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In this Oct 2004 issue of On Target :
President's Message at the 2004 AGM
PNG Branch Reconstituted as Second Professional Body in PNG
What's On
Bookshelf
President's message at ICMA 2004 AGM
The Institute is now moving into its ninth year. This year too we have achieved some important milestones that will provide us direction in the coming years.
The key development was the appointment of ICMA as a Registered Training Organisation. This means we can offer an Advanced Diploma in Accounting (Associate Degree) in Australia and overseas that must be recognised by Australian universities as being equivalent to the first year of university studies. This Advanced Diploma in Accounting is now incorporated into Stages one and two of our GMA program. The syllabuses have now been approved by the Education Committee and ready for launch in 2005. We must thank Geoff Baring and Professor Janek Ratnatunga who put long hours to obtain this certification of the Institute.
Another key development was the implementation of the resolution passed at last year’s AGM, in the introduction of a Management Accounting Affiliate (MAA) category. This has drawn significant interest from those interested in the profession, and has also had a positive impact on our bottom line.
The last year saw the establishment of two important overseas technical alliances, in the Philippines and India, and the continuation of strong programs in existing locations, such as in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon and Papua New Guinea. However, some difficulties with partners arose during the year in Hong Kong and Singapore and the Education committee chairmen will report on these initiatives and associated problems. As usual, difficulties also arose for the program to be introduced into China. We are still working hard in these markets, but we have long learnt that patience in China is a virtue!
In Papua New Guinea our Branch was reconstituted as the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants (PNG), the second accounting body formed by government legislation in that country. Professor Ratnatunga and I were invited to the launch, and amongst the most distinguished guests was the Australian High Commissioner. Professor Ratnatunga was briefly a TV star as his speech along with that of the PNG Minister of Finance made the evening news! Professor Ratnatunga was also invited by Austrade in India, when the ICMA was launched at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi to a large invited audience. The Trade Commissioner, Mr. Tony Burchill and Professor Ratnatunga were the speakers that evening, and the launch received widespread media coverage in the Hindustani Times, Times of India and Economic Times.
The Global Business School initiative in which CMA subjects are incorporated within MBA programs of the Royal Roads University (Canada), Educatis University (Switzerland) and the Indonesian Institute of Management are now in its formative stages, with the first student batch being sponsored by the Ministry of Finance in PNG. Other markets expected to join soon are Indonesia and the Philippines.
Our web page, cmawebline.org attracts significant interest from around the world and plans are now well underway to offer the GMA and CMA subjects over the net.
Membership continues to grow healthily both in Australia and overseas, now mainly due to our Education programs. It is always difficult picking exact numbers at this initial point in the financial year because of the uncertainty surrounding renewals. It would appear, however, that our current membership is now over 800 CMAs and likely to be in the region of 1,000 by the same time next year, a good benchmark target to achieve in our 10th year of existence!
One of the foremost issues always confronting the executive is the need to continue raising the public profile of the Institute. The Executive believes this can be done by being pro-active in the area of Corporate Governance and Sustainability, by lobbying Government appointed Regulatory Bodies to legislate as mandatory (or at least recommended as best-practice) the various audits required in those areas, such as Strategic Audits, Cost Audits, Environmental Impact Audits and Risk Audits.
Another highlight during the year was the publication of 2 issues of the Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research (JAMAR), in both print and electronic form. Members are encouraged to submit papers that will be then appropriately refereed to ensure that adequate academic and professional standards are maintained I wish to thank the Editors and the international panel of referees for their work in assisting us to create this excellent resource that is fast becoming an important tool in our public profile.
Although we are still the only Australian grown membership organisation dedicated exclusively to the nurturing of Management Accounting as a professional alternative for accounting practitioners, the world around us is changing dramatically. In Canada, the CMA body is set to merge with the Chartered Accountants there. In the UK, CIMA is talking of merging with the England & Wales Chartered Accountants. This may be another blow to the profession of management accounting. Previous mergers of cost accounting bodies with more generalist bodies (e.g. the Australian Cost Institute with the Australian Society of Accountants) only saw the demise of the specialisation. In the western world, only our parent body, the IMA in USA, and we are keeping our independence. We should be proud of this and continue to slowly develop and grow our membership, striving for both strength in numbers and excellence in their professional integrity and ability.
Once more I must express my deep gratitude to a hard working executive and council. It is unfair to single out individuals but I am sure my colleagues will agree that the input of our Education and Membership Committee Chairmen, and our Treasurer, has been remarkable and well beyond the call of duty. I would also like to thank our Secretary John Ortner, Sandy Stewart, our Newsletter Editor, and Dr Themin Suwardy, our webmaster, for their dedication and professionalism brought to the tasks entrusted to them. Our biggest gratitude goes, however, to the husbands, wives, sisters and children of our members who have voluntarily given hours of their time to assist with the management of our membership database, the design of our promotional flyers, and the packaging of our journal.
Finally a vote of thanks to our auditor Ben Kaplan (no relation of Robert) who has once again given his time to discharge his duties very professionally.
Leon Duval
President
Historic Achievement!
PNG Branch Reconstituted as second Professional Body in PNG.
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Australia (ICMA)-PNG Branch commenced conducting advanced management development programmes in PNG four years ago, and successfully graduated many CMA members in PNG. These programmes were conducted in technical collaboration with the Graduate School of Management-PNG, the premier management school in the country, with its foundation Dean, Professor John Oliga.
The educational objectives of the ICMA (PNG) Branch were the same as those of ICMA (Australia) which are to further the development of management accounting education in Australia and Asia, to encourage research into the application of management theory and practice, and to provide continuing professional development for its members. In order to achieve these objectives, several educational programmes have been implemented by ICMA (Australia) worldwide, including the establishment of a branch in PNG. This branch is now being reconstituted as the second accounting professional body in PNG, The Institute of Chartered Management Accountants of PNG.
In PNG, the Graduate School of Management and the ICMA (PNG) will continue to conduct ICMA (Australia)’s CMA programme, which leads to certification of suitably qualified graduate members as Certified Management Accountants (CMAs) of both Institutes. Members of the CPA body in PNG, and also members of the UK bodies the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (ACCA), and also Australian CPA residing in PNG are among those who will be regarded as graduate members, and who may apply for the CMA programme, which is at a two university post-graduate subjects equivalent level. Those who complete the programme will be permitted to sit for an examination to become a Certified Management Accountant, subject to a specified period of relevant experience. Qualified accountants who also complete the above program, can obtain up to 4 credit exemptions in Australian MBA programs such as those at Monash University and the University of Central Queensland, and up to 6 in those programs done via the Global Business SchoolTM.
The ICMA (PNG) programmes will be held in PNG, will be conducted by the Graduate School of Management (PNG), and will cover the all the available courses, including the two “leading-edge” subjects of the certification programme of ICMA (Australia); i.e. Advanced Management Accounting and Advanced Strategic Management Accounting.
The subject of Advanced Management Accounting covers the complex modern industrial organisations within which the various facets of decision making and controlling operations take place; the subject includes discussion of costing systems and activity based costing, activity management, and implentation issues in modern costing systems. The subject of Advanced Strategic Management Accounting provides a study of the interface between modern managerial accounting and the business functions of strategic planning, marketing, manufacturing and human resource management. The accountant’s role in the marketing decision areas is specifically considered.
Another program soon to be introduced is the Graduate Conversion Program, which is a four-subject program undertaken by non-accounting graduates wishing to become professional management accountants. The four subjects are: Managerial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Financial Modelling and Financial Management. Upon the successful completion of the conversion program, individuals are entitled to use the post-nominal Graduate Management Accountant (GMA). They are then eligible to undertake the more advanced CMA subjects outlined above.
These programmes of ICMA will enable PNG accountants to meet the challenges to the profession from continuously changing needs of the business environment.
What's On
October, 2004
Advanced Management Accounting & Advanced Strategic Management Accounting, Second Intake Seminars in the Philippines conducted by Business Sense Inc.
October 12, 2004
ICMA Annual General Meeting
October 17
Advanced Strategic Management Accounting and Advanced Management Accounting exams at the Graduate School of Management, PNG
November 2004
Advanced Management Accounting & Advanced Strategic Management Accounting 7-day Seminar in Lebanon conducted by Hamidi Business School and ICMA
December 16, 2004
ICMA Executive Seasonal Dinner
February, 2005
Advanced Management Accounting & Advanced Strategic Management Accounting 7-day Seminars (2nd Batch) in India conducted by First Canvas and ICMA
Book Shelf
In the last On Target, I wrote about some articles on Customer Relationship Management. Relations with suppliers – the upstream end of the value chain – also need to be managed. The October 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review introduces a series of articles on supply chains with the words: “Changes in supply chain management have been truly revolutionary and the pace of progress shows no sign of moderating. … The process of delivering supplies from one place to another is accomplished by means of mind-boggling technological innovations, clever new applications of old ideas, seemingly magical mathematics, powerful software , and old-fashioned concrete, steel and muscle.”
The first article in the series, to be continued for the next three months, Hau L. Lee describes the attributes a supply chain must have – agility, adaptability and alignment – and how to recognise and develop them. Then Reuben E. Slone from Whirlpool writes about how his company went “from supply chain laggard to supply chain leader”. Future articles will present new research about supply chains, and case studies about “the world’s masters of the art of supply chain management”.
Also of interest in the October issue of HBR, “Look First to Failure” by Henry Petroski discusses a paradox in engineering – the analysis of failure. The failure of a product, proposal or system must be understood before it can be reengineered. Examples of the lessons that can be learned from Titanic and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge are provided.
Other articles of interest in that issue include “The Ties That Blind” by Joe Labianca which focuses on teams and their effectiveness and reports research that found that the performance of teams falls when nearly all members of a team have close relationships with one another (because the team can become insular and reject outside influences). Another article is “Feedback Backlash” by Gardiner Morse which reports research that found that more frequent feedback can result in “feedback overload” and lower performance on the job.
Please feel free to share anything that you have found interesting. You can send your ideas to: Bill Richardson, Dept of Accounting & Finance, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East VIC 3145.
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