high-quality Bermudian students into the profession.

This is according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Bermuda's new president Jim Hindess, who told the Gazette yesterday of his aims for the association in the year to come.

"We hope to attract more Bermudians as members, and one way of doing this is through the education system,'' said Mr. Hindess, a partner in Ernst and Young.

Mr. Hindess, a Canadian who has lived in Bermuda since 1975, said that members of the institute considered bringing more locals into the profession their biggest challenge for the year to come.

The 45-year-old father of three said: "The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda (ICAB) has a membership of over 650, and of that total membership less than 200 are Bermudians. Last year only 16 Bermudian students wrote the CA exams.

"It is clear there are tremendous opportunities for young Bermudians in the profession and we want to make it more attractive to them.'' Mr. Hindess said bringing in Bermudians to chartered accountancy was ICAB's -- the professional body which represents the Island's chartered accountants and certified public accountants -- top priority for the new millennium.

And he believes a new qualification process developed with the Canadians will help attract more Bermudians to the profession.

The programme, currently being finalised, will mean that while it will still take three years to qualify, exams will be staggered and will not rely entirely on a single set of examinations at the end of the 3-year term.

"Kids graduating looking at the options find the chartered accountants qualification process quite severe, and many were opting for MBAs. A few years ago in Canada there were 4,800 students, now there are more in the region of 2,800,'' said Mr. Hindess.

"The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) decided to revamp its education process and make it more user-friendly.'' The review started in 1996 and is due to be completed this autumn. Bermudian chartered accountants have been involved in the changing curriculum because of a reciprocal agreement between the two countries. In fact Bermuda is considered, in terms of the CICA, the eleventh province of Canada.

"My hope is that it will make the process of becoming a chartered accountant less daunting to graduates willing to enter the programme and see the fruit of their labour more easily.'' The new programme will involve an exam at the end of the first year on subjects such as auditing, accounting and tax. It'll allow the person to move into a more attractive specialised field such as finance, tax, computers.

Changes: ICAB's new president Jim Hindess is hoping to attract more Bermudians to the accounting profession.