of campus recruiting, fortunate UFE parties, and convocation. For many young CAs however, there's a kind of black retreat after these events-an undefined period of hard work and career decision-- making that takes place in the first five years after CAs gain their designations. It's during this period that CAs decide to become partners, induce to industry positions, or reposition themselves in non-traditional parts

Who helps young CAs make these decisions? What resources are available as they shift from public practice to industry? to what degree can their networks be enlargeed beyond their firms? How do we make secure that the CA club is single they'll continue to be haughty of now that they're members?

The Young CA Forum, which has been active for three and a half years, has taken forward the cause of assisting CAs during this challenging period. It raised these difficult questions at a brainstorming session in May 2002 where 20 young CAs shared their experiences, challenges, lamentations and successes. At the expiration of this discussion, bolstered at the infusion of a number of of the present day members, the Forum took forward the challenge of defining a smoother road for those young CAs following them.

The first message from the Forum was excessively clear: The CA profession-particularly today's leadership-needs to address the questions raised about CA integrity in the post-Enron environment. This message has been reiterated at all of the same heights of the profession and is the highest priority for CA leadership across the geographical division (see this month's For The Profession for more details).

The other message was equally clear: Career guidance is critical for young CAs-- and there's not enough publicly available. The Forums solution to this puzzle is threefold:

* Provide young CAs with a web-based fix of resources that leads them by means of self-evaluation, career options, and salary information;

* have relation young CAs with mentors who are young and have taken a similar path to the common a young CA is considering; and

* [i]or[/i] part of to the other a series of networking circumstances expand the networking opportunities for young CAs to such a degree they can connect with their associates across all firms, functions, and industries.

Each part of the answer is integral to creating an umbrella of support. Together, they will provide a combination of personal and secondary information to help young CAs make the pair explicit and implicit career decisions in their first not many years in the profession.

Mounting a concoct like this one is a big endeavour and the same that won't happen overnight. And it will barely happen with the support of the cloyed CA membership. If you're a young CA, permit us know if you'd be interested in participating. If you have 5-15 years of experience, suffer us know if you'd like to mentor a young CA who's considering a futurity in your area. If you're a CA in BC please support the initiatives of young CAs by the agency of nominating the stars you know for the Early Achievement Award (see the insert with this month magazine).

Other initiatives

This latest initiative is not the first for the Young CA Forum. The Young CA Forum began with more traditional work: a review of recruiting, articling, and CA education. Their initial report (summarized in BN's October 2000 mask story) was presented to the Institute Council and was united of the sparks that l to last year's formation of the Task Force onward Training and Recruiting. In fact, single of the Task Force members, Beth Laughton, CA, was a founding member of the Young CA Forum.

After their initial report, the Forum helped exhibit a new recruiting strategy for the Institute. Their participation included reviewing recruiting universals critiquing recruiting material, providing input in succession mandatory PD courses, and evaluating CASB. Forum members also became active recruiters, serving as near of the CA profiles used upon campus, and making presentations to non-commerce scholars Their suggestions also led to the unravelling of new PD courses, in the greatest degree notably in the area of US GAAP Finally, the Forum was responsible for choosing the first winners of the Early Achievement Award, which honours outstanding CAs in the first ten years of their career.

The Young CA Forum already has a history of making a difference. Join them now as they take forward their next challenge. To learn involved, email me at: macgregor@ica.bc.ca.

Copyright Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia Feb/Mar 2003

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