In the face of a pending disciplinary proceeding before a Panel of the Disciplinary Committee concerning alleged professional misconduct, Randall Dang of Vancouver, British Columbia resigned his membership in the Organization of Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia ("CPABC") on March 22, 2017.
The professional misconduct alleged against Mr. Dang includes breaches of the legacy CGA BC Code of Ethical Principles and Rules of Conduct, by failing to adequately supervise an employee who committed multiple acts of theft and fraud of clients' funds while employed within the firm, and by otherwise failing to implement due diligence procedures that would have detected the theft and fraud. Mr. Dang has admitted all of these allegations.
This Discipline Hearing Panel accepts the joint recommendation of Mr. Dang and the CPABC that an appropriate resolution to this disciplinary proceeding which is protective of the public interest, and the terms of this Panel's decision, are:
- Mr. Dang will resign from membership with CPABC, effective March 22, 2017;
- By no later than March 24, 2017, Mr. Dang will surrender his membership certificates to CPABC, including his legacy membership certificates;
- Mr. Dang represents that he is not and has never been a member of any CPA body (other than CPABC) or provincial legacy body (as defined in CPABC's Bylaws) of any province or territory of Canada or Bermuda ("Provincial Body");
- Mr. Dang will never seek readmission to membership in CPABC or admission as a member of any other Provincial Body;
- On or about April 1, 2017, the resolution of the Disciplinary Proceedings will be published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper;
- This Panel Decision will be permanently published on the publicly accessible portion of CPABC's website;
- As a consequence of the resignation of membership in CPABC:
- Mr. Dang will not ever use or display the designation "Chartered Professional Accountant” or the initials "CPA" signifying that designation, or use or display any designation or initials signifying a designation authorized to be used under section 44(1)-(6) of the Chartered Professional Accountants Act (the "CPA Act"), or use or display a designation referenced in section 2 of the Legacy Designations Regulation, B.C. Reg. 114/2015, or in any other manner, imply, suggest, or hold out that he is a person entitled to use or display a designation or the initials signifying a designation referred to in section 45(1)(a) of the CPA Act or possess accounting qualifications granted or approved under the Bylaws or otherwise am a Chartered Professional Accountant, or use or display the designation "Professional Accountant" or the initials "PA" signifying that designation, or in any manner imply, suggest, or hold out that he is a professional accountant; and
- the designations "Chartered Professional Accountant", "Certified General Accountant", "Certified Management Accountant", or "Professional Accountant" and the initials "CPA, CGA, CMA", "CPA", "CGA", "CMA”, or "PA" have been removed from all letterhead, business cards, signage, statements of account, telephone directories, websites, Linkedln profiles, email signatures, and all other media, communications, or documentation bearing his name.
- Mr. Dang will not ever use or display the designation "Chartered Professional Accountant” or the initials "CPA" signifying that designation, or use or display any designation or initials signifying a designation authorized to be used under section 44(1)-(6) of the Chartered Professional Accountants Act (the "CPA Act"), or use or display a designation referenced in section 2 of the Legacy Designations Regulation, B.C. Reg. 114/2015, or in any other manner, imply, suggest, or hold out that he is a person entitled to use or display a designation or the initials signifying a designation referred to in section 45(1)(a) of the CPA Act or possess accounting qualifications granted or approved under the Bylaws or otherwise am a Chartered Professional Accountant, or use or display the designation "Professional Accountant" or the initials "PA" signifying that designation, or in any manner imply, suggest, or hold out that he is a professional accountant; and
- Mr. Dang agrees to pay $25,000 towards CPABC's costs of the disciplinary proceeding.