An Annual General Meeting if the Institute was held on 5 October 2017 at CMA House Clayton.
President’s Report at AGM 2017
The Global President of ICMA, Prof Brendan O’Connell reported that the Institute is now on its 21st year, having been incorporated in 1996. To celebrate its 20th Anniversary, a number of special celebrations were organised in Australia and by the Regional Offices in their respective countries. A cornerstone of these celebrations was the induction of outstanding individuals in the Australia, U.A.E. Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, China and Vietnam Regions to the Accounting Hall of Fame® and the Management Accounting Hall of Fame®. The President, the CEO, and the CFO, travelled to these regions, giving talks at symposiums and handing out the awards. The profiles of awards winners can be seen on the website: http://accountinghalloffame.org
The ICMA also published a 20th Anniversary Yearbook, with articles such as:
- “The History of the Management Accounting Profession in Australia”;
- “The ICMA: 20 Years of Achievement” and
- “Foundation President’s Reminiscences”.
Also included was the history of all the Regional Offices with photographs of events in each of the international locations. This will be an important historical document for future researchers.
Another successful event to celebrate the 20th Anniversary was a symposium in titled ‘The Frontiers of Accounting’ that was jointly sponsored by La Trobe University and held in Melbourne, on 28th November 2016. The speakers were leading academics and professionals who were specifically asked to provide their views on specific frontier areas of financial reporting, management accounting, governance and sustainability. There were about 100 participants who attended from Australia and overseas, and as the feedback was very positive, there was much enthusiasm to hold such a symposium every year.
As such, the ‘The Frontiers of Accounting 2017’ symposium will be held in association with Macquarie University, on Nov 28 2017, in Sydney Australia. Some of the key papers that will be delivered in Sydney are as follows:
- “Digital Disruption and the Accountant”; Luke Austin, CFO at Huawei Australia
- “Frontiers of Financial Reporting: Global Convergence”; Prof Chris Patel, Macquarie University
- “Disruptive Budgeting in the Digital Era”; Aubrey Joachim, Management Accounting Practitioner
- “Sustainable Cost Accounting: Air, Water and Food”; Prof Janek Ratnatunga, CEO ICMA
- “Social and Environmental Accounting: Looking Beyond our Own Boundaries”; Prof Carol Tilt, University of South Australia
- “Governance in Member Based Organisations: A New Frontier?”; Prof Brendan O’Connell, RMIT University
- “Re-engineering the Management Accounting Curriculum”; Associate Professor Sophia Su, Macquarie University.
The President reported that the 2017 Hall of Fame and Symposium program will be as follows:
- Cambodia: Intercontinental Hotel, Phnom Penh, Oct 19
- Sri Lanka: Hilton Residencies, Colombo, Nov 2
- UAE: Dubai, Nov 17
- Indonesia: Jakarta Stock Exchange: Dec 6
- Philippines Manila, Dec 9
- Greater China: Hong Kong, Dec 11
In all of the above events, Regional inductees to the Hall of Fame will be formally recognised.
The other activities that the ICMA was involved in the Year
- Skilled Occupation List (SOL):
- Over the past year the Institute was successful in canvassing for the role of ‘Management Accountant’ to be maintained for a eighth year in the Australian Government’s SOL for General Skilled Migration (GSM).
Lifting the Institute’s Profile in Australia
- Whilst the Institute is well recognised in its overseas markets, it is still not as recognised as it should be in Australia. As such a number of initiatives were undertaken by the Council to lift its profile in Australia.
- A personal email from the President to all Heads of Accounting Departments in Australian Universities, re-introducing the ICMA, with a copy of the Yearbook;
- The Flyers for the Frontiers of Accounting seminars sent to all Australian Academics inviting them to attend;
- The Patrons and CEO taking a high-profile position on the issues of a lack of transparency and governance in at CPA Australia;
- Taking Newspaper Advertisements in the Australian and the AFR, spelling out that ICMA Council members provide their services voluntarily, and that only the CEO’s company is paid a small retainer for the use of his time.
Publications:
- The eNewsletter On Target continued to be published and the web-analytics indicates that it gets on average 2,000 visits and 3,000 page views per month.
- The ICMA changed the name of its world-class academic research journal, the Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research (JAMAR), to Management Accounting Frontiers (MAF). It is hoped that two issues will be published in a year in both print and online modes, starting from the December 2017 issue.
Computing and IT: Major IT projects were successfully completed in the year.
- The move of org to the cloud
- the move from the Netsuite CRM to CivicCRM
- The introduction of on-line membership payments.
Research & Library:
- Research and professional development also continued in the two organizations set up by the ICMA: (1) The Institute of Certified Carbon Analysts and Auditors (ICCAA) and (2) The Institute for the Advancement of Corporate Reporting and Assurance (IACRA).
- The Library now has over 12,000 texts and professional and academic publications, and has now one of the best libraries in Australia in the professional areas of management accounting and risk management.
Constitution:
- This was revised in keeping with the changing needs of ICMA
- Changes ratified at the AGM last year were confirmed
- Further changes were tabled and ratified at this AGM.
Appointment of a Chief Operating Officer (COO)
- The Council took on the recommendations of a strategy document and appointed a COO in March 2017
- This role was filled by the Hon. Treasurer and CFO, Dr Chris D’Souza, who will also continue his honorary roles
Membership Services:
- Providing Continuing Professional Education (CPE) to members via Calwest University in the USA and the Academy of Finance and Management Australia.
- Maintaining the corporate website that was in keeping with the enhanced international profile of ICMA
- Designing and maintaining a Member’s Only area on the website.
- Publishing 6 copies of the On Target eNewsletter.
- Increasing the holdings of the Library by over 200 texts and professional and academic publications during the year.
- Having a World-Class Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to handle the membership, invoicing, examinations and accounts.
- Conducting Examinations in all Branch locations and in over 20 countries where students undertake the CMA program online.
- Setting up an ICMA Blog, with links to Facebook and Twitter
- Continuing with the links to CEO Institute for Members
Membership Report
The Membership Committee Chairman John Donald reported that CMA had a +30% increase in CMAs (2% increase previous year); a +28% increase in professional memberships (+10% in the previous year), and an overall membership growth of +25% (+13% last year). The new Membership Designation of CGBA now has 70 members.
Although membership growth is not a KPI of ICMA, which instead aims for quality by positioning itself as the only specialist professional body for senior executives with education programs at the master’s degree level, members represent the lifeblood of the Institute.
The overall membership of the ICMA now stands at approximately 6,754 members in 53 countries, and over 10,000 member inclusive of students.
Education Report
Prof Janek Ratnatunga, the Education Committee chairman provided an overview of the Education Program of CMA Australia:
The Program has Nine Levels:
- Certified Accounting Technician (CAT)
- Registered Cost Accountant (RCA)
- Registered Business Accountant (RBA)
- Graduate Program (For School Leavers) – GMA & AMA
- Graduate Conversion Program (For Non-Accounting Graduates/ Professionals) – GMA& AMA
- CMA Program (For Accounting Graduates/Professionals) –CMA
- CGBA – For Non-Accounting Graduates
- MBA, CMA program for Global Leaders
- DBA, CMA program for Applied Research
The Program can be undertaken via:
- University Degree (Undergraduate/Masters)
- Recognised Provider Institution
- Corporate In-House
Prof Ratnatunga also reported that to facilitate its educational objectives in addition to its own nine-level CMA education program, the Institute has accredited a number of universities which have master’s degree subjects that are equivalent to the CMA program. Some of these universities also provide in-house training and examinations of the CMA program. Accounting graduates can do CMA accredited units at these universities to qualify for CMA status. The details of these universities and the subjects accredited are listed on the CMA Website.
CMA Australia also has Recognised providers in Australia and in many different countries the details of which are listed on our website.
Certificates of Proficiency
The following Certificates of Proficiency Programs were designed and offered in 2017.
- International Financial Reporting Standards
- Risk Management
- Islamic Banking and Finance
- Family Business.
- Foreign Exchange Management
- Transport and Shipping
- Supply Chain Management
- Project Management
- Takaful (Islamic) Insurance
- International Business
- International Business Analysis
- Logistics Management
- Wealth Management
- Telecommunications Pricing
- Company Secretarial Practice
- Crisis Management
- Forensic Accounting and Auditing
- Sustainable Procurement
- Cross-Cultural Negotiations
- Performance Budgeting
- VAT Law & Practice (UAE)
- Performance and Valuation
- Accounting Practice (Vietnam)
Membership Pathways
The Institute of Certified Management Accountant (ICMA) offers a number of membership pathways as follows:
- University Graduates in Accounting
- University Graduates in Finance
- MBA Degree Holders
- University Graduates with Non-Accounting Degrees
- Diploma and Advanced Diploma Holders in Accounting
- Members of Other Professional Accounting Bodies
- Members of Other Professional Non-Accounting Bodies
- Part Qualified Students of Other Professional Accounting Bodies
- School Leavers
- Academics
- Distance Education Scholarship Program
- Emerging Professional Scholarship Program
Treasurer’s Report
The Financial statements of the Institute were distributed to all members present and discussed. The Treasurer, Dr. Chris D’Souza then discussed the accounts in detail. The overall financial performance was strong with an operating surplus of $56,000 and an accumulated surplus of $ 855,000 and Term Deposits of over 1 million dollars (including subscriptions in advance).
Professor Janek Ratnatunga, CMA, CGBA
CEO, ICMA Australia
The opinions in this article reflect those of the author and not necessarily that of the organisation or its executive.
