Reports Presented at AGM 2018

Prof Janek Ratnatunga,
CEO, ICMA Australia

An Annual General Meeting of the Institute was held on 29 October 2018 at CMA House Clayton

President’s Report at AGM 2018

The Global President of ICMA, Prof Brendan O’Connell reported that the Institute is now on its 22nd year, having been incorporated in 1996. Over the past year it had focused both on delivering membership services and on growth both in Australia and internationally in new Asian Markets.

The focus within Australia was the continuing professional development of our Australian members via symposiums; and the development and growth the new business venture which was authorised at last year’s AGM – Syme Business School – which was subsequently incorporated and has made significant progress to get to launch stage during the year.

The focus overseas was the continuing professional development of our overseas members via symposiums and conferences; and venturing into new Asian Markets.  The ICMA has made progress in the new markets of Bangladesh / Thailand / Laos / Myanmar / Japan / Nepal / Pakistan / and South Korea.

Lifting Institute’s Profile in Australia

The President reported that 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, as per the recommendations of its Strategy Document, to lift its profile in Australia.

One of the key initiatives was the appointment of a Business Development Manager (Dr Chintan Bharwada) in December 2017.

Over the past year the Institute was again successful in canvassing for the role of ‘Management Accountant’ to be maintained for a ninth year in the Australian Government’s Skilled Occupation List (SOL) for General Skilled Migration (GSM).

A formal application was lodged in April 2018 with the Minister of Education for the ICMA to be recognised as a Migration Assessment Authority for the area of Management Accountant. The ICMA is still awaiting a formal response to its application. The uncertainly with the movement of Prime Ministers and Education Ministers in the Federal Government has once again hampered ICMA activities in this area.

Establishing the Syme Business School (SBS)

The rationale for establishing SBS as a subsidiary of ICMA was to convert ICMA’s four-subject graduate conversion professional program and its two-subject CMA professional program from non-award to award courses. This would enable recognition as a Higher Education provider by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

The proposed six-subject ‘Graduate Diploma in Management Accounting’ will be at postgraduate AQF8 level. The allocation for registration as a higher education provider was submitted to TEQSA in July2018.

SBS is owned 70% by ICMA and 30% by the ICMA Council members.

Hall of Fame Awards & Symposiums

In November 28, 2017, the Frontiers of Accounting Symposium was held at Macquarie University, Sydney and the Accounting Hall of Fame® and the Management Accounting Hall of Fame® awards were presented in Melbourne.

In the period October 2017 – January 2018, the President, the CEO, and the CFO, travelled to Cambodia (Oct 19), Sri Lanka (Nov 2), Indonesia (Dec 6), Philippines (Dec 9), Hong Kong (Dec 11) and Malaysia (Jan 18, 2018) for the induction of outstanding individuals to the Accounting Hall of Fame® and the Management Accounting Hall of Fame® in those regions; and also giving talks at symposiums in those countries. The profiles of awards winners can be seen on the website: http://accountinghalloffame.org

Commonwealth of Nations – Activities

The ICMA was accredited to the Commonwealth of Nations under the category of Civic Organisations in 2017. Commonwealth of Nations, also known as simply the Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of 52 sovereign states, including Australia.

The Global Chairman of ICMA, Professor Michael Tse, attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2018 at London in April 2018. As the delegate of ICMA, Michael joined the 47 Commonwealth heads of government at the official opening of CHOGM at the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace and the official reception hosted by Commonwealth Secretary General at St James’s Palace. At the last day of the meeting, he represented ICMA at the Foreign Ministers Roundtable at Lancaster House.

Publications, Research and Library

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 first issue of Management Accounting Frontiers (MAF) [the re-launched name for the Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research (JAMAR) was published in 2018.

Research: 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).

Library: 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.

Committees & Boards

The ICMA has a number of Committees and Boards for its Governance. The Council thanks all who voluntarily served on these Committees and Boards for their time and dedication.

  • Education Committee
  • Education Advisory Board
  • Professional Education Sub-Committee
  • Continuing Education Sub-Committee
  • Academic Education Sub-Committee
  • Membership Committee
  • Membership Advisory Board
  • Membership Services Sub-Committee
  • Industry and Government Engagement Sub-Committee
  • Ethics Sub-Committee
  • Finance Committee
  • Finance, Audit & Risk Advisory Board

Services Provided by the Secretariat:

  • Providing Continuing Professional Education (CPE) to members via Calwest University in the USA and the Academy of Finance and Management Australia (AFMA).
  • Re-designing the corporate website that was in keeping with the enhanced international profile of ICMA and Maintaining a Member’s Only area on the website.
  • Emailing monthly the Members Update, and Publishing in pdf format 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 CEO Blog, with links to professional social media platforms

Membership Committee Chairman’s Report

Mr John Donald, the Membership Committee Chairman reported that we had a +28% increase in CMAs (+30% increase previous year); a +30% increase in professional memberships (+28% in the previous year), and an overall membership growth of +14% (+25% last year). The new Membership Designation of CGBA now has 85 members (81 last year).

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 7,710 members in 58 countries, and over 10,000 members inclusive of students.

Education Committee Chairman’s 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 2018:

  • 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
  • Human Resource Management
  • Sustainable Procurement
  • Cross-Cultural Negotiations
  • Performance Budgeting
  • VAT Law & Practice (UAE)
  • Performance and Valuation
  • Accounting Practice (Vietnam)
  • Performance & Valuation

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

Treasurers Report

The Financial Statements of the Institute were distributed to all members present and discussed. The Treasurer, Chris D’Souza reported that in its 22nd year the Institute finds itself in a strong and stable financial position ready to support the growth of the association and in the process ensure that the financial position gets stronger and remains stable and steady as she grows.

During the Financial Year 2017-18 the Membership Income of the association grew by $114K – 22% over previous year and total Income grew by $122K – +21% over previous year. However, we managed to keep the growth in our operating expenditure down to $28K – only +5% over previous year. The result of this strong growth in income and controlled expenditure was an increase in surplus of $98K – +168% over previous year. For the first time the accumulated balance of members funds crossed one million dollars – a growth of $150K – +18% over the previous year.

 

Warm Regards,

 

Professor Janek Ratnatunga, CMA, CGBA

CEO, ICMA Australia

About Prof Janek Ratnatunga 1129 Articles
Professor Janek Ratnatunga is CEO of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants. He has held appointments at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the Australian National University in Australia; and the Universities of Washington, Richmond and Rhode Island in the USA. Prior to his academic career he worked with KPMG.