Kia ora koutou and hello, it is an honour to be elected as your president for 2023 and to continue the service of those before me and be a strong voice for you, our members, on the CA ANZ board.

I hope you had a relaxing summer break and were able to pause and reflect on the successes of a very busy 2022.

I believe CA ANZ and our broader profession is in a position of strength. We maintain a reputation for high ethics, rigorous education and deep experience, and our guidance provides trust and confidence in our capital markets, public institutions and economies.

However, we can’t rest on our laurels and one of the areas I’m most focused on is the attractiveness of the profession to the next generation of talent.

In this area, we face a paradox. On one hand, there is huge demand for accounting graduates. Accounting is the universal language of business and behind almost every startup and business – whether an app developer, clothing label or agri-tech business – is an accountant or finance professional.

Pictured: Murray Harrington FCA. Image credit: Nic Walker

“I believe CA ANZ and our broader profession is in a position of strength. We maintain a reputation for high ethics, rigorous education and deep experience, and our guidance provides trust and confidence in our capital markets, public institutions and economies.”

On the other hand, in both Australia and New Zealand the pipeline of students into business and commerce degrees is shrinking, putting pressure on CA Program enrolments.

This isn’t something that has gone unnoticed by your membership body. A sustainable profession is one of our fi ve key pillars, and the observation of macro trends around career attractiveness and generational shifts – particularly those in global education – inform that pillar.

The recent Difference Makers campaign, as well as new work on increasing the attractiveness to future generations, is part of CA ANZ’s response.

I hate to think where we would be if we didn’t have CA ANZ’s education, marketing and member engagement teams reaching directly into schools, universities and career expos to illuminate the amazing chartered accountant career path.

I want to keep building on this work, with a combined approach across CA ANZ, our councils, committees and wider membership. We’re competing with other professions – legal, medical, engineering and the sciences – to attract the best young talent.

In a closely related area, I’m also excited about the role of our profession in the environmental, social and governance space.

Investors and the public want to know what businesses are doing in terms of environmental factors such as carbon emissions, social factors such as labour standards and community engagement, and governance factors such as transparency and diversity.

I believe the opportunities in this area for our profession will pique the interest of students and members across many career stages.

We’re in a real position of strength and I want to ensure we are taking every opportunity possible.

I’m looking forward to connecting with you throughout the year, listening to your feedback and helping to shape the very best version of your membership organisation.

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