Accounting Bodies Divided Over Changes to Internal Control Reporting Requirements

In an article that appeared in Vol. 22, No. 6 of the Bottom Line, Gundi Jeffrey discusses the different reaction of the three accounting bodies — CAs, CMAs and CGAs — to the withdrawal of CSA Multilateral Instrument 52-111, Reporting on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, and the accompanying expansion of MI 52-109, Certification of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual and Interim Filings.

As discussed in previous issues of the PolicyPro Bulletin, these proposed changes remove the requirement for public companies to obtain a report on management’s assessment of control over financial reporting from an external auditor. Because this work would have been the domain of CAs, they are disappointed. On the other hand, CMAs, who typically work within these public companies, are delighted by the prospect of taking on more responsibility for the assessment of the integrity of their organizations’ internal controls over financial reporting.

For the full version of Gundi Jeffrey’s excellent article, click here.

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Update on Bill C-37: An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act

Bill C-37: An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act, will come into force on June 30th. This Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on December 13th, 2004 and received Royal Assent on November 25th, 2005 is aimed at curbing the worst aspects of telemarketing. It establishes a national do not call list and gives the CRTC power to directly impose penalties for contraventions of the Act.

The Bill has been controversial throughout its legislative journey, because it has undergone significant revisions in committee in response to submissions by interested groups, particularly the Canadian Marketing Association. As a result of these submissions, the original Bill has been amended to exempt the following from inclusion on a national do not call list:

• Calls by or on behalf of registered charities
• Calls by or on behalf of a registered political party, an association of members of a political party, or a nomination contestant, leadership contestant or a candidate of a political party
• Calls for the sole purpose of soliciting newspaper subscriptions
• Calls for the sole purpose of collecting information for a public survey
• Calls to a person with whom the caller has an “existing business relationship”, and who has not requested to be removed from the caller’s call list

An existing business relationship is defined as a business relationship that has been formed by a voluntary two-way communication between the person responsible for the call and the person called, where:

• The person called has purchased, leased, or rented any products or services from the caller within an 18-month period prior to the date of the call,
• The person called has made an inquiry or application in respect of a product or service offered by the person responsible for the call within a 6-month period prior to the date or the call, or
• There is a written contract between the person called and the person responsible for the call that is currently in existence or that has expired within an 18-month period prior to the date of the call.

However, these exempted callers must:

• Identify the purpose of their call
• Identify the person or organization on whose behalf the call is being made
• Maintain their own do not call list to ensure that no call is made to a person who has asked to be placed on that list

The Bill allows the CRTC to impose fines for violations of the Act. Individuals would be subject to a penalty of up to $1500 for each offending call. Corporations would be liable for a maximum fine of $15,000 per call.

Chapter 6 – Sales and Marketing in Operations and Marketing PolicyPro contains policies and procedures that cover sales training, marketing execution and follow up.

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July 1st is fast approaching, and businesses are scrambling to implement the 1% GST/HST rate reduction announced in the federal budget.

Unfortunately, the budget (as it often does) addressed a few of the implementation issues around the rate reduction, but left many questions unanswered.

Accordingly, the Canada Revenue Agency has set up a comprehensive online FAQ (frequently asked questions) database to prepare businesses and individuals with the information they need.

The more than 100 FAQs are divided into four sections:

• Information for Business
• Information for Consumers
• Real Property
• First Nations

Click here to access the FAQs.

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KPMG Forensic has published the first issue of At Risk magazine. As noted in the introduction of the issue, KPMG Forensic (part of KPMG’s Advisory Services) is “in the business of dealing with issues where facts, people, and organizations do not agree, or where financial or other business-related behaviour may not comply with expectations.” Accordingly, the focus of the magazine is aptly described by its subtitle: “Business in a world of fraud, litigation and deceit”.

Articles in the Summer 2006 issue include:

• Has the Sarbanes-Oxley Act improved fraud prevention and detection?
• Forewarned is forearmed: Integrity due diligence can help you avoid pitfalls of investing in developing markets
• E-Discovery: The new guidelines
• Offshoring: The dangers of welcoming fraudsters into your business

Click here for a PDF version of the Summer 2006 issue of At Risk.

For more information on Risk Management see Volume II — Corporate Governance in Finance and Accounting PolicyPro.

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In this article, employment lawyers Malcolm MacKillop and Laurie Jessome with the firm Hodgson Shields DesBrisay O'Donnell MacKillop Squire LLP of Toronto discuss ten common missteps their clients make when preparing human resources policy manuals.

As the authors note: “human resources policy manuals can (and should) be an important means of communicating with your employees and managing their workplace activities – if they are written and applied correctly. However, if they are not designed and implemented correctly, they can make a problematic discipline or termination situation even worse.”

Click here for the full text of this valuable article.

The PolicyPro library currently includes Human Resources PolicyPro – BC Edition and Human Resources PolicyPro – Ontario Edition.

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We are pleased to announce that a new chapter: Chapter 8 — Document and Data Control will be added to Operations and Marketing PolicyPro (OMPP) starting with the June release.

Document and data control includes all activities associated with developing, accessing, reviewing, revising, approving, issuing and archiving documents, data and software. Establishing a robust, consistent and repeatable process to handle documents and data is important to ensure quality in your products and the processes used to produce them, and to reduce your exposure to risk and liability. This chapter provides a framework for developing and maintaining a range of documents, including communications, specifications, requirements, descriptions, instructions, procedures, contracts, standards, manuals, reports and plans.

Not having a workable document and data control process can lead to confusion and even harm. Variations in documents can result in contradictory processes. One of the objectives of a documentation and data control system is to provide consistency in an organization’s overall direction and operational standards, and to serve as a quality-management roadmap.

The June release includes the chapter overview, and policy 8.01 – Document Development. Additional policies in this chapter will be issued in the remaining 2006 OMPP releases.

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Editor: Colin Braithwaite, Managing Editor – PolicyPro.

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PolicyPro Bulletin ISSN: 1718-5866 Copyright ©2006, First Reference Inc., All Rights Reserved.