Supreme Court of Canada
Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec v. Goulet, [1981] 1 S.C.R. 295
Date: 1981-04-06
Order of Chartered
Accountants of Quebec Appellant;
and
Gilles Goulet Respondent;
1981: March 12; 1981: April 6.
Present: Martland, Beetz, Estey, McIntyre
and Lamer JJ.
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR
QUEBEC
Law of professions—Chartered accountant and
licensed general accountant—“Acting in such a way as to lead to the
belief”—Information wording—Professional Code, 1973 (Que.), c. 43, ss. 32,
37(b)—Chartered Accountants Act, 1973 (Que.), c. 64, s. 24.
Respondent was prosecuted under the Summary
Convictions Act and s. 32 of the Professional Code. He was a
member of the Professional Corporation of Licensed General Accountants of Quebec, and was charged with acting in such
a way as to indicate that he was authorized to engage in public accountancy by
attaching to financial statements a letter suggesting that he was a public
accountant. In appellant’s submission, s. 24 of the Chartered
Accountants Act reserves the right to engage in public accountancy
exclusively to members of the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec. Respondent maintained that
para. (b) of s. 37 of the Professional Code allows
him to do so in matters involving industrial or commercial accounting services.
Respondent was found guilty in the Court of
Sessions of the Peace but acquitted by first the Superior Court and then the
Court of Appeal.
Held: The
appeal should be dismissed.
There is no need in the case at bar for this
Court to pronounce upon the interpretation to be given to the
sections determining the respective legal limits of professional activity
of chartered accountants and certified general accountants, since respondent
should in any case be acquitted in view of the nature of the information and of
the evidence. Neither the content of the letters written by respondent and the
fact that he attached them to financial statements, nor the fact that he
admitted he was not a member of the Order of Chartered Accountants and that he
had been paid amounted on his part to acting in such a way as to lead to the
belief that he was authorized to practise public accountancy. A person may very
well engage in public accountancy without thereby acting in such a way as to
lead to the belief that he is authorized to do so, and in the case at bar the
[Page 296]
charge was not of having engaged in public
accountancy, but of acting in such a way as to lead to the belief that he was
authorized to do so.
APPEAL from a decision of the Court of Appeal
of Quebec affirming a judgment
of the Superior Court and reversing a decision of the Court of Sessions of the
Peace. Appeal dismissed.
Bernard Roy, for the appellant.
Marcel Rivest, for the respondent.
English version of the judgment of the Court delivered
by
LAMER J.—This appeal is from a judgment of the
Court of Appeal of Quebec
dismissing the appeal brought by the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec against a judgment of a justice of
the Superior Court, sitting in appeal under the Summary Convictions Act of
Quebec, R.S.Q. 1964, c. 35. In
that judgment, the Superior Court justice acquitted respondent, whom a judge of
the Court of Sessions of the Peace had found guilty on two charges, the content
of which is essentially the same. It will suffice for the purposes of this
appeal to reproduce here only one of these charges, indicating in parentheses
those elements which vary from one information to the other:
[TRANSLATION] (On or about May 31, 1975)
acted in such a way as to lead to the belief that he was authorized to engage
in a professional activity reserved to the members of the Professional
Corporation of Chartered Accountants of Quebec, which is not permitted by law,
by attaching to the financial statements which he prepared for (Ste‑Anne
Barbecue, in Ste-Anne de Beaupré) a letter suggesting that he is a public
accountant, contrary to and in breach of the provisions of s. 32 of the
Professional Code …
These charges were laid and decided in
accordance with the Summary Convictions Act and in light of s. 32
of the Professional Code, 1973 (Que.), c. 43:
No person
shall claim in any manner to be an advocate, notary, physician, dentist,
pharmacist, optometrist, veterinary surgeon, agrologist, architect, engineer,
land‑surveyor, forest engineer, chemist, chartered accountant,
radiological technician, dental technician, dispensing optician, chiropractor,
hearing-aid acoustician, podiatrist or nurse, or use any title which may lead
to the belief that he is one, or engage in a professional activity
[Page 297]
reserved to the members of a
professional corporation, claim to have the right
to do so or act in such a way as to lead to the belief that he is authorized
to do so, unless he holds a valid, appropriate permit and is entered on the
roll of the corporation empowered to issue the permit, unless it is allowed by
law. (Emphasis is mine.)
Appellant argues that the evidence showed that
the accused, a certified general accountant, and a member of the Professional
Corporation of Licensed General Accountants of Quebec, acted in such a way as
to indicate that he was authorized to engage in public accountancy and
therefore in breach of the Code; in appellant’s submission, s. 24 of the Chartered
Accountants Act, 1973 (Que.), c. 64, reserves exclusively to members of the
Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec the right to engage in public
accountancy. Respondent pleads that para. (b) of s. 37
of the Professional Code allows him to do so in matters involving
industrial or commercial accounting services.
Respondent further argues that, even if this
Court concludes that he was not entitled to engage in industrial or commercial
public accountancy, he should nonetheless be acquitted in view of the nature of
the information and of the evidence in the case at bar.
With this latter submission, I agree; as a
result, that issue no longer arises and there is therefore no need for this
Court to pronounce upon the interpretation to be given to the
sections determining the respective legal limits of professional activity
of chartered accountants and certified general accountants.
For the purposes of this appeal, therefore, it
will suffice to cite ss. 24 and 19 of the Chartered Accountants Act and
s. 37 of the Professional Code:
24. Subject
to the rights and privileges expressly granted by law to other professionals,
no person may practise public accountancy unless he is a chartered accountant.
…
19.
Engagement by a person, for remuneration, in the art or science of accountancy
or in the auditing of books or accounts and the offer of his services to the
public for
[Page 298]
such purposes constitutes the practice of
public accountancy.
However, a person does not practise public
accountancy within the meaning of this act if he acts exclusively as a
book-keeper, provided that if he offers his services to the public, he
advertises only as a book-keeper.
…
37. Every
person entered on the roll of one of the following professional corporations
may engage in the following professional activities in addition to those
otherwise allowed him by law:
(a) …
(b) the Professional
Corporation of Certified General Accountants of Quebec: perform book-keeping and industrial or commercial accounting
services;
Assuming, without deciding the point, the
appellant is correct in interpreting these provisions as denying to certified
general accountants the right to engage in public accountancy, the question
when considered in light of the charge is whether the content of the letters
written by respondent and the fact that he attached them to financial
statements amounted on his part to acting “in such a way as to lead to the
belief that he [was] authorized to” (Professional Code, supra, s. 32)
“practise public accountancy” (Chartered Accountants Act, supra, s. 24).
It is convenient to reproduce both of these
letters here:
[TRANSLATION]
Gilles
Goulet
CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT
Tel: 827-2298
9497 boul. Ste-Anne, Ste-Anne de Beaupré, Que.
GOA 3C0
Accountant’s
remarks
Ste-Anne
Texaco Service Enr.
Messrs. Claude Cloutier and
Gilbert Gagnon, prop.
9698 Boul. Ste-Anne
Ste-Anne de Beaupré, Que.
Dear Sirs:
I have prepared the statement of income and
expenditure for the fiscal year ending on February 28, 1975,
[Page 299]
using the books of Ste-Anne Texaco Service
Enr. and information supplied to me.
I have undertaken to make no audit and I
therefore express no opinion on these financial statements.
These financial statements are submitted
with comparative figures for 1974, contained in the financial statements
prepared by the firm of Pierre Racine et Cie, C.A.. I have not audited these amounts.
Trusting that this will be entirely to your
satisfaction, and thanking you for your confidence in my firm.
Yours
very truly,
(signed)
Gilles
Goulet
Certified
General Accountant
Ste-Anne de
Beaupré,
June 19, 1975.
[TRANSLATION]
Gilles Goulet
CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT
Tel. 827-2298
9497 boul. Ste-Anne, Ste-Anne de Beaupré, Que.
G0A 3C0
Accountant’s
remarks
To
Shareholders of Ste-Anne B.B.Q., Inc.
Rôtisserie Ste-Anne Inc.
9309 boul. Ste-Anne
Ste-Anne de Beaupré, Que.
Dear Sirs:
I have examined the balance sheet of
Ste-Anne B.B.Q. Inc.—Rôtisserie Ste-Anne Inc., at May 31, 1975, and the
statement of undistributed profits, the statement of income and expenditure and
the statement of the source and use of funds for the fiscal year ending on this
date.
I have relied on the entries made by the
company’s bookkeepers and have not made any test or audit of the amounts
entered. However, I have analysed the capital assets and certain expenditure
accounts which appear to me to be significant. I have not confirmed with banks,
creditors or debtors amounts to their credit.
These financial statements are submitted
with comparative figures for 1974, which I have taken from the financial
statements prepared by the firm of Pierre Racine et Cie, C.A.. I have included these for purposes of comparison only and if
anyone wishes to draw any conclusions as to their value, he should examine the
original financial statements and the comments of the expert accountant
attached thereto.
[Page 300]
Accordingly, I express no opinion on these
financial statements, because I am not in a position to do so. I only present
the facts as they were supplied to me.
Thanking you for your confidence in my
firm, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information.
Yours
very truly,
(signed)
Gilles
Goulet
Certified
General Accountant
Ste-Anne de
Beaupré
July 7, 1975.
In addition to these two letters, the evidence
contains two admissions by respondent, namely, that he was not a member of the
Order of Chartered Accountants, and that he was paid for the accounting work
done for these two clients.
Such evidence could perhaps have been a basis
for a finding that respondent was guilty on a charge of having engaged in
public accountancy, but not on one of acting in such a way as to lead to the
belief that he was authorized to do so.
A person may very well engage in public
accountancy without thereby acting in such a way as to lead to the belief that
he is authorized to do so; he may even do so while warning his clients that he
is not entitled to do so; conversely, one can just as easily claim to have the
right to do so without actually doing so.
Considering the charge and the evidence adduced
in its support I would conclude, like the Superior Court justice, that
Mr. Goulet should be acquitted, though for different reasons.
I would dismiss this appeal with costs.
Appeal dismissed with costs.
Solicitors for the appellant: Ogilvy
& Renault, Montreal.
Solicitors for the respondent: Jasmin,
Rivest, Castiglio, Castiglio & Lebel, Montreal.
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