Photography by Damien Ford

Kia ora koutou and hello.

It is a great privilege to be elected as CA ANZ president for 2025, and I look forward to continuing to champion your voice and the strengths of our profession.

Before I share my plans for the year, I want to thank Tinashe Kamangira FCA for his leadership as president, as well as his many years of service. Tinashe has been highly visible with our members, as well as engaging with great passion on our board and council, and I know we are all grateful for his commitment.

In turn, I am committed to carrying on the legacy of those presidents before me, who have guided our membership body and embedded the member voice and perspective in everything CA ANZ does.

Continuity and unity are very important to me, delivered through a clear strategy. So, my first area of focus is the introduction and mobilisation of the new strategy.

Our previous strategic plan for the years to 2025 succeeded because it was built on strong data and plentiful member feedback on the improvements required, along with a clear plan to address these through investment in strategic initiatives.

The last plan refined your digital experience, delivered a new CA Program, developed future-focused electives and CPD to push our profession to new frontiers, and produced a powerful campaign to attract the next generation.

Now, we need to evolve and go again, with a new strategy. And, we’re a good way there in developing it.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the discovery phase, whether you were one of the 3500 survey respondents or part of the 34 focus groups, or in our councils, local committees or town hall sessions.

I know the team is working hard on synthesising all the insights and data, to then test the findings with our membership and governing bodies through further workshops.

This includes an approach that will continue to focus sharply on the things that are fundamental to your membership, as well as seizing on some of the new opportunities, such as AI and sustainability.

Once the strategy is formalised and adopted, we all need to unite and get behind it. Because, as we’ve seen with our drive to improve the attractiveness of the profession, and enhanced conduct and regulation, every single member has a role to play.

On that note, continued enhancement to the attractiveness of our profession will remain high on my agenda. This is a generational challenge that requires ongoing effort to overhaul the perception of accounting among the next generation of members. It’s not just a singular campaign: it needs to permeate all our dealings with both potential and existing members.

It is our duty to show young people from all walks of life that our profession offers amazing opportunities to turn their passions into careers.

There is a natural alignment here with our new CA pathways work, which aims to open the door to a wider pool of talent, while protecting the integrity of the CA designation. CA ANZ will now offer this opportunity in our local communities and I’m excited to champion this as your president.

Of course, these are my initial areas of focus but there will be others, and I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the amalgamation of the Australian and New Zealand institutes. It has proven to be a very successful merger, and has driven efficiencies and growth in education, advocacy and member services, and a transformed, modern digital experience.

And, I believe the best is yet to come.

Again, it’s a great privilege to be your 2025 president and I look forward to an exciting year ahead.