First Annual Report: President's Report

By enactment of an ordinance proclaimed May 3, 1977, “the Commissioner of the Yukon Territory, by and with the advice and consent of the Council of the said Territory” constituted a corporation to be known as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Yukon Territory (ICAYT).

Since this is the first annual report of this new institute I believe some description of the circumstances and persons responsible for its creation is in order.

For some years the accounting and auditing needs and financial advice to the growing industrial and business community in the Territory have been served by representatives of established firms from British Columbia and Alberta and by a small group of local practitioners, some of whom managed local offices of “outside” firms.

Resident chartered accountants did not come under the legal jurisdiction of any provincial institute though their needs were met informally by both the B.C. and Alberta Institutes. They were to some degree in a wilderness, not subject to the rules binding other chartered accountants within the boundaries of their own provinces but, by the same token, lacking the benefits.

Because of this and growing competition from members of other professional accounting organizations, a meeting of the Yukon chartered accountants decided to seek the assistance of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia (ICABC) in their decision to incorporate. M. S. H. “Mel” Foster, then internal auditor for the Yukon Territorial Government, appealed on their behalf to the ICABC whose Council readily assented to the call for help. The president of ICABC, W. B. Laurie, assigned the task of drawing up the necessary by-laws and planning of administrative facilities to E.M. McMahon, chairman of the B.C. Institute’s Government Legislation Committee, and to J.D. Manson, B.C.’s Executive Director.

The finished documents were presented to the Commissioner of the Yukon Territory, Dr. A.M. Pearson, at a meeting in Whitehorse on July 16, 1976, attended by W.B. Laurie, J.D. Manson, D.A. Ordish, Mel foster, myself and M.E. Miller, R.I.A., Assistant Commissioner, who was most helpful throughout in guiding us to a successful conclusion with assent being given to our ordinance on December 3, 1976.

It is interesting to note here that, by agreement with ICABC, resident Yukon members and their students receive all benefits afforded B.C. members and students and all administration, including disciplinary matters, is carried out by the B.C. Institute, which also represents the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Yukon Territory at meetings of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Our inaugural meeting was held in Whitehorse on May 20, 1977, under the chairmanship of W.B. Laurie, and was followed immediately by our first Council meeting, when I had the honour to be elected President, and David Ordish, Secretary-Treasurer. R.M. Wanless and M.S.H. Foster made up the balance of our Council. J.D. Manson was appointed Executive Director.

The coloured crest which appears on the membership certificates was taken with adaptations from the official crest of the Yukon Territory, while the Husky dog which appears on our letterhead is a replica of our official seal.

We were honoured to have present at our inaugural meeting a total of 33 persons, as noted on the back page of this report, including the president of the CICA, Elvin Christenson, and W.B. Laurie, president of the ICABC.

To the 10 Founder Members, being those admitted by virtue of Section 10 (1)(a) of the Ordinance, i.e. “in good standing of any Provincial Institute being resident in or carrying on practice in whole or in part in Yukon at the coming into force of this Ordinance”, we have added 67 Charter Members, being those not qualified as Founder Members but whose applications for membership were received prior to December 31, 1977.

We look forward to continued growth as our economy develops and to the time when we will staff our own offices in the Yukon. In the meantime, I wish to thank all those who encouraged and assisted us at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and particularly those whose names appear in this report.

It has been an honour to be your first President. I thank you.