A key element of being a profession is to act in the public interest. CA ANZ has advocacy teams in Australia and New Zealand that work with members to develop and deliver submissions and advocacy to governments, regulators and standard-setters on policy areas that impact the profession, the wider business community and the public.

“In our advocacy work, the idea of fairness is our north star,” says Simon Grant FCA, group executive, advocacy and international development. “The aim of our recommendations is to ensure people, businesses and not-for-profits are treated fairly in the drafting and application of legislation, regulations and policy settings.”

Serving the community

For example, the New Zealand team has recently advocated to government on immigration settings (resulting in a border class exemption and Green List inclusion for auditors); AML (achieving a five-year exemption for members and other tax agents who undertake tax transfers); certain GST treatments, and income tax and donation tax credit rules. The team advocates for law and policy settings that are transparent, clear, efficient, as simple as possible and fair.

In Australia, the team worked with the 12 other associations that comprise the Joint Association Working Group (JAWG) on a joint submission to the Minister of Financial Services, regarding the Quality of Advice Review. In this instance, combining with other interested voices in the Australian financial advice community will make the combined recommendations more powerful for governments and legislatures to create sensible change to the structure of the advice profession. The aim is to deliver more affordable and accessible financial advice – benefiting both individuals and the community.

What’s in it for members?

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand's advocacy work helps members by clarifying interpretations of legislation, and driving policy settings to enable prosperity and a sustainable profession. On that latter point, over the last 18 months CA ANZ has spearheaded extensive advocacy to include accountants and auditors on priority immigration lists. As a result, 730 auditors and 940 accountants entered Australia, and 180 auditors entered New Zealand.

More recently, auditors were added to New Zealand’s immigration Green List and, in Australia, CA ANZ was the only peak accounting body invited to the government’s Jobs and Skills Summit, where CA ANZ advocated for the annual superannuation cap to be replaced with a lifetime cap. This move would benefit women and younger people, who can often only make large contributions towards the end of their careers.

“Both businesses and governments look to chartered accountants as the experts,” says Peter Vial FCA, group executive, New Zealand and the Pacific. “Part of our work is to feed our members’ voice into the policy and law-making process, and then to make sure our members understand the meaning and implications of new legislative and regulatory rules.”

By its nature advocacy is dynamic, with court decisions, technological innovations and the changing way we live impacting how existing and new legislation is applied. CA ANZ’s many member bodies, advisory committees and working groups weigh in with their expert views – and it’s a great way for CAs to get involved and inform policy.

Simon Grant FCA

Simon Grant FCA has 38 years’ experience in finance, accounting, banking and professional membership. He expanded from audit into banking, corporate finance and then managing members’ interests when he joined CA ANZ in 2002. Grant became a CA in 1987 and a fellow in 2004. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and completed the Asialink Business Leaders program in 2018.

Peter Vial FCA

Peter Vial FCA worked in senior roles with both KPMG and PwC. He also studied and worked in Germany and the UK, including three years as New Zealand Trade Commissioner to Germany. Prior to joining CA ANZ in 2013, Vial was an associate professor in Commercial Law at Auckland University. He is an FCA, a chartered member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, and a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.