Members Handbook Revisions

The ICAY Member's Handbook is updated regularly to include:

1. Amendments to Bylaws approved by the Membership at the Annual General Meeting; and
2. Amendments to Bylaw Regulations approved by Council during a year.

The year of change to the Member's Handbook materials is noted in [brackets] following the respective section.

The following is a summary of the most recent changes:

Approved by membership at AGM on 5 June 2009:

Parts Y2 and Y7 of the bylaws – Amended to enhance the sharing of information with other provincial institutes of Chartered Accountants.

Bylaw Y601 and Y702 – Amended to reflect the change in committee composition for the Practice Review and Licensing Committee and the Professional Conduct Enquiry Committee.

Bylaw Regulation Y224/2 – Amended to remove having Executive Committee members as ex-officio members on any committees.

Bylaw Regulation Y1011/1 – Amended to remove requirement for at least one Council member to serve on the Professional Development Review Committee.

Approved by membership at AGM on June 20, 2008:

Bylaw Y332 amended to remove the requirement for resigning members who have lost their membership certificate to provide a formally sworn affidavit explaining why the certificate is unavailable. Instead, resigning members will be able to provide a declaration in a form established by Council.

Parts Y7 and Y8 of bylaws amended to reflect changes made to the Bylaws of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia providing for the inclusion of at least three individuals who are not members of the BC Institute on the its Discipline Tribunal (i.e. "public representatives").

As the Yukon Institute will continue to retain the services of the BC Institute's Discipline Tribunal, a public representative will now be included on every Panel of the Discipline Tribunal that is constituted to conduct a disciplinary hearing under Part Y8 of the bylaws, and on every "Review Panel" of the Discipline Tribunal that is appointed under Part Y7 to provide a binding opinion concerning a determination and recommendation made by the Professional Conduct Enquiry Committee.

Approved by Council in December 2007:

To take effect January 1, 2008

Part 10 of bylaw regulations - amended to reflect new continuing professional development requirements. Effective January 1, 2008, the minimum annual requirement moves from 14 hours to 20, 10 of which must be verifiable. For the three-year cycle, the hours increase to 120 from 70, of which only 60 must be verifiable.

Approved by membership at AGM on June 22, 2007

To take effect September 1, 2007

At the June 22, 2007 AGM, members endorsed Council's commitment to expand the CA experience guidelines. The changes to the bylaws and bylaw regulations are principally aimed at allowing students to satisfy their experience requirement while working in a broader environment-either in industry or the public sector, or outside assurance/audit in public practice.

Approved by membership at AGM on June 23, 2006:

• Bylaw Y694 – Amended to allow Council to prescribe a fee for members or licensed firms requesting a binding opinion on practice review and licensing matters.
  
  
• Part Y7 of Bylaws – Amended to update the binding opinion process, and add the new option of referring the matter back to the Professional Conduct Enquiry Committee to consider new information.

Approved by Council on September 9, 2004:

• Bylaw Regulation Y250 - Amended to increase the minimum levels of professional liability insurance coverage to be carried by every member practising public accounting effective April 1, 2005.

Approved by Membership at AGM on June 4, 2004 and by Council on June 4, 2004:

• Bylaw Y100 - Amended to defer inclusion of "forensic accounting, financial investigation and financial litigation support" in the bylaws definition of the practice of public accounting until a later date to be determined by Council.
  
  
• Bylaws Y704, Y731 to Y732 - Under Y700, the Yukon Institute retains the services of the BC Institute's Professional Conduct Enquiry Committee (PCEC). Accordingly, these bylaws are amended to mirror the changes to the voting protocols on the BC Institute's PCEC with respect to the public representatives. It is now required that at least two public representatives agree where:
  
  
  1. after the appropriate investigation of a complaint, the committee determines that no grounds exist for the complaint and it should be dismissed and the file closed; or
     
     
  2. after determining that grounds exist to support a breach of our rules or bylaws, the committee recommends that the member accept one or more confidential sanctions (known as a Determination & Recommendation), instead of the more onerous and serious public sanction of referring the complaint to the Discipline Tribunal for a hearing.

Approved by Membership at AGM on May 30, 2003 and by Council on May 30, 2003

• Bylaw 100 - The effective date of the inclusion of "forensic accounting, financial investigation or financial litigation support service" in the definition of the "Practice of Public Accounting" has been deferred until July 1, 2004.
• Bylaws 1001 and 1003 and related Bylaw Regulations - Expands the requirement for continuing professional development to include all members, not just members in public practice.
• Bylaw Regulation 240/2 - Amended to change the effective date for the levying of late penalty charges.
• Bylaw Regulation 301/7 - Posting notices of application for readmission or admission by affiliation eliminated. The Membership Committee will post a list of membership changes monthly in the Members Only section of the Institute's website for information purposes.
• Part 5 of Bylaw Regulations related to Voting Procedures - Amended to allow for voting by electronic means.