“Skills Australia's decision to remove accountants from the shortage list based on advertised vacancies has some overall merit, but the reasons for this are quite complex, and there are many nuances to explaining the fall in vacancies”, says Prof Janek Ratnatunga, the CEO of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA ANZ). The National Skills [...]

The “Optus’ data breach which compromised the personal details and even identity documents such as Medicare cards, passports and driving licences of up to 9.8 million Australians leaves many questions unanswered, says Prof Janek Ratnatunga, the CEO of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA ANZ) in an in-depth study titled, Optus Data Hack: The [...]

Despite significant criticisms, international charities persist in using racially stereotyped images of children in fundraising advertising. “This is because, obviously, such images yield the most donations”, says Prof Janek Ratnatunga, the CEO of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA ANZ). In an in-depth study titled ‘Racial Stereotyping in Advertising: The Monetary vs. Societal Impact [...]

Nov 18, 2021 - A ‘black swan event’ is one that whilst being extremely rare and of severe impact, is nevertheless characterised by the widespread insistence it was obvious in hindsight. The Covid-19 pandemic was described as such an event. “Environmental damage is a swan of a different colour, a green one” says Prof Janek [...]

Accountants, Lawyers, and Real-estate professionals are actively lobbying to avoid reporting suspicious transactions. Newspapers and other media outlets have this week reported stories on corrupt activities involving casinos, money laundering, foreign influence, tax avoidance, offshore companies, tax havens, anti-corruption bodies, lax regulation, quantitative easing, and young families being shut out of overheated real-estate markets. “All [...]

Is it time for a Royal Commission on the Auditing profession? In mid-September 2021, The Australian arm of one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious accounting firms, KPMG, was fined A$613,000 by a US accounting watchdog, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), after a review found widespread cheating by staff on training tests [...]

Prof Janek RatnatungaCEO, CMA Australia & NZ In early August 2021, payments fintech Square announced its intention to acquire Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm, Afterpay, for A$39 billion (US$29b) - the biggest ever merger and acquisition agreement in Australian history. However, this tech company is still to make a profit. “This is [...]