Canada was the second nation in the world to formally organize its accounting profession, after the United Kingdom, but it occurred in a fragmented manner by both locality and specialty. It would only begin to experience significant consolidation from 2012 onwards.

After some controversy in the first part of the 20th Century, it has been generally agreed that regulation of the Canadian accounting profession falls within provincial jurisdiction over matters of a local and private nature,held obiter by the Supreme Court of Canada in as well as under the provincial education power with respect to training for achieving such professional qualifications.

Timeline of Canadian accounting bodies

Creation of different specialties Chartered accountants Organization of provincial societies Demand for trained accountants arose as early as the 1840s, when the first Canadian professional accounting firms were organized in Toronto and Montreal.

The Association of Accountants in Montreal was organized as the first accounting organization in North America in 1879 (and only the fifth such organization in the world), and was incorporated by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. Ontario would follow several weeks later with the formation of the Institute of Accountants and Adjusters of Ontario, which was later incorporated as the Institute of Accountants of Ontario in 1882 under the direction of ERC Clarkson, one of the founding members of Clarkson Gordon & Co, and a key member in the growth of the accounting and insolvency an consulting industry in Canada. E.R.C. acted as a frequent advisor to the Canadian Senate in regard to the banking committee.Mackenzie, The Clarkson Gordon Story 1864-1989, (University of Toronto Press, 1989) 7 It was reconstituted as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario ("ICAO") in 1911.

As the AAM tended to have an anglophone membership, the Institute of Accountants and Auditors of the Province of Quebec was later incorporated to service growing demand within Quebec's francophone population. In 1919, the AAM began to offer admission for members of the IAAPQ.

Manitoba would be the third province to organize its chartered accountants, and it would later be instrumental in organizing similar professional bodies in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Nova Scotia organized in 1900, followed by New Brunswick in 1916S.N.B. 1916, c. 53 and Prince Edward Island in 1921.S.P.E.I. 1921, c. 25 The latter two bodies were organized in an irregular manner compared to those of other provinces, which resulted in their qualifications not being recognized by Nova Scotia until 1925, and by Quebec and Ontario until 1926.

Outside Canada, the Dominion of Newfoundland incorporated the Institute of Accountants in 1905, but was pressured to revoke statutory protection of its designation the following year. This was not reversed until Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949.

= statutory protection of CA designation = organization without statutory protection

Attempt to nationalize the profession Tensions erupted following a disciplinary hearing in 1890 held by the Institute of Accountants of Ontario into an audit conducted with respect to Confederation Life. While the action itself affirmed the importance of auditor independence, it caused a rift in the IAO membership and the resignation of several prominent members of the governing Council in 1891 including the IAO's first president Edward Rope Curzon Clarkson.

The early CA bodies, with the exception of the AAM, also started to relax their entrance requirements to allow the admission of accountants who were not in public practice. An initial effort to create a national organization in 1901 was quashed due to local opposition, but this caused a concerted effort, sponsored by the AAM, to create one that would be restricted to practicing accountants. As a result, the Dominion Association of Chartered Accountants ("DACA") was created in 1902, in an attempt to create a national status for the profession through direct entry of qualified applicants to membership. Again, the DACA saw the seminal involvement of ERC Clarkson.

Ontario passed an Act in 1908 granting the ICAO exclusive rights to the CA designation, and, on DACA's petition, the Governor in Council disallowed it in 1909, on grounds of federal paramountcy in having created a national body, as described in a memo by Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Sir Allen Aylesworth recommending the measure., A subsequent 1910 Act was disallowed for similar reasons in 1911.P.C. 610, P.C. 611 (March 24, 1911) With the mediation of the President of the British Society of Incorporated Accountants at a meeting in Chicago, the ICAO and DACA leaders subsequently reached an agreement in which DACA would be reorganized as a federation of the provincial Institutes effective from 1909. The Act was subsequently passed again in 1911, with a concession granted to accountants who were members of DACA on December 16, 1909.

DACA would become the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1951. It would expand internationally in 1973, when the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda was incorporated and subsequently obtained affiliation with the CICA.

Certified general accountants The creation of large business and governmental organizations increased the demand for accountants on their payrolls, which called for efforts to address their unique needs without the necessity of apprenticeships demanded by the CA firms. The Canadian Association of Accountants was formed in 1908, arising from a technical self-study group of accountants working at the Canadian Pacific Railway, which led to the creation of the General Accountants Association in 1913. Despite initial assurances that its members would refrain from practicing public accounting, it began advertising examinations in that field in 1917, thus triggering conflicts with the CA bodies that would last for decades.

Because of such protracted opposition, it was only in 1999 that the GAA was able to change its name to the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. Over the years, portions of its membership would be admitted into membership of other professional bodies, such as the admission into Quebec's Association of Accountants in 1920,S.Q. 1919-20, c. 118 the CGA/CA merger in Quebec in 1946, the CGA/CPA merger in 1949, and the CGA/CPA merger in Manitoba in 1950.

= statutory protection of CGA designation = organization without statutory protection

Cost and management accounting: from CA possession to the creation of RIAs and CMAs Towards the end of the First World War, several significant issues forced organizations to invest resources into the creation of cost accounting functions:

the Russian Revolution, together with worldwide labour unrest, created pressure on business organizations to demonstrate that they were earning fair returns; wartime procurement by the Imperial Munitions Board and the introduction of income tax necessitated proving the actual cost of manufacturing goods; and the high rate of postwar bankruptcies brought about by the Post–World War I recession and the Depression of 1920–21 created the need to demonstrate that the price of manufactured goods covered their cost.

In a move designed to prevent the newly created General Accountants Association from moving into that field, DACA created the Canadian Society of Cost Accountants ("CSCA"), with membership originally restricted to chartered accountants.

The CSCA would initiate efforts to standardize education in cost accounting, and entered into an affiliation agreement with the US National Association of Cost Accountants in 1922. When the CSCA tried to obtain NACA's educational materials at a more reasonable cost in 1926, NACA proposed a merger of the two organizations. This was rejected, and the affiliation was subsequently dissolved. The Society began to issue "Certificates of efficiency" in 1927 to its graduates.

In the 1930s, there would be internal tensions as to what areas of company accounting the CSCA should focus on, and, in 1939, members wishing to concentrate more on management accounting left to form the Controllers' Institute of Canada (later part of the Financial Executives Institute).

When provincial societies began to be formed in 1941, the "Registered Industrial and Cost Accountant" ("RIA") was created for its members. This initiative was generally accepted in most provinces, but there was resistance in British Columbia as the promoters of that effort were only CGAs and independent accountants. It would pass only when the enabling Act specified that the RIA designation was available only to those members who were also CAs.

The designation was simplified as "Registered Industrial Accountant" in some, but not all, provinces around 1967. It would be replaced by the Certified Management Accountant ("CMA") designation beginning in 1976, but the province-by-province implementation would be completed only in 1985.

= Licentiate of the Cost and Management Institute ("LCMI") = Registered Industrial and Cost Accountant/Registered Industrial Accountant "(RIA") = Registered Management Accountant ("RMA") = Certified Management Accountant ("CMA")

Certified public accountants: the first CPAs The first Canadian CPA designation arose from several parallel moves:

In Quebec, the Licentiate in Accountancy was first granted by McGill University in 1918, which was granted statutory recognition as a professional designation in 1920. It was subsequently replaced by "Certified Public Accountant" in 1927. In English Canada, the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors was formed in 1918 and incorporated in 1919 by members of the GAA. It would become the United Accountants and Auditors of Canada in 1920, conferring the "United Accountant" ("UA") designation. It would later engage in a failed attempt to take over the GAA. In Ontario, the UAs (formed mainly from accountants and auditors working in government tax offices) were successful in obtaining statutory recognition as the Association of Accountants and Auditors. The designation originated as LA (Licentiate in Accountancy) during 19261931, changing to IPA (Incorporated Public Accountant) during 19311936, before becoming CPA.

The CPAs subsequently gained statutory recognition in most, but not all, provinces. Because of CA opposition in Nova Scotia, it was only able to use the designation of "Registered Public Accountant".

The Quebec CPAs were forced to merge with the ICAPQ in 1946 upon the reorganization of the Quebec profession.S.Q. 1946, c. 47, s. 14 In 1962, the CAs and CPAs agreed to merge nationally, and the remaining provincial CPA bodies either dissolved or became dormant.

= Member of General Accountants Association = Licentiate in Accountancy = Incorporated Public Accountant = Certified Public Accountant = Registered Public Accountant = organization without statutory protection = organization dormant after CA/CPA merger

Accredited public accountants The "International Society of Commerce" ("ISC") was first noted in an advertisement in Hamilton, Ontario, as early as 1921, and its members were conferred with the designation of "Accredited Public Accountant" ("APA"). The ISC, located in Winnipeg, formed the "Institute of Accredited Public Accountants" in 1938, which was federally incorporated in 1946. It initially attempted to organize a provincial institute in British Columbia in 1937, but failed to receive legislative approval.

When Quebec consolidated the auditing profession in 1946, APAs in the province who had practiced accounting continuously from 1942 received statutory recognition in Quebec. The APA designation later received statutory protection in New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.