Awards honour best of the payroll profession

Canadian Payroll Association announces winners of the 2010 Payroll Profession Awards

The Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) honoured the best payroll professionals in the country at an awards banquet held last month. Here’s a look at the winners, with details provided by the CPA.

2010 Diana Ferguson Award

Alan Sinclair, team/project leader, pay services for the Ontario Power Generation, was the recipient of the 2010 Diana Ferguson Award in recognition of his contribution to the advancement of the CPAs mission, objective and values of “community, professionalism and authoritative knowledge.”

Sinclair received the award for his “significant” contributions to the association over 17 years, the CPA said.

He has performed many roles, including chair of the board of directors (2005-2006), co-chair of the Federal Government Relations Advisory Council (FGRAC), chair of the Payroll Continuity Guidelines Task Force, member of the 2010 Bylaws Review Task Force, board director and executive committee for four years.

He provided his expertise during that time to CPA's major projects: Graduated Penalties on Payroll remittances, Best 14 Week's administration of the ROE, and the Tax on Net Income (TONI). His insights were instrumental in having the board of directors identify that, based on market research, the CPA needed to develop two certifications: one for the practitioner market and one for the manager segment.

He was also the initiator of enhancing member's communications skills by using National Payroll Week to deliver professional education sessions in a broadly available forum. Over the last four years, this has become one of the CPA's most successful activities and one of his legacies.

2010 Partner Award

Service Canada was the recipient of the CPA's 2010 Partner Award, which recognizes a private or public sector organization's outstanding work in assisting the CPA to achieve its ongoing objectives.

The CPA has had mutually beneficial relationship Service Canada because of its active participation in the Federal Government Relations Advisory Council (FGRAC), it said.

Service Canada contributed to two very significant achievements that reduced administrative burden for employers and the department: the administration of the Best 14 Weeks ROE project, based on seasonal workers in the specific industries affected; and the change to EI regulation 19(3), recognizing employer pay periods in the timing of submission of electronic ROEs and eliminating the need for a paper ROE.

“Excellent progress has been made in establishing two-way communication for the advancement of the ROE Web, including the establishment of the ROE Usability Subcommittee and the ROE Guide Task Force,” the CPA said.

Service Canada continues to focus on improving the registration processes for the ROE Web and ROE SAT applications for the benefit of employers. It also works with the CPA to provide regular webinars and interactive sessions at the CPA's annual conference and trade show.

2010 Special Contributor Award

André Potvin of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) received the CPA’s 2010 Special Contributor Award, which recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the payroll profession.

Potvin has portrayed the relationship between the CRA and the CPA in government circles as the model of effective government and employer consultation, the CPA said.

He was involved with FGRAC for more than 10 years and made it clear the CPA is one of his most valued relationships. He was a key supporter of graduated penalties, which took more than five years to have finalized.

It would not have been legislated without his support with three different CRA commissioners over that time. He often comments about the magnitude of payroll remittances as 65 per cent of all government revenues. He made this point and other supportive statements on CPA's professionalism on the association’s 25th anniversary video.

His view of the CPA and the CRA relationship — "that if we sometimes disagree, we do so professionally" — exemplifies Potvin as a partner of the payroll profession, the CPA said.

Honourary Member Award

Richard Rousseau received the Honourary Member Award for his outstanding service to the association as a member of the executive committee of the CPA.

With more than 20 years of experience in payroll, human resources and information technology, Richard Rousseau, vice-president of sales and industry Relations with DLGL Ltd., joined the board of directors in 2003 and became chairman in 2008. He also serves as team lead for the Provincial Government Relations Committee (PGRAC) in Quebec and has been a key contributor to CPA's growth in Quebec. He has been instrumental in the expansion of CPA's profile with Quebec government officials, meeting with MRQ, CSST, CNT and Conseil d'exécutif officials. He also assisted the CPA's certification department to expand the offering of the program at CEGEPs in Quebec. One of his biggest contributions was as a CPA media representative in Quebec during NPW, when he was on Radio Canada and did many radio and print media interviews. He is also the president and co-founder of the HRMS Professionals Association.

Certification Awards

The Certification Awards recognize the students who have attained the highest overall marks nationwide in the compulsory payroll courses of CPA’s Certification Programs for 2009. The 2010 winners are:

Gold: Jing Liang

Silver: Monica Bridge

Bronze: Subashini Thirumeni Govindarajan

10-Year Service Award

CPA president Patrick Culhane received his 10-Year Service Award. Under his leadership in the last decade, the CPA has:

•increased membership by 160 per cent to 15,800 organizations and professionals

•developed a strategic plan that continuously improves the association

•enhanced its federal and provincial government relations profile and results

•redeveloped its certification programs which has dramatically increased professional members

•expanded its products and services such as web seminars and JobConnect

•increased annual revenues by 140 per cent from $5 million to $12 million.

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