Victorian businessman, philanthropist, sportsman and long time Hayes Knight client, Simon McKeon, has been named Australian of the Year 2011.

Mr McKeon is a successful investment banker but took up a part-time role as an executive chairman at Macquarie Group in 1994 to focus on social causes.

His lifelong efforts to support Australian and international charities has earned him great admiration and respect with the Australian community.

In his acceptance speech, Mr McKeon said “I am just one of a great army of Australians who are involved in the not-for-profit sector”.  He urged Australians to volunteer, particularly in the wake of devastating floods across the country. ”We as individuals and as a community need to nurture the non-for-profit sector, which in turn nurtures our nation,” he said.

We congratulate Mr McKeon on this well deserved recognition and are honoured to have him on our client list.

By Margaret Parker, Hayes Knight Melbourne

I have recently attended the WCOA and it has been an awesome experience. 6046 Accountants from 134 countries attended the congress. 800 were from Nigeria and many more attended from Africa which provided great colour to the occasion. The congress is held every 4 years.

The hosts of the congress were The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). It was held in the Kuala Lumpur Conference Centre which was a wonderful venue that perfectly suited a conference of that size.

I had a particular interest in attending the congress as I have been on the IFAC Nominating Committee this year and many of the Board members of IFAC chaired or spoke at sessions.

The theme of the conference was Accountants: sustaining value creation and many of the sessions covered this theme.

The opening ceremony was amazing from the perspective of sitting in a room with 5000 accountants. The congress was opened by Robert Bunting, the outgoing president of IFAC who also chairs the nominating committee. The closing address was presented by the incoming chairman of IFAC, Goran Tidstrom who will chair the nominating committee next year.

Four Plenary sessions were held and the speakers for each were world class in their experience of the subjects which were:

• Accountants: Sustaining Value Creation in a Borderless Economy
• Islamic Finance: Strengthening the Global Financial Market
• Accounting for Sustainability: The Integrated Reporting Framework
• and finally,Save Accountants in the Next Decade – Embracing Change and Seizing Opportunities.

The plenary sessions were most stimulating and it was particularly interesting to hear about Islamic Finance, something we will all need to understand if our clients are going to deal in Islamic Countries. All the sessions concluded the need for global accounting standards and a reporting framework to include social and environmental measurements. As one presenter commented – “Investors want to know how businesses in the World are using world resources.”

One clear message that came out of these sessions is that sustainable value creation is built on trust, technical relevance and leadership and that trust has to be earned every day. Something we are should remember.

It was also made clear that our history of “take, make and waste” is not sustainable. There are not limitless resources and the earth does not have an infinite ability to store waste. Natural assets do have a cost. Therefore the impact businesses are having on the environment and society does need to be reported on and to do so effectively it has to be measured. Accountants should grasp the role of measuring these impacts.

To this end IFAC is involved in a committee called The International Integrated Reporting Committee who will be reporting to the World Bank in October 2011 on this issue.
With complete information investors can make informed decisions. As one speaker pointed out, investors are no longer the wealthy families of the world but are pension funds which have your and my money to invest. The point that we are caretakers of the planet was frequently reiterated.

Five Chief Executives of accounting bodies discussed Accountants in the Next Decade. The global connection of the profession will be more developed in the coming years. The shift of power to the emerging economies will also impact on accountants in the next decade. Ethical standards, social responsibility and sustainable reporting will also impact into the future as will a single set of global standards. Evidence shows that sustainable business is good business so reporting and measuring the sustainable actions of business will be vital.

It was highlighted during the plenary sessions and at other sessions that the SME’s are the backbone of all economies and the backbone of the recovery from the global financial crisis. Therefore accounting bodies should be supporting small and medium practices who support the SME sector.

There were several sessions which provided information for the SME sector including a session on the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Attending this session renewed my interest in the technical aspects of accounting so I will review the IFRS to see what impact it will have on our firm.

One session outlined IFAC initiatives for the SMP sector which included more prominence of SMP members on boards and committees and a change in focus to “Think Small” rather that the regulations being made for capital markets which then trickle down to the SME sector. The final session I attended related to review and compilation services with presenters describing this issue from their own country perspective. Again, it gave me a thirst for knowledge in this area.

Attending the conference was a wonderful experience. It has given me renewed vigour for and pride in my profession. I believe Hayes Knight Melbourne would benefit from sending two or three of their key Managers and Partners to the next world congress which will be held in Rome in November 2014.