The corporate governance landscape in Canada

2007 from Deloitte – “The corporate governance revolution began in the United States with one piece of legislation — the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Canadian regulatory reforms have been introduced in a piecemeal fashion through separate instruments and legislation, issued at different times, and by different regulatory or legislative bodies…

CEOs and CFOs must personally certify that they have designed and overseen appropriate disclosure controls and procedures (DC&P); for 2006 annual certificates, they will also have to certify as to the design of internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR).”

180 View – There are some major compliance differences between the US and Canada. In the US, an independent auditor must attest to the effectiveness of the internal controls. This one sentence has huge implications. Testing can take more time than evaluating the design of the control. As well, the US does not allow the external auditor to do the compliance work as they are not deemed independent.