Sunday News Roundup 25.05.25: CPA Ontario dues, CPAs on AI in HBR online, and more Canadian accounting news

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TORONTO, May 25, 2025 – This past week saw some discussion on social media regarding the issue of CPA Ontario annual membership dues (AMD) following the regulatory body’s split from CPA Canada. Many chartered professional accountants in Ontario wondered whether they would be paying lower fees following the provincial split from the national organization. The answer is complicated. 

According to its website, members of CPA Ontario will pay $820 plus applicable taxes, which comes to $926.60, as of the payment deadline on June 1, 2025. By comparison, a typical member of CPA BC, according to its website, will pay $1,107.75 in total, which includes $655 to CPA BC, plus $400 to CPA Canada, plus applicable taxes. 

Some members of CPA Ontario, according to social media posts, received a message from CPA Canada President and CEO Pamela Steer, titled “Ontario CPAs: Are You Getting What You Paid More For?” It noted that “when CPA Ontario announced its withdrawal from CPA Canada, it promised ‘you will notice a significant cost reduction reflected in your annual membership dues.’ Instead, your costs are rising—and your access to national programs, thought leadership, and the international CPA community has been disrupted.” 

According to CPA Canada, chartered professional accountants in Ontario paid $980 in 2023, which covered both CPA Ontario and CPA Canada annual fees. “In 2025, you’ll pay $820—but that goes entirely to CPA Ontario.” For its part, CPA Ontario states: “Your CPA Ontario AMD now includes funds previously collected on behalf of CPA Canada to support standard setting.” 

We invite CPAs to tell us how they feel about the new fee structure — and the message from CPA Canada — by contacting us directly by email or by leaving comments in the comment section below. 

PCAOB to be abolished in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”

In a razor-thin vote after a dramatic all-night session, the US House of Representatives passed President Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget package this past week. If you’re so inclined, you can read its fine print online, as we did, but suffice it to say that the US audit watchdog will be folded into the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As Lynn Turner summarizes succinctly: “The bill provides no funding for the operations of the PCAOB once folded into the SEC — thus effectively putting the PCAOB out of business.” 

We’ve been clear about where we stand on the issue. But there is a interesting argument, put forth by audit industry pundits such as Francine McKenna, that the Big Four is an oligolopy that depends upon the compliance regime of audit regulators to create cost barriers to smaller firms hoping enter the audit market. It's an interesting contrarian argument and we shall see if that holds true in the coming years. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it's expected to receive a rougher ride, but is likely to pass nevertheless. 

CPAs co-author AI article in HBR

Have you read the most recent Harvard Business Review? In it, you find an article on artificial intelligence and governance authored by four university professors, two of whom are chartered professional accountants, titled “AI Is Great at Routine Tasks. Here’s Why Boards Should Resist Using It.” 

By interviewing 27 board of director chairs at public corporations, the researchers identified a risk of implementing AI within strategic roles of organizations. They provide a practical solution in the form of a framework for boards of directors to consider when implementing AI around strategic personnel (c-suite, board chairs, etc.), so they can increase their probability of successful enhancement for the organization when moving forward with AI.

Warning signs for the accounting profession over private equity

Not a week goes by without news of another accounting firm getting snapped up somewhere in the world by private equity. This week, it was UK mid-market accounting firm Xeinadin, which has been on an acquisition tear since partnering with private equity, and is now gearing up to be sold itself during a wave of investor interest in professional services firms. 

But this article from the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago caught our eye: In “Doctors Warn Accountants of Private-Equity Drain on Quality: You Could Be Next,” early opponents of corporate influence in healthcare say they see parallels in another “trusted profession”: accounting. 

“Don’t make our same mistakes,” say two former longtime emergency-room physicians. What came as a surprise, even to us, is that, according to the WSJ, “Roughly two dozen of the 100 largest U.S. accounting firms have either sold an ownership stake to private-equity investors or been acquired by a firm that has done so since 2021.” 

As stated by CPA Ontario, however: “Firms are reminded of the registration requirements in Ontario that do not permit private equity structures. Regulations in the United States and the United Kingdom require audit firms to be majority controlled by CPAs. In Ontario, regulations require 100% CPA ownership ...” 

One does wonder if such provincial regulations might change in Canada under pressure from private equity, which includes some of the most powerful pension plan asset managers in the country, from the Canada Pension Plan to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to even Mark Carney’s old firm, Brookfield Asset Management, as the sector looks for higher returns in an unstable stock market.

Quick Hits: Articles of Interest  

Canadian

Canada’s new tax plan could be a startup funding boon (The Logic)
New pact creates 'value-added opportunity' for Georgian accounting grads
Trump's new bill builds a bigger tax burden for Canadian portfolios (Wealth Professional)
Canada Revenue Agency confirms 280 job cuts, mostly in capital region (Ottawa Citizen)
Federal public service shrinks for 1st time in a decade (CBC)
Removal of Canada’s Carbon Tax Knocks CPI Growth Down (Conference Board of Canada)
Canadian business groups press Ottawa on digital tax as U.S. bill targets investors (Globe and Mail)
Canada’s canola farmers stand to gain from U.S. tax breaks for clean fuel (Globe and Mail)
Doane Grant Thornton Foundation donates $1M to support A Dollar A Day Foundation (Press Release) 

International

Audit watchdog vows to speed up probes into mistakes by firms (The Telegraph)
PwC Layoffs Signal Uncertainty as Firms Take Stock of Economy (Bloomberg Tax)
Accountants get their kicks from new football numbers drama (Financial News)
EY faces $2.7bn lawsuit over alleged audit failures (International Accounting Bulletin)
By the numbers: Class actions, SEC audit clients and more (Accounting Today)

By Canadian Accountant staff.