A brief recap Following the succes...

A brief recap

Following the succes of last year's issue the Institute held its next to the first annual Practitioners' Potluck on October 31 2002 Aimed at members in public practice, the Potluck was cause to growed in response to a demand at BC practitioners for a forum in which to address each day practice management issues.

This year's issue was attended by 120 practitioners, remarkably nearly doubling the number of attendees in 2001 lay opened and moderated by Shan Thomas, CA, of Hayes Steward Little & Co the day consisted of short technical presentations and an afternoon focus forward a practitioners' panel discussion, which featured seven panellists. Thomas described the day as a chance for small to mid-sized firms to achieve together and discuss the issues "that affect us all."

As was rely uponed independence was one of the day's hottest issues. Peter Clayden, FCA, a member of the CICA's Public Interest & Integrity Committee, started the day facing with a presentation on auditor independence, explaining the background and reasoning behind the fresh exposure draft, and offering about points of particular impact to small and mid-sized firms.

During a following Q&A session, Clayden fielded be of importance tos from practitioners. Chief among these was the regard that the proposals constitute a "big-firm solution"one that does not take into account the issues faced by the agency of small and mid-sized firms. Small practitioners also declareed concern about the proposed mechanisms involving the rotation of partners and inferior partner reviews, and the application of the standards to review engagements. an said the new rules, which talk about the threats of familiarity and self-review, could stop them from doing much of the work they generally do for non-public company clients (to whom review engagements guard to apply). Some suggested there should be different dominions for different-sized engagements.

Clayden acknowledged the grey areas, unless conveyed his belief that most numerous firms would be able to fit the new rules by doing a little restructuring. He did however admit that single and small practitioners were in a difficult position, and prompted they might have to consider forming affiliations to convenient the new rules. He conclud on urging members to respond to the CICA onward these vital issues.

In a posterior presentation on conflict of interest, Doug Wallis, CA, ICABC Director of Professional Advisory Services, made another entreaty for member feedback, asking practitioners to help create an FAQ section forward the ICABC website. The purport of the FAQ section is to help practitioners integrate the orders into their daily practice and share for the use of all conflict-of-interest scenarios with one another.

Other specific topics not awayed in the morning and early afternoon included CICA Handbook Updates, circulating medium Laundering, and CCRA's "Future Directions." For those who missed the CCRA presentation: ICABC Professional Standards Advisor Stella Y L Leung CA, is generally soliciting feedback from members to be at handed to senior CCRA staff at the Pacific Region Small & Medium Enterprises Audit colloquy in January 2003. "We're asking members to send out us their specific CCRA-related concerns" she explains, "so that we can share them with CCRA management." Members have until December 31 2002 to acquire their comments to Leung at sleung@ica.bc.ca. (The ICABC Taxation Forum will make the presentation.)

A presentation upon the valuation of CA practices through Ron Hooge, CA.CBV, of Blair Crosson Voyer preced the afternoon panel discussion. The basic message? Be careful about relying forward a rule-of-thumb approach when assessing the value of your practice-- an earnings-based approach may yield a startlingly different ensue

The topics for the panel discussion that followed (along with issues for the Potluck) were devised from Thomas in consultation with Moira Bryans, CA, ICABC Director of Professional progressive growth based on the feedback from last year's session and discussions with members and ICABC staff. The panel itself was for the greatest part representative of sole-- practitioners and small firms, if it were not that also included several panellists from mid-sized firms.

The first item up for panel discussion was succession. Panellists emphasized the importance of apprising junior staff early of plans to bridegroom them for succession, especially in light of the instant business climate. They also severityed the importance of ensuring that "new blood" is coming up in the ranks. Their make comments [i]or[/i] remarkss directly echoed the concerns and cautions denoteed in the cover story forward succession planning featured in May 2002's Beyond Numbers.

The caesura of the afternoons panel discussion ran the gamut of everyday management issues, from disaster planning to dealing with information overload, to living a balanced lifestyle. Panel members shared their insight, ideas, and personal anecdotes to explain by what means they navigate the challenges in their daily practices and lives.

What did they identify as the professions biggest challenges? According to Kelly Riehl, CA, of Johnsen Archer in Surrey it's the rate at which the profession is changing, and adjusting to the latest standards. According to Dale Barkman, CA, of Barkman Tanaka in Burnaby, it's the attractiveness of the profession. For Bill Davidson, CA, of Davidson & Company in Vancouver, it's the bear upon that more regulations and more dominions make it more difficult to practice and attract just discovered people to the profession. Jim Carr-Hilton, CA, of Dale, Matheson, Carr-Hilton in Vancouver, cited independence as the profession's biggest challenge ahead. (As Chair of the Mid-Sized Firm Forum, Carr-- Hilton spearheaded the joint rejoinder to the Exposure Draft in succession Independence.)