Female Leadership

We will welcome Suzanne Mercier to be our guest speaker on Female Leadership.

Suzanne Mercier is a highly experienced strategist, leadership champion and expert in the area of human potential and has been improving business and individual performance for more than 25 years. Her focus is on removing the barriers to performance for talented Leaders and Managers within organisations. As a result, she has improved employee engagement and enhanced performance at every level.

As the first female Board Director of George Patterson Advertising and a strategy planner for the agency, Suzanne worked to create maximum customer engagement for leading brands in banking, food, cosmetics, animal products, beverages, fine china and crystal.  

In her high level marketing roles with Coca Cola Amatil and Schwarzkopf, Suzanne was responsible for the launch of several well-known fast moving consumer go ods brands that remain on the shelves today. 

For 18 years, Suzanne has run her own business and for the past 13 years, has focussed on speaking, training, coaching and facilitative consulting to create sustainable and profitable businesses.  Her Clients come from a wide variety of industries including shopping centre management, financial services, technology, heavy equipment, health, fitness, cosmetics, commercial real estate, publishing and industry funds.

Suzanne develops and delivers transformational keynotes, activities-based workshops, facilitative consulting and Executive Coaching designed to identify and remove the barriers at all levels, to liberate leadership, improve management capability, lift sales results and identify potential to enhance business performance.

She is a thought provoking speaker and a published author.

Recap on September Session

On the 27^th September over 60 CPA Australia members enjoyed the panel discussion on Career Management at the NSW Women in Business Discussion Group. In attendance at the meeting was NSW Divisional Councillors Amy Wong.

The panellist included Dr. Margaret Drever, NSW Divisional President, Jen Dalitz, Founder of sphinxx, and Wai-Yee Chen, author of OptionsWise and options adviser with RBS Morgans, facilitated by Stella Petrou Concha, Co-Founder and Recruitment Director of REO Recruitment. They contributed to a collective shift in a handful of female members. Members went home with tangible examples of how to manage their career and what the attitude they need to stand out from the crowd.

Reignite Your Passion at Work and Home

The keynote by Shivani Gupa will be fun, interactive and thought provoking.  Bring an open mind to come and listen to hear Shivani speak and become more passionate about your work and home. 

Shivani is the CEO of Passionate People Institute, a company dedicated to creating more passionate people across the globe.  She is an expert at putting passion into work, life and organisations. 

She believes that in order to stay connected to your passion you have to overcome obstacles. Shivani has overcome her own obstacles including:  moving to Australia at age 11 and encountering racism; working in a male dominated environment at senior management. She gave up a highly successful career to dedicate it to helping others find their passion.

Prepare to Secure Your Perfect Role

Sally-Anne Blanshard returns to the "CPA Women in Business" networking group to present on the topic of Interview Skills. Some of you may be considering a change in career in 2012 and this presentation will give you the tools you need to prepare well in advance in order to secure the perfect role. Sally-Anne brings over 15 years consulting experience specifically in the areas of recruitment, talent management and coaching and always offers a session that is engaging, high energy and focused.

Sally-Anne's passion for helping people accelerate their job search is rewarded by an abundance of testimonials. Previously Career Coach for myambition.com and she now 'practiced what she preaches' by managing her own Career Coaching Consultancy - Nourish Coaching.

Connect to Sally-Anne in advance of the presentation and email suggestion of questions you find hard to answer. These will be covered off one by one on the night.

Stella Petrou Concha

Stella Petrou Concha is Co-Founder and Recruitment Director REO Recruitment.

Stella’s mission and purpose in life is to help others succeed. Initially starting a successful career in medicine, she quickly realised that the healthcare sector was not her true passion and soon found her love in recruitment. She started her recruitment career in a global finance and accounting recruitment agency. Stella quickly rose to the top in her field and became the recognised number 1 recruiter in the Asia Pacific district. With a large and loyal blue chip network Stella branched out on her own and became the co-founder and brain power behind the fast growing brand REO Recruitment.

REO Recruitment’s mission is to build teams, and build careers. It’s simply not enough for Stella to do business with you once. Stella’s true success has come from playing an integral role in developing organisational teams and opening doors for constant career laddering. With a proven track record in building the finance and accounting teams for many global blue-chip organisations, Stella has differentiated herself and REO Recruitment as a leading human capital management brand in the Sydney business arena.

Stella’s mantra is “When you succeed, I succeed”.

Wai-Yee Chen

Wai-Yee Chen is a CNBC and SKY Business Channel options presenter, author of OptionsWise and an options adviser with RBS Morgans.  Wai-Yee regularly contributes to magazines, blogs and speaks with investors at conferences, seminars and lectures. Wai-Yee is an advocate of using options to “arm you and not to harm you”.

Her experience in the Australian stock market started in 1996. In 2000, Wai-Yee joined Credit Suisse First Boston as a private client adviser before moving on to RBS Morgans in 2004 in a similar role. In January of 2011, Wai-Yee had the privilege of being a co-principal of Sydney Grosvenor office, one of RBS Morgans’ 55 managed offices across Australia. She is the Derivatives Head of the Sydney Grosvenor office, operating under the Financial Services License of RBS Morgans Limited.

Having advised for 14 years in the Australian equities market and lived through some significant troughs and peaks; Wai-Yee shares her learned knowledge including warts and all, and valuable options experiences with investors and clients through her book, lectures, articles and blogs. Wai-Yee is a CPA, a qualified financial planner with a Masters in Applied Finance from Macquarie University and is ASX Level 2 Derivatives Accredited.
If you would like to know Wai-Yee better, you are invited to visit her blog at www.optionswise.wordpress.com. 

Jennifer Dalitz

Jennifer Dalitz is obsessed with getting more women into leadership roles, in our workplaces and communities. That’s why she started sphinxx and why she writes about, speaks about, mentors and consults on topics related to working women and gender balance. Her expertise in this space has been recognised with an Edna Ryan Workplace Award for improving the working conditions of Australian women through sphinxx, and selection as a finalist in the 2010 NSW Telstra Business Awards.

An avid commentator, Jen regularly features in media publications such as Business Review Weekly, The Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Age, Courier Mail, The Sun Herald, Adelaide Now, In The Black, The National Accountant, Management Today, Marie Claire, Madison, Working Women and Latte, and on TV programs including Lateline Business, The Finance Quarter and Sky News Channel on issues relating to women in leadership.As a keynote speaker, Jen inspires, educates and provokes the audience; as a facilitator and MC,Jen is highly regarded and comfortably commands the room.

Prior to founding sphinxx, Jen’s career in finance and consulting spanned 16 years, international borders and a host of Fortune 500 companies. As an executive and business consultant she experienced first hand the challenges women face as they climb the corporate ladder; and the impact on the bottom line when female talent is under-utilised.

Four years ago, Jen made a conscious decision to leave her executive role in a major financial institution to focus her consulting expertise on gender diversity in leadership. The result was sphinxx – http://www.sphinxx.com.au/ - a website and social enterprise that provides resources and professional development to support women on their leadership journey; and advice and education to ensure employers find and keep the best women on their teams. The vision of sphinxx is to see women equally represented in leadership roles, in our workplaces and communities.

Away from sphinxx, Jen is the mother of a small child and runs a farm in the country. A Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA), Jen holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts (Accountancy). She is Chairman of the Peer Support Foundation and the author of Little Wins for Working Women, and a contributing author to Ideas Volume 3 and The Modern Women’s Anthology.

Dr. Margaret Drever

Dr Margaret Drever is our NSW Divisional President for 2011. Currently an adjunct Associate Professor for Charles Sturt University and Director of Brumar Pty Ltd. Her qualifications are Bachelor of Commerce with a major in accounting and sub major in Law from University of Western Sydney, Master of Economics with specialization in accounting and entrepreneurship and a Doctor of Philosophy in small business accounting from University of New England, plus a Graduate Diploma in Technical Education from University of Technology, Sydney.

She is also Fellow of CPA Australia and has served Divisional Council for the past seven years and regional representative since 1996 till 2005.  On a wider front Margaret was the 2009 and 2010 Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ) President and served on the International Council of Small Business (ICSB) for a number of years. Margaret’s research interests are small business finance and education.  

Margaret’s academic experience covers that of a Director of Accounting and Business Programs for Charles Sturt University Study Centre, Lecturer for with Southern Cross University and University of NSW (ATAX). Prior to becoming an academic in 1994, Margaret worked as an accountant for Boral Limited and Drever Engineering Pty Ltd.

 

How to Manage Your Career?

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group

Tuesday 27 September 2011 | 6pm – 8pm | CPA Centre

We are welcoming Jennifer Dalitz, Dr. Margaret Drever, NSW CPA President, and Wai-Yee Chen on the discussion panel in September. They will share their stories and thoughts on How to Manage Your Career. Stella Petrou Concha from REO Recruitment will facilitate the discussion.

The panel

Jennifer Dalitz is obsessed with getting more women into leadership roles, in our workplaces and communities. That’s why she started sphinxx and why she writes about, speaks about, mentors and consults on topics related to working women and gender balance. Her expertise in this space has been recognised with an Edna Ryan Workplace Award for improving the working conditions of Australian women through sphinxx, and selection as a finalist in the 2010 NSW Telstra Business Awards.

Wai-Yee Chen is a CNBC and SKY Business Channel options presenter, author of OptionsWise and an options adviser with RBS Morgans.  Wai-Yee regularly contributes to magazines, blogs and speaks with investors at conferences, seminars and lectures. Wai-Yee is an advocate of using options to “arm you and not to harm you”. 

Dr. Margaret Drever is our NSW Divisional President for 2011. Currently an adjunct Associate Professor for Charles Sturt University and Director of Brumar Pty Ltd. Her qualifications are Bachelor of Commerce with a major in accounting and sub major in Law from University of Western Sydney, Master of Economics with specialization in accounting and entrepreneurship and a Doctor of Philosophy in small business accounting from University of New England, plus a Graduate Diploma in Technical Education from University of Technology, Sydney.

FMAA PSE Evening

The FMAA Professional Services Evening will be held this Wednesday 10th August at Deloitte Offices from 6pm - 8pm. The event consists of a one hour panel discussion with other Professional services firms for the benefit of students from University of Sydney and University of New South Wales and one hour networking session. 

Three CPA representatives will be attending on the night. The remaining panels and topics which are available are as follows. Please select ONE panel and ONE topic below the panel. 

Advisory:

•  Consulting
• Transactions & Restructuring
•  Forensic Services

Assurance

• Risk Services
• Accounting Advisory Services
• Local and International Opportunities 

Tax & Legal

• Indirect Tax
• Immigrations and Human Capital

If you are interested in being  a part of this panel discussion and available Wednseday evening, please contact sharrie.rooney@cpaaustralia.com.au.

Excel with Andre Croteau

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group

Tuesday 30 August 2011 | 6pm – 8pm | CPA Centre

We will have Andre Croteau, excel expert, back as guest speaker in August.

Andre will share the highlights from previous years, new discoveries and more following tips on:

Vlookups
Macro
Pivot Tables
Excel 2010

Andre suggests us to email the problems we have prior to the event. He will address it anonymous during Q&A time (around 20 minutes). The email address is cpawomen@gmail.com.

For the past few years, Andre has been contracting as an Excel Specialist. Most recent contracts have been with Tourism Australia and Chandler MacLeod where Andre has been introducing work procedures with the use of Microsoft Excel to simplify the work load. His passion is to make work more efficient through the help of Excel, by automating repetitive procedures, or speeding up the work flow he has created hundreds of applications and has save countless hours of work, particularly at month end.

  

Your Board Career

On the 26^th July more than sixty members welcomed Ruth Medd FCPA, Chair of Women on Boards to present on Your Board Career at CPA Centre in Sydney. In attendance at the meeting was NSW General Manager Anthony Matis, NSW President Margaret Drever and NSW Divisional Councillors Amy Wong & Gail Fraser.

Following Ruth’s presentation, the attendees participated in a robust Q&A session, facilitated by Julie Garland McLellan, CEO of Great Governance and a professional company director. General member feedback was positive, with members impressed by the quality of presenter and the Q&A and networking sessions which followed.


Hope you have got your personal to do list done if you are interested in looking for directorship.

We are Looking forward to another great event next month. Andre Croteau will be back and share more tips on Excel with us on 30th of August 2011.

Evaluation summary for the presention on 28/06/2011

I would like to share with you the summary provided by Kate McCallum, our guest speaker on 28th of June 2011.

"The average rating for the value of the presentation was 4.3 out of 5.

Individuals commented on the relevance and depth of the presentation. Here are comments:

·         Interesting to see the impact of the strategies with tax, risk etc

·         Very informative

·         Very good presentation

·         Very good summary and tips

·         Kate has given me good tips about investing

·         Very knowledgeable presenter

·         A very good starting point for thinking about financial security.

Asked about other wealth topics of interest, participants indicated that they would like to hear about:

·         Super

·         Investing & tax strategies – including residential property and share investing; risk/return

·         Building wealth."

July 2011 Session

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group

Tuesday 26 July 2011 | 6pm – 8pm | CPA Centre

The NSW Women in Business discussion group are welcoming Ruth Medd, Chair of Women on Board, as guest speaker and Julie Garland Mclellan,a practising company director who has served on 14 boards, as a moderator in July.

As the Chair of Women on Boards Ruth has developed initiatives and interventions to facilitate the improved participation of women in senior and board roles.  Women on Boards is recognised as a major player in the gender diversity debate.

Ruth’s experiences to date have enabled her to contribute her finance and business management expertise as well as her in depth understanding of the public policy, regulatory and business interface. 

Ruth will present on the following topics and provide attendees with a “personal to do list”

-       The story of Ruth Medd FCPA and how Women on Boards grew from a volunteer effort to a thriving social enterprise

-       Why CPAs as sought after as board members

-       What to think about when you are asked to join a board – personal liability, due diligence, etc

-       Strategies for establishing a board career  - tips on target selection, networking in the right places, marshalling your helpers

Then we will have Julie Garland McLellan to be the moderator for Q&A. Julie is a practising company director and has experience on a range of public sector and commercial boards. Julie has been internationally acclaimed as a leading expert on government sector governance. She is the author of three books on governance and the editor of the Director’s Dilemma newsletter which is read in 36 countries around the world.

Julie has a degree in Civil Engineering, an executive MBA, a diploma and an advanced diploma in company directorship.

Julie has served on 14 boards, both listed and unlisted, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ NSW Council.

To register for this event, please contact the convenor, Shirley Cho.

June 2011 Session

We will have Kate McCallum to join us on 28th of June 2011, 6pm-8pm, at CPA centre. The topic will be ‘Six ways women can be smart about money’.

The presentation is outlined by Kate:

"Today, a woman is better educated, better paid and has more career opportunities than her mother or grandmother.

Have you identified, as a woman, your financial needs? Do you have a financial plan for your life? Do you feel financially well-organised?  

If you’d like to learn six ideas that you can use to take control of your finances and hear about strategies for savvy women to better navigate investing and life, then please join us for this presentation."

Topics covered include:

-          Setting goals

-          Investing

-          Maximising risk and return

-          Borrowing and debt

-          Minimising tax

-          Protecting income and assets

Biography

Kate McCallum co-founded Multiforte in January 2007 - a boutique firm offering tailored financial advice to people who want to be financially well-organised.

Kate has more than 20 years experience in investment, superannuation and insurance. She has worked at senior levels in several leading financial services firms including Westpac/BT Financial Group, State Street and Commonwealth/Colonial.

She has managed superannuation and investment products and services for most of her career, and managed part of a major financial advice business.

Kate is a Board member of the Australian School of Business Alumni Advisory Board. A mentor in the Lucy Program and NSW Councilor for Women Chiefs of Enterprise (WCEI), Kate is passionate about helping women achieve financial independence.

Kate holds post-graduate qualifications in Commerce, Applied Finance and Investment, and Financial Planning.

Kate is regularly asked to present sessions for organisations and conferences, and is regularly featured in the Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Highlight of Tuesday Night

This month meeting was highlighted by the surprised visit of NSW President for 2011, Dr. Margaret Drever and the excellent presentation by our guest speakers (Stephen Lynch and Fiona Hoad from Somerville Legal).

"NSW president is visiting your group tonight." I got this news just couple hours before our group meeting. Dr. Margaret Drever was there around 10 minutes before 6pm. She talked to our group members and encouraged our members to make contributions to our community.

Stephen Lynch presented on "Will" in such a fun way, which really caught the attention of the audience. Q&A time had to be cut short as it had gone overtime.

Fiona Hoad, Accredited Specialist in Family Law, delivered her presentation professionally even though she did not feel very well at that time.

Accountants' PI Insurance Video Series

CPA Australia has produced a few recordings on professional indeminty insurance issues for members in public practice:

• Accountants' PI Insurance: an overview
• 2011 tax regime and risk management 
• Employment practices and insurance

These recordings are also available on the CPA webiste. More details on www.cpaaustralia.com.au/insurancetoolkit.

It might be interesting to our group members in public practice.

May 2011 Session

Fiona Hoad and Steven Lynch from Somerville will join us on the 24th of May as guest speakers.

Stephen Lynch

Bio:

Stephen Lynch has been a solicitor with Somerville Legal since 2001, and was made a director in 2010. He has specialised in estate planning and deceased estates throughout that time, working with clients, accountants and financial planners alike to create effective yet easy-to-understand wills which can cover even the most complex of situations. He is also highly experienced in the administering deceased estates, including obtaining grants of probate/administration and family provision claims.

Recently, Stephen was involved in the pioneering cases  AB v CB and Ors (2009) and Elayoubi, Application of Wosif (2010) which were among the first in NSW to allow the court to make a will on behalf of a person without testamentary capacity.

Presentation Summary:

Stephen Lynch will discuss some important considerations relating to wills, including the mechanics of testamentary trusts and the significant advantages they provide, particularly for relatively substantial estates. He will also discuss the growing area of Family Provision claims upon estates, as well as other important parts of estate planning including superannuation, powers of attorney and enduring guardianship.

Fiona Hoad

Bio:

Fiona Hoad has been a solicitor with Somerville Legal since August 1997.   Fiona was a Senior Associate from 2000 until 2010 when she was appointed a director of the firm. Fiona has practised in family law for over 12 years.  In 2005 Fiona became a Law Society of Society of NSW Accredited Specialist in Family Law. Fiona’s experience includes all areas of family law including property, parenting, spouse maintenance applications and relocation applications. 

Presentation Summary:

Fiona Hoad will present a paper aimed at arming accountants with some basic information to equip them to understand the manner in which assets are treated under the Family Law Act in the context of property settlement.  Fiona will also discuss the significance of Family Law Act Binding Financial Agreements which are the only mechanism in which a person can protect their asset(s) from the jurisdiction of the Family Court of Australia in the event of a relationship break down. 

Let me know what else you would like them to cover.

Good Presentation on "Fraud"

Brett Warfield delivered a very good presentation on “Fraud” to our group on 27^th of April 2011. Most members were captivated by his vast experience and knowledge on the prevention and detection of fraud that were shared. We would like to have him back in the future on exploring this area further.

NSW TAFE - Associate Degree of Accounting Focus Sessions - Need your help

This is a message from NSW CPA Centre. They are looking for help in participating in a project. A few group members including Amy, Ellie and Lisa have put their hands up. There are more places for this Thurseday and Friday to fill.

"TAFE NSW Higher Education with the valued input of CPA Australia and universities are developing a unique tertiary pathway to an accounting career through an Associate Degree of Accounting that allows graduates to transfer to year three of a Bachelor Degree at one of our partner universities.  The program will use innovative delivery and assessment approaches to prepare graduates for work as well as for further study at university.

The program aims to improve graduates’ knowledge and abilities to meet the needs of employers. This will be achieved through strong industry engagement throughout the development and delivery of the program.   At this stage of development, we are seeking your input regarding the required knowledge, skill and other attributes of accounting employees and your thoughts on future directions for the profession.

We invite you to attend one of the lunch time focus group at either the CPA Australia office or the TAFE Ultimo campus on the following dates:

• Thursday 14 April - 12.30pm - 1.15pm at TAFE Ultimo campus

• Friday 15 April - 12.30pm - 1.15pm at at CPA Australia office

The group will consist of around ten accounting professionals and relevant other professionals who will have the opportunity to share and exchange thoughts about the needs of the profession going forward.  A light lunch will be provided.

Your input into the design of this program is highly valued and we hope you will be able to attend.

In participating in this focus group you understand that CPA Australia may make and you consent to the recording of your likeness and/or voice, by any means (including but not limited to audio or visual recordings by cameras and photographers) and that CPA Australia may use these recordings for any purpose.

RSVP:   to Jess at jessica.hartley-lichtenstein@cpaaustralia.com.au"

Join us in supporting this project!

April 2011 Session

Our guest speaker on 27th of April will be Brett Warfield, Partner at Warfield & Associates.

Brett Warfield,  is a Forensic Accountant and Financial Crimes Investigator.  He has more than 23 years Forensic Accounting experience including seven years in senior management with KPMG Forensic in Australia.  Brett has investigated police corruption as part of the financial investigation team at the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service.  He had four years investigating corruption in the NSW Building Industry and was part of the NSW ICAC's inaugural year of operation.

He has vast experience providing advice on the prevention and detection of fraud.  He has headed the investigations into a large number of fraud and corruption cases across Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Brett has been a frequent commentator on topical public issues over the years on ABC Radio and Television, SBS Television and in articles in the Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, Australian Financial Review, Daily Telegraph, CFO, Business Review Weekly and Charter Magazine.

Warfield & Associates recently released its second study into the link between gambling and fraud.

Brett has the following qualifications - Bachelor of Commerce, Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment, MBA (Exec), Graduate Certificate in Fraud Investigation and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance.

Brett's presentation will provide insights into the types of frauds that are currently occurring in Australian businesses and will include:
§  a review of the extent and impact of fraud in Australia;

§  the impact of fraud at both the organisational level and the individual level;

§  a review of recent examples of fraud investigated over recent years highlighting the internal control weaknesses and failures that allowed each fraud to occur, the way in which each fraud was detected and how the organisation responded;

§  the pre-conditions for fraud to occur and ways of eliminating those pre-conditions;

§  an introduction to strategies for preventing fraud; and

§  an introduction to strategies for detecting fraud.

 "I am happy to talk about any aspects of fraud.  So just let me know what the members want to hear about," Brett says. 

Many Thanks to Peter Adam

Feedback

Peter Adam, Head of Tax for Bell Partners, delivered a very informative presentation on FBT and Salary Packaging Update on this Tueseday night. We have received some excelletn feedbacks from our members:

""Peter did a really good presentation. I will give an overall 5 points out of 5."

"Last night’s presentation was fantastic. I found that the topic is very useful..."

Presentation Notes/Slides

The presentation notes were sent out to the members as requested and will be archived and won't be available from 6th of April 2011.

Past Presentation notes

All past presentation notes have been archived and is no longer available.