Findings

CAs LEAD LARGE

CAs play a leadership role in many Canada's largest companies. Each year the CICA reviews the positions of chair, CEO, president, CFO, COO and corporate secretary at companies in the Globe and Mail's Report on Business 1,000 (ROB) magazine: to determine how many top spots are held by CAs.

In 2005, 61% of the ROB 1,000 companies had at least one CA in these six positions, comparable to last year's 62% and 59% in 2003. The results also indicate 23% of officers holding one of these positions at ROB 1,000 companies are CAs, an increase from last year (22%).

Of the top six positions, the CA designation is most valued for the CFO position (58%), suggesting CAs are becoming more critical in this role. The percentage of CFOs who are CAs has also risen steadily over the past five years. Companies that have a CA as the CFO were rewarded with better performance and outperformed other companies on several key measures such as return on equity, return on capital and return on assets.

While the CFO position is the one most likely to be held by CAs, the ROB 1,000 companies also list 12.6% of CAs as chairs, 9.8% as CEOs, 10% as presidents, 17% as corporate secretaries and 8.2% as COOs.

[Author Affiliation]

John Tabone is CICA's manager of innovation