The IPA’s chief executive officer Andrew Conway said the association will be looking to further analyse and assess in detail the social impact of a public accountant’s work.
“We’ve personally got a very strong interest in the mental health of small business owners,” Mr Conway said.
The IPA chief intends to spearhead specific research in relation to how engaging a public accountant can impact the mental health and wellbeing of small business owners.
“If we can do that, that might help provide some really good context to our advocacy efforts,” he said.
“The minute an accountant says to [a client], ‘I’ve got this, just relax, I’ll take care of it’, you have no idea the impact that has on that small business owner. We don’t spend enough time looking at the real human interaction that the profession has.
“I have direct personal experience with this … that says when a small business owner engages an accountant early in the piece, the anxiety levels and stress levels are diminished, but there’s very little literature on it. So we want to fill the evidence bank with the impact of and the power of engaging an accountant early in the life of the small business, and explore how that has a direct positive impact.”
