Introduction to The Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Overview
The Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) was founded in 1988. The CICPA exercises the management and service functions by virtue of the powers vested by the Law of the People¡¯s Republic of China on Certified Public Accountants, the Charter of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the relevant laws and regulations.
The missions of the CICPA are: providing services to its members, monitoring the service quality and professional ethics of members, regulating the CPA profession according to relevant laws, and coordinating the relationship within and beyond the CPA profession. That is, with the construction of professional credibility and integrity as its guiding principle, CICPA is devoted to provide services to its members; to monitor the service quality and professional ethics of members; to regulate the CPA profession according to relevant laws; to coordinate the relationship within and beyond the CPA profession; to protect the interests of the general public and the legitimate rights of the CICPA members; and to promote the healthy development of the CPA profession.
As at 31 May 2006, CICPA has more than 5,600 group members (accounting firms), over 140,000 individual members, among whom about 69,700 are practicing members and over 70,000 are non-practicing members. The total revenue of the whole profession in 2005 exceeded RMB 18 billion.
CICPA became a member of the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in October 1996 and May 1997 respectively. Currently, CICPA is a member of the IFAC Board and CAPA Executive Committee, and has developed friendly cooperation and communication with more than 50 professional accounting bodies in other jurisdictions.
The highest authority of the CICPA is the National Assembly of Delegates, through which the Council was elected. The Executive Committee exercises the powers and duties of the Council when the Council is not in session. The secretariat is the execution office of the CICPA.
Main Functions and Responsibilities
To examine and approve applications for CICPA membership, regulate its members, and give guidance to the local institutes of CPAs on membership registration;
To formulate professional standards and rules for CPAs, and monitor and review their implementation;
To organize annual reviews of CPA qualification, and the practices of the CPAs and accounting firms;
To lay down self-regulatory rules of the profession and discipline those members who have violated the self-regulatory rules;
To organize National Uniform CPA Examinations;
To organize and promote training activities for members;
To organize professional exchanges, conduct theoretical researches and provide technical support;
To give publicity to the CPA profession;
To coordinate the relationship within and beyond the CPA profession, encourage CPAs to adhere to the laws in conducting their practice and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of members;
To represent the China CPA profession in carrying out international co-operations and exchanges;
To give guidance to the work of local CPA institutes;
To conduct other relevant work stipulated by laws and regulations, and entrusted or authorized by government agencies.
Members
Group Members: Accounting firms established under the law shall become group members of the CICPA.
Individual Members: Persons who have passed the National Uniform CPA Examination and whose membership application has been approved, or those who have been qualified through the former evaluation procedures, shall become individual members of the CICPA. Individual members are classified into practicing members and non-practicing members. Practicing members are those who have obtained the CPA practicing certificate in accordance with the laws.
Honorary Members: Persons who have made great contributions to the CPA profession and are well-known at home or abroad may be awarded honorary membership upon the recommendation from the relevant parties and approval by the Council.
Organizational Structure
National Assembly of Delegates
The National Assembly of Delegates is the highest authority of the CICPA. The Assembly meets every five years.
Its major powers are: to formulate and amend the Charter of the CICPA; to elect the members of CICPA Council; to discuss and determine the policies and tasks of the CICPA; to review and approve the work report of the Council; to formulate and revise the regulatory rules relating to CICPA annual membership dues; and to discuss other matters submitted by the Council to the Assembly for consideration.
Council and Executive Committee
The National Assembly of Delegates shall elect members to form the Council. The term of office of the council members is five years. Retiring Council members are eligible for re-election and can serve for more than one term. Council meeting shall be held once a year.
The Council shall be responsible to the National Assembly of Delegates. Its responsibilities are: to propose the convening of the National Assembly of Delegates; to elect members of the Executive Committee; to elect the members of the leadership team; to appoint the chief of the Secretariat; to co-opt or replace Council members; to review the structure of the Secretariat; to consider and approve the annual work report of the Secretariat; to discuss and approve the report on revenues and expenditures of the annual membership dues; and to manage other matters under its ambit.
The Council elects a President, a certain number of Vice Presidents and Executive Directors. The Executive Committee exercises the powers and duties of the Council when the Council is not in session.
As the head of the CICPA, the President shall convene and chair the Council meetings and the Executive Committee meetings, and supervise and examine the implementation of their resolutions.
Special Committees and Professional Committees
Special committees are special working organs assisting the Council to discharge its responsibilities. Professional committees take charge of the professional and technical problems encountered during the development of the profession. The Special Committees and the Professional Committees are accountable to the Council. The plan for setting up, revising and drawing up of specific duties and operational rules of the Special and Professional Committees, as well as the appointment and dismissal of the members of the committees, will be put forward by the Secretary General of the CICPA for Council¡¯s approval.
Currently, the CICPA has seven Special Committees and one Professional Committee including the Auditing Standards Committee, the Disciplinary Committee, the Appeal Committee, the Rights and Interests Safeguarding Committee, the Education and Training Committee, the Finance Committee, the Editorial Committee of The Chinese Certified Public Accountant and the Professional Advisory Committee.
Execution Office
The CICPA establishes a secretariat, which is its execution office.
The Secretariat is responsible for implementing the resolutions and decisions made by the Assembly of Delegates, the Council and the Executive Committee. It is also in charge of the daily operation of the CICPA.
The CICPA has a Secretary General and several Deputy Secretary Generals. The Secretary General takes charge of the daily operation of the Secretariat.
Local CPA Institutes
The CPA institutes of a province, an autonomous region or a municipality directly under the central government are local organizations of the CICPA. The Charter of Local Institutes of CPAs shall be formulated by the local Assembly of Delegates in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations, and reported to the CICPA and competent authorities of the local governments for records.
Division of the Secretariat
Administrative Office
Examination Department (Office of the CPA Examination Committee of the Ministry of Finance)
Registration Department
Continuing Professional Education Department
Supervision Department
Professional Standards Department
Research and Development Department
International Affairs Department
Finance Department
Editorial Department
Information Technology Department
Human Resources Department
Service Department
Address: 6th Floor, Guangyuan Building, 5 Guangyuanzha, Haidian District,
Beijing China
Post Code: 100081
Tel: (8610) 68721166
Fax: (8610) 68483041
Website: http://www.cicpa.org.cn
Statistics of Accounting Firms & Practicing Certified Public Accountants (As at May 31, 2006) Size:[53759]