Which standards have you found commonly cause difficulty in interpretation for clients?
I think that my answer to this question would probably be the same as for most accountants – the financial instruments standards, in particular AASB 139 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. This standard is applicable to most financial instruments and is not an easy read for even simple financial instruments never mind the more complex financial instruments that an entity may have. In addition, AASB 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures requires lengthy disclosures for entities with even simple financial assets and liabilities such as debtors and creditors. I also think that the application of the reporting entity concept is a cause for concern and confusion for accountants in smaller audit firms and corporate entities, particularly given the implication of disclosure of related party transactions. I have found that many accountants struggle to keep up-to-date with the changes in accounting standards and therefore they have difficulty at an overall level interpreting the principles.
What challenges have you seen in your consulting and accounting work?
Often the biggest challenge is helping people to understand what they don’t know. I spend time with accounting firms to try to help them understand that there have been significant changes to accounting standards and other financial reporting pronouncements over the last few years. I recommend using an external provider to ensure their team is kept up-to-date through regular training sessions which allows them to focus on running their business rather than having a team member spend lots of non-chargeable hours performing their own research. It is also part of my role to try to balance the commercial nature of transactions which businesses have undertaken with the requirements of the accounting standards. Often businesses undertake a particular transaction without considering the financial implications and communicating this impact to both financial and non-financial stakeholders. This can be a challenging and interesting conversation.
What do you hope to achieve as a Board member?
My aims as a Board member are:
- to communicate the needs, requirements, issues and concerns of smaller accounting firms, SMEs and not-for-profit entities at the Board level through regular consultation with these groups
- to work with the other Board members to ensure that the accounting standards issued in Australia provide meaningful results in financial statements for all entities in Australia while ensuring that international convergence is maintained, and
- to have an enriching educational experience through improving my knowledge of the standard-setting process and sharing my knowledge of different entities with the other Board members.
How do you achieve a balance between your professional roles and family life?
I have a young family and one of the reasons I started my own business was to have flexibility to be able to spend time with my children as well as being able to continue my technical accounting career. My clients are supportive of the need for me to do school pick-ups and drop-offs and most of my meetings / training sessions are organised around these. When that is not possible, I have a great support network of friends and my husband who do the school runs. I have been able to become involved in my children’s school and my role as School Treasurer has opened my eyes to a whole different world of finance. I am very grateful that I have managed to achieve a great work / life balance in my chosen career.
