The adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in Canada will have a major impact on reporting standards for Bermuda firms, the new president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), Kevin Dancey FCA said.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda (ICAB) hosted the visit of the new CEO last week.

In his role at CICA, he is directly involved in issues of the profession not only in Canada, but globally. CICA has recently joined a new international body (The Global Accounting Alliance ? GAA) representing Institutes in most of the international capital markets.

?International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will replace Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) over the next five years,? Mr. Dancey said.

He said the industry is also introducing mandatory professional liability insurance, mandatory continued professional development and is improving the consistency of disciplinary procedures.

CICA, together with the provincial CA (Chartered Accountant) institutes, represents approximately 70,000 CAs and 8,500 students in Canada and Bermuda.

A large majority of Bermuda firms use Canadian GAAP so the change in reporting standards will have direct effect on reporting standards followed in Bermuda.

?This represents a significant change and will be a major transition,? he said. ?In Canada we felt that we had to adopt global standards of financial reporting.?

International Financial Reporting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are becoming more and more significant to Canadian companies, their auditors and their investors.

IASB is also working closely with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the US toward the convergence of existing US and international standards.

?ICAB is an active affiliate of the CICA and with Bermuda being a major International centre, this development could be significant to the island.?

The profession has undertaken several new strategic changes in its role of protecting the public interest.

Mr. Dancey, who was CEO and Canadian senior partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada, attended the monthly ICAB Council meeting held last Thursday afternoon and ICAB Bermuda exchanged its view of the profession with Mr. Dancey.

ICAB Council chairman Tom Conyers said: ?Financial reporting and business is complicated and reporting standards for the insurance industry is also complicated. Making one global standard is big step to simplicity.?

Mr. Conyers said the growth of the reinsurance industry in Bermuda has meant that public accounting firms are under a big strain to meet the demand for qualified and trained resources to comply with rules such as Sarbanes Oxley and how to evaluate internal controls and report.

?There is a great career ahead for Bermudians entering this profession on the Island and obtain training and experience as good as anywhere else in the world,? he added.