The planned unification of much of Canada’s accounting profession is in doubt after groups representing Quebec accountants called off merger talks.

The Ordre des comptables agréés (CA), the Ordre des comptables généraux licenciés (CGA) and the Ordre des comptables en management accrédités (CMA) du Québec today agreed to end the formal talks initiated recently and to discontinue all the steps taken since January 2004
to unify the accounting profession in Quebec.

A vote on the issue, which was scheduled to take place in the fall, has been cancelled.

While most members of the three professional orders reacted favourably to the general principle of unification, a number of reservations were expressed during the Town Hall meetings about various terms and conditions and specific aspects of the proposal in its current form.

The strongest reservations concerned, in particular, the single professional designation proposed for current members of the three orders.

“We are pleased that CGA-Québec will remain within the CGA family in Canada,” says CGA-Canada Chair John Nagy. “Within Quebec, there is tremendous pride in the CGA designation and this pride will continue to support the growth of the association in the future. The cancelled merger means business as usual for CGAs in Québec and across the country.”

The merger option was initially explored because, among other reasons, CGAs in Quebec wanted to achieve full public practice rights. Now that the merger will not take place, CGA-Canada will continue to move forward to support this effort on behalf of its 62,000 members and students nationwide.

The cancellation of the three-way Québec merger takes place as discussions for a nation-wide merger between the CA and CMA designations remain underway.