Trans-Tasman professional accounting body approved by members
01 Nov 2013
The members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA) and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) have voted to approve a proposal to merge the two bodies. The new body, to be called 'Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand' is expected to be formally constituted by April 2014 and will have over 90,000 members, and a further 17,000 provisional members.
The proposal was voted on by over 54,000 members of the antecedent bodies, with over 77% of ICAA and 69% of NZICA members approving of the merger. According to the Explanatory Memorandum circulated to members during the voting process, the proposal was driven by the impacts of globalisation, member needs and demographics, and the changes to the Chartered Accountant designation in various countries.
Both ICAA and NZICA are members of the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA), along with organisations from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. The merger follows the trans-Tasman mergers of other professional organisations and responds to Australia and New Zealand government collaboration on closer economic ties - a process that is also seeing closer harmonisation of accounting standards and business regulation between the two countries.
The move also follows similar transactions, such as the recent amalgamation of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and The Society of Management Accountants of Canada (CMA Canada) to create Chartered Professional Accountants Canada (CPA Canada) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) creating a joint venture called the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.
Click for press release (link to ICAA website).
