Damian Moore, president of the IPA Group, has announced that in 2020 the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) will be looking to maintain the relationship forged with the other two accounting bodies and to push for further co-operation.
“From an industry point of view, we want to make sure there is that cohesion. I think we need to continue this push we’ve had in terms of the joint accounting bodies, and the other two bodies in Australia, and making sure that we’re all on the same page with our policies,” said Mr Moore.
“I mean, certainly, when we’ve got that unified voice it makes it much easier to advocate for members. I think that’s been lost a little in the past in terms of that everyone was doing their own thing. But when we all come together, we can certainly have a much better voice and be listened to a little bit more, from a government point of view.”
In November, the three accounting bodies, CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and the IPA, announced a tripartite lobbying effort to seek a broader and more robust solution that will enable both businesses and individuals to access the advice they need.
Speaking at the IPA congress later that month, the CEO of the IPA Group Andrew Conway said that the government is listening to “our collective voices and we need to maintain the momentum to effect change”.
“We must continue to communicate to all stakeholders, which importantly includes the 310,000+ accountants and students who are members of the three bodies,” he said.
Mr Moore agreed. He explained that the IPA actually has a very fruitful relationship with the CPA and CA ANZ.
“I think most people would be surprised, but we actually do have a good relationship. So if you take the Vancouver IFAC meetings, we were sitting on the same table for the two days, so you’ve got all three accounting bodies sitting there,” Mr Moore said.
“There were the presidents from each of the bodies, the CEOs were sitting there as well. We were having dinner together. I think people have this weird perception that we don’t get along, but at the end of the day we work in the same space, we all have members, a lot of us have joint members.”
He added that over the last few years, the IPA has strongly pushed towards strengthening that relationship for the good of all members and the profession in general.
“If we’re going to present to government with a range of different initiatives, we want to all be doing it on the same page as a group because it makes it easy for government as well,” Mr Moore concluded.
“If they’re only getting one set of information. Like if I was sitting there and from a government point of view and say, ‘Well this makes it much easier for us to look at that information and digest it’.”
