INSTITUTE of Public Accountants (IPA) chief executive officer, Andrew Conway has been appointed as chairperson of the Professional Accountancy Organisation Development Committee (PAODC) of the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA) for the next three year term.

The PAODC, a committee under the auspices of CAPA has a mandate to promote and facilitate the establishment and strengthening of professional accountancy organisations in support of the public interest.

“On behalf of the IPA Board of Directors, I would like to congratulate Andrew for this important appointment,” said IPA president, Wendy Leegel.

“The IPA is very committed to the objectives of CAPA and to supporting the development of the profession in our region. 

“The IPA is very proud of Andrew’s achievements and his contribution to global leadership and governance within the profession,” said Ms Leegel.

About the Institute of Public Accountants

The IPA, formed in 1923, is one of Australia’s three legally recognised professional accounting bodies.  In late 2014, the IPA acquired the Institute of Financial Accountants in the UK and formed the IPA Group, with more than with more than 35,000 members and students in over 65 countries.  The IPA is a member of the International Federation of Accountants, the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board and the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants.  The IPA was recognised in 2012 as Australia’s most innovative accounting organisation and listed in the top 20 in the 2012 BRW Most Innovative Companies List. 

www.publicaccountants.org.au

ENDS

AUSTRALIAN shoppers were out in force at Boxing Day retail sales yesterday, with around $2.3 billion expected to have gone through registers across the country as part of the annual Boxing Day sales event, according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).

Russell Zimmerman, ARA Executive Director, said retailers across the country were inundated with shoppers, with some keen shoppers forming queues in anticipation of the discounts from very early morning.

“This year’s Boxing Day crowds certainly did not disappoint, and if anything, were larger than previous years,” Mr Zimmerman said of consumer participation.

“Judging from the number of people in stores and our prediction of $2.3 billion in purchases nationally, I think we’ll be looking at a record Boxing Day in 2015 in terms of sales.

“We anticipate this sales momentum will continue for the next two weeks or more, with the ARA and Roy Morgan Research expecting that Australian consumers will make retail purchases to the tune of $16.8 billion from December 26 to January 15,” he said.

“Boxing Day is traditionally known as the biggest sale day of the year, and while physical stores are the focus for many, online stores will also have seen an uptick in consumer activity for both Boxing Day and right throughout the post-Christmas sales period.”

Categories tipped to enjoy the biggest increases in year on year sales in the next three weeks according the ARA and Roy Morgan will be ‘other’ at 6.1 percent growth, and ‘department stores’ at 4.3 percent.

On a state basis, Victoria will be the big winner, with year on year growth of 5.6 percent growth for the period encompassing December 26 to January 15.

“South Australia will have experienced relatively lower sales at $115 million on Boxing Day because of the retail trading ban in metropolitan areas which only allows CBD stores to open,” Mr Zimmerman said.

ARA ROY MORGAN POST-CHRISTMAS 2015/16 SALES PREDICTIONS

December 26, 2015 – January 15, 2016

Boxing Day 2015 sales

(Australian Retailers Association)

2015/16 Post-Christmas Sales Growth by State

(ARA/ROY MORGAN)

2015/16 Post-Christmas Sales Growth by Category

(ARA/ROY MORGAN)

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $284 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

ENDS

NATIONAL resource industry employer group, AMMA (Australian Mines and Metals Association) Executive Director for Policy & Public Affairs, Scott Barklamb made a statement in early December criticising Labor's handling of union corruption.

Mr Barklamb said the December 7 announcement by Bill Shorten and Brendan O’Connor on trade union corruption "is an overdue and inadequate response to governance failures and criminality that are increasingly tarnishing Australia’s trade union movement and harming hard working union members".

"Mr Shorten claims that Labor has zero tolerance for criminality and corruption in the union movement, but actions speak louder than words," Mr Barklamb said.

"For more than two years the Opposition and their fellow addicts to union funding, the Greens, have held up essential reforms to how unions are governed and overseen by regulators.

"These reforms would have made a real difference. As Labor has dissembled, prevaricated and blocked reform, they have unfortunately in effect run protection for the sociopathic fringe of the union movement that is robbing hard working union members and displaying wanton disregard for the law.

"By repeatedly blocking the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment Bill 2014), Labor has enabled parts of the trade union movement to perpetuate financial and administrative practices that would be completely unacceptable in corporate Australia.

"The need to urgently beef up oversight and enforcement is clear. Recent days have seen the arrests of senior CFMEU officials in Victoria for alleged blackmail."

Mr Barklamb said this came on top of evidence of:

• Officials and employees of the National Union of Workers (NUW) ripping off hundreds of thousands of dollars of member money to spend on jewellery, tattoos, dating websites and concert tickets;
• The destruction of union financial and other records that may have been sought by the Heydon Royal Commission; and
• Substantial misappropriation of funds not only in the HSUA, but also in other unions.

"Following today’s overdue and underwhelming acceptance that there are bad apples within the union movement that must be dealt with, AMMA calls on Bill Shorten and Brendan O’Connor to demonstrate they are genuine and not concocting a further stunt to delay reform," Mr Barklamb said.

"If it is serious about reform and stamping out the ‘bad apples’, the Opposition should commit to urgently passing the new rules for the governance of registered unions and employer associations currently before Parliament when it resumes in the new year."

www.amma.org.au

ends

THE Victorian Chamber’s submission to the Productivity Commission (PC) has argued that the key outcomes of its review of Australia’s workplace relations framework must be the creation of a simpler, fairer and more efficient framework that spurs economic growth, increased productivity and improved business competitiveness.
                                                                         
Victorian Chamber chief executive Mark Stone said he welcomed a number of the final report’s recommendations including:

• Aligning penalty rates on Sundays in hospitality, entertainment, retail, restaurants and cafes with Saturday rates.
• Reform to curtail the cost impost of state based public holidays in addition to the national public holidays, as recently seen with the introduction of two new public holidays in Victoria.
• An emphasis on substance rather than process for unfair dismissal claims.
• The return of upfront assessments of unfair dismissal claims in some circumstances, which would limit the time and effort spent by employers in defending unmeritorious claims.
• Recognition that the enterprise agreement approval process is overly rigid and requires reform.
• Addressing ‘strike first, talk later’ tactics that subject business to costly disruptions. The PC has recommended prohibitions and restrictions that would limit this avenue.
• The PC’s assessment that the costs involved with expanding existing portable long service schemes would not be justified, given this would effectively introduce an additional employment tax on business with no associated benefit. 

"However, the report falls short in removing costly and lengthy general protections claims, though it does propose reforms to limit the ability of frivolous and vexatious claims to proceed, and for greater powers to award costs against applicants," Mr Stone said.

"We are disappointed that our recommendation to remove the ‘complaints’ element of the expansive general protections regime was not adopted, despite our analysis revealing only one successful case in over six years that would not have attracted protection under prior legislation. The thousands of claims against employers and rise in ‘go away money’ are therefore set to continue.

"The report also misses the opportunity to recommend crucial changes to restrict access to unfair dismissal claims, including for high income earners and genuine redundancy situations.

"Despite urging the PC to remove the burden of unfair dismissal for businesses with under 20 employees, this recommendation was not part of the final report, meaning small business will continue to spend time and money defending claims rather than running their businesses," Mr Stone said.

"We now urge the government to consider the recommendations of the PC and take on the heavy lifting required to legislate much needed reforms for business."

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1851, is the most influential business organisation in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

victorianchamber.com.au

ends

FARMERS and other interested stakeholders are encouraged to have their say on regulation affecting Australia’s agriculture sector, with the release of an issues paper today as part of a Productivity Commission inquiry that will look at ways to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden across agriculture.

Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Barnaby Joyce, said the Coalition Government was delivering on its commitment under the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper to make doing business easier and to cut red tape for farmers.

“Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of regulation is important for all sectors of our economy — but particularly for our $58 billion a year agriculture sector, where our competitiveness in international markets is crucial to profitability,” Minister Joyce said.

“Sensible regulation has important roles to play, such as protecting consumers from unsafe food and supporting our agricultural exports. But poorly administered or implemented regulation can have significant impacts on the profitability and productivity of our farm businesses, and can undermine the sector’s global competitiveness.

“This inquiry will identify priority areas for removing or reducing unnecessary red tape to improve the sector’s productivity and competitiveness, and will also take into account regulation in key supply chains.

“I encourage farmers and anyone else with an interest in our agriculture sector to get involved and have their say.

“In undertaking its inquiry, the Productivity Commission will also be considering submissions received during the development of the Ag White Paper and White Paper on Developing Northern Australia, as well as other relevant material in the public domain.

“This is just one way the Ag White Paper is creating a better business environment for farmers—we have already delivered fairer taxation arrangements, established an ACCC Agriculture Enforcement and Engagement Unit, and have commenced work to streamline regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals.”

To find out more about the Productivity Commission inquiry into the Regulation of Agriculture, including how to make a submission or to read the issues paper, visit pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/agriculture.​

To read the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, visit agwhitepaper.agriculture.gov.au.

ends

THE Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed today’s release of the Andrews Government’s Major Projects Skills Guarantee.

"It is good that the government is leveraging the delivery of Victoria’s infrastructure projects to develop the skills of the next generation of workers," Victorian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Mark Stone said.

"Like the Victorian Chamber Internship Program, this measure supports the development of a skilled, adaptive and productive workforce aligned to the needs of business.
 
"Business wants to employ graduates with 'real world” work experience and this announcement will help apprentices, trainees and engineering cadets throughout Victoria get this experience.
 
"While the Major Projects Skills Guarantee will expand opportunities for apprentices and trainees, further reforms to industry purchasing policy are needed to foster jobs and enhance local industry capability and competitiveness," he said.

The Victorian Chamber’s recent submission to the Review of Victorian Industry Participation Policy (VIPP) calls for:

• Changes to government purchasing frameworks to provide small business with more timely information about genuine procurement opportunities.
• The establishment of a formal weighting system for local content in the evaluation of tenders.
• A minimum local content target for all major regional procurement projects.
• Improvements to procurement practices in the public healthcare and judicial systems to ensure there is greater transparency in the way in which tenders are advertised, evaluated and awarded.
• The streamlining of procurement frameworks currently in operation across the three tiers of government. 

"The private sector plays a significant role in the government procurement process; designing, constructing, operating and maintaining an array of infrastructure projects across the state," Mr Stone said. "Therefore, reforms must also improve the environment for business by lowering costs, reducing red tape and improving investor confidence."

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1851, is the most influential business organisation in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

victorianchamber.com.au

ends

THE Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O'Dwyer, has released draft legislation and regulations for public consultation on resilience and collateral protection, and a policy paper on client monies.

THE PRODUCTIVITY Commission (PC) has failed employers, employees and the Australian community by giving our unnecessarily complicated workplace relations system a free pass and not properly considering how it should be fundamentally reformed for the future.

That is the view of national resource industry employer group, AMMA (Australian Mines and Metals Association) executive director for policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb.

"While recommending some useful changes to elements of our current employment laws, today’s 1229 page PC report fails to deliver a proper plan for how our workplace relations system can best support jobs, productivity and competitiveness in Australia’s 21^st Century economy," Mr Barklamb said.

"The PC fails to address how uncoordinated, excessive regulation is harming our competitiveness as a place to do business, invest and create jobs. Australia is the only country in the world to overlay awards, agreements, minimum standards and regulation of day-to-day relations between employers and employees.

"Unions are also artificially placed at the centre of our workplace laws when just 11% of private sector employees join them. 

"Australia’s business community recommended a raft of positive ideas to the PC to genuinely reform our workplace relations system and expected the PC to deliver options for meaningful change. Anything less risks failing not only existing employers and employees, but young people whose future livelihoods hinge on this generation’s will to properly address serious national challenges," Mr Barklamb said.

"The PC’s 21 pages of recommendations do contain some positive ideas that will improve our workplace relations laws and that will be supported by employers.

"However, the PC needed to do more than blithely conclude our overall system is not in need of fundamental repair. It is very disappointing the PC appears to have made only piecemeal, uncoordinated recommendations across a limited subset of areas, rather than thinking about how our workplace relations system could be improved.

"AMMA and its members welcome the Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash, opening a period for further input to government on how the PC’s report and recommendations should be progressed. We will use planned roundtable discussions to further advocate the national benefits of more meaningful reform, as well as engage with the PC’s specific recommendations.

"AMMA will encourage the Turnbull Government to put jobs, investment, productivity, growth and our future living standards at the centre of how it proceeds following the PC report, and we welcome the Minister’s prioritisation of these concerns as she released the report today," he said.

"Genuine workplace reform can deliver real benefits for Australia. For instance, independent research showed that key workplace reforms advocated by AMMA could support resource sector productivity growth of up to 5% and investment growth of 8%, add $30.9 billion to Australia’s GDP and create 36,000 additional jobs."

www.amma.org.au

ends