The latest push to merge the country’s three major accounting bodies has foundered, with one national body deciding to pull out of the process entirely.

On Monday, the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA Canada) formally broke off discussions with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and the Society of Management Accountants of Canada (CMA Canada) on a proposed merger. However, the two remaining national bodies, governing chartered accountants and certified management accountants respectively, say they remain committed to the unification process.

CGA Canada said that it decided to leave the process after several of the provincial CGA associations — the accounting profession is regulated at the provincial level — recently decided to pull out of their respective merger discussions. CGA Canada also said that it felt that several issues critical to the success of the negotiations remained unresolved.

“From a provincial perspective, there were many outstanding issues, including the legal structure of the new organization, the member ratification process, and enforceable commitments regarding member protection and minority rights,” said Anthony Ariganello, president and CEO of CGA Canada.

“At the national level, the three groups had not yet agreed on a national governance model that included clearly defined roles and responsibilities or on specific details of the unification framework beyond the initial proposal. In addition, it was clear from the provincial discussions that there remained inconsistencies across the country with respect to the use of legacy designations,” Argianello said.

The latest effort to merge the three organizations, which has been unsuccessfully attempted a number of times over the years, began last year, and resulted in the release of a draft framework for unification in January 2012. The three bodies proposed merging into one umbrella organization and under one designation, chartered professional accountant (CPA). For 10 years after the proposed merger, Canada’s accountants could identify themselves with their legacy designation and the CPA designation. New graduates of a now unified certification process would be known as CPAs.

From the beginning, the merger process has been rocky, as unification required that the CA, CGA, and CMA associations in each province enter into discussions, and agree to unification, on a province-by-province basis.

Earlier this year, CGA-Manitoba and the Chartered Accountants of Alberta pulled out of their respective provincial merger discussions. In recent weeks, the CGA associations representing Ontario, B.C., Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan pulled out of their respective provincial merger discussions. Notably, CGA Alberta remains in merger discussions with CMA Alberta, even though CGA Canada has pulled out of the process.

Accounting: Standing united?

All CMA provincial associations remain involved in their respective provincial merger discussions, except for CMA Ontario, which has pulled out. That appears to leave the Chartered Accountants of Ontario without a merger partner.

In Quebec, the process has been the most successful, with all three provincial bodies agreeing to unification. In fact, the Quebec government passed legislation allowing for the merger — Bill 61 — in mid-May. The new association is known as the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés (CPA) du Québec.

Leadership at both CICA and CMA Canada say that a merger is still in the best of interest of the profession and of Canadians in general.

“We believe strongly that uniting all three Canadian accounting organizations through the creation of the Canadian CPA would best protect the public by creating a common set of high ethical and practice standards and strengthen the profession’s influence and value both at home and internationally,” wrote Kevin Dancey, president and CEO of CICA, and Joy Thomas, president and CEO of CMA Canada, in a letter released jointly Monday.

“We are disappointed in the recent decisions by most CGA bodies, including CGA-Canada, to withdraw from our formal discussions. We remain open to pursuing unification with all CGA organizations.”