In January our advocacy activities also kicked off for the year with the preparation of our pre-budget submission. Many elements of our submission were also reflected in the development of our Australian Small Business White Paper in collaboration with the IPA Deakin University SME Research Partnership.
We were very pleased with the federal budget in May when a number of our submission’s recommendations came to fruition including the IPA’s signature tax policy recommendation of reducing the tax rate for small unincorporated businesses. This was on top of the 1.5 per cent tax cut for incorporated small businesses and of course, the instant asset write-off of $20,000.
Our lobbying and advocacy effort is an ongoing and constant activity with the IPA present on a number
of key government and regulatory forums, where we represent the interests of our members, small business, the profession and the public. On this subject, I am pleased that our general manager technical policy, Tony Greco, has been appointed as a member of the 2016 Board of Taxation’s advisory panel. This is a true reflection of Tony’s expertise and commitment to representing the interests of members and the profession.
From a global profession perspective I have been fortunate to have represented the IPA at key forums throughout the year including the International Federation of Accountants’ CEO forum and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants Board in the Asian and Pacific forum.
Andrew Conway is the CEO of the Institute of Public Accountants.
