Bermuda's chartered accountants are no different than their international counterparts when it comes to the issues they face, said the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

"It is uncanny how we have the same problems,'' said Professor Niall Lothian BA CA FRSA, who spoke yesterday at an Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda (ICAB) quarterly luncheon at the Princess Hotel.

Bermuda CAs, like their colleagues abroad, face challenges in areas of; International accounting standards; Professional liability; and Enhancing CA status.

Bermuda can respond to these issues by "continue to attract the highest quality graduates, through rigorous education and through international networking'', he said.

"International accounting standards will come on strongly'' because the world's financial sectors know no boundaries, he said.

Chartered accountants the world over also face huge litigation costs, he added.

To illustrate the magnitude of the litigation problem, Prof. Lothian said: "The "big six'' accounting firms face litigation amounting to ten times their total capitalisation.'' He said "proportionate liability'' may be the answer to the issue.

The profession is moving forward on this issue in some jurisdictions, and the Canadian legal liability task force is an example, but not one government has changed the applicable laws, he said.

On enhancing CA status through education, Prof. Lothian said the profession has focused on the qualification stage.

"We have said let's make the hoops higher and if they can go through them let's put the hoops on fire,'' he said.

Mandatory professional development may be in the cards for accredited CAs, he said.

And CAs will also have to keep abreast of possible mergers between professional accounting associations.

Though efforts to merge six UK accounting bodies failed last year, merger talks continue between the English Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, he said.

Prof. Lothian, an Edinburgh native, has held the Chair of Accounting since 1988 at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

He conducts executive seminars and managerial briefings in many parts of the world for companies and business schools.

He has a visiting appointment at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and is a member of the International Executive Advisory Committee of the College of Finance in Budapest.

His research interests include the role of accountants in non-financial performance measurement and he is presently working on a project with Quality Scotland, looking at the costs of quality.

Prof. is one of the authors of the distance learning MBA course at Heriot-Watt University -- the largest in the world -- which was awarded a Queen's Award for Export in 1994.

He was appointed junior vice president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in 1993 and senior vice president in 1994.