President, ICMA Australia & NZ
President’s Report 2021-2022 – The 26th Year
After reporting for two consecutive years (2020 and 2021) amidst the doom and gloom of Covid, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to welcome you all to our first AGM post covid (cautiously optimistic like all of you that Covid is behind us).
The last two years, as I mentioned last year were like no other in our lifetimes. Thankfully the year 2022 is different and I am happy to report that our Institute in its 26th year, has emerged stronger and in stellar health, both at home in Australia & New Zealand as well as internationally.
ICMA adapted very well to the challenging Pandemic world and has emerged stronger and more resilient by channelling its resources towards:
- Getting New Zealand Government Qualification Authority (NZQA) assessment for the CMA(NZ) program as being equivalent to the highest postgraduate level (Masters) & Rebranding CMA Australia as CMA ANZ
- Improving our website and developing the CMA (New Zealand) website.
- Enhancement of our member portal.
- Holding five very successful Global CMA Zoom programs – the latest of which was attended by 150 participants from 26 countries across the world
- Holding regular Webinars for our members.
- Submissions to the Government.
- Attended industry relevant seminars and meetings
- Sponsoring awards at universities
- Publishing opinions pieces and media releases on important matters.
- Creating an electronically verifiable membership badge (certified by Credly) available to our members.
The institute has been able to leverage the New Zealand Government Qualification Authority (NZQA) which assessed the CMA program as being equivalent to the highest postgraduate level (Masters) and its successful rebranding to make great strides in New Zealand. Our CEO Prof Janek, CFO/COO Dr. Chris and I visited all the major Universities in New Zealand and were welcomed very warmly by the academic fraternity down there.
In the last 2 years I had reported that ICMA continued to review, reimaging and recreate its operations through the proactive adaptation and consequently this year I am pleased to report that, financially we had our most successful year on record:
- Our revenue grew by 37% and membership subscriptions grew by 35% over the previous year.
- The current financial 2022-23 looks promising though it may be difficult to replicate the growth in 2021-22 for many reasons. However, we can be cautiously optimistic of stronger growth in the years to come.
Webinars
Webinars delivered internationally from Australia were:
- Sept 9, 2021 – Webinar – “Is Personality Profiling useful in People and Culture (HR) management“ Presenter: Chris Baker – CEO PeopleMaps NZ and Aus,
- Oct 7, 2021 – Webinar by Alena Bennett – speaker, author, mentor, team facilitator and leadership coach -“CFO of the Future: Beyond Business Partner”
- Dec 2, 2021 – Webinar by Prof Janek Ratnatunga –CEO ICMA – “Green Swan: The Existential Cost of the Plastic Pandemic“
- Feb 9th, 2022 – Webinar by Mayuri Wijayasundara PhD, CPA – Circular economy – The role of management accountants – Director at Anvarta, a management consulting company providing insights, consulting services and solutions.
- June 21, 2021 – Webinar by Prof Charl de Villiers – Professor of Accounting at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. -What’s New in Sustainability Reporting Standards: The Impact of IASB, SEC and EFRAG
Webinars delivered internationally by Regional Offices included those from our Indonesian branch continues to be the most proactive and dynamic one conducting an average of 2 webinars every month – during the year they conducted over 20 webinars across Indonesia in collaboration with universities and other prominent Indonesian businesses. Besides Indonesia the Sri Lankan branch also conducted many webinars as did our branches in Hong Kong, Philippines, and Bangladesh.
Syme Business School
SBS continued to organise Zoom programs for ICMA as listed above and this proved to be profitable and efficient for Syme Business School. As a result of this, ICMA is happy to announce that Syme Business school made a profit for the third consecutive financial year in 2021-22 and is continuing to operate profitably in 2022-23. Consequently, they continue to reduce the accumulated past losses
Publications
The eNewsletter On Target continued to be published and the web-analytics indicates that it gets on average 5,000 visits and 6,000-page views per month.
Management Accounting Frontiers (MAF) continued to be published in 2021-22. The Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research (JAMAR) which changed editorial direction in 2017 to publish peer-reviewed practice oriented applied papers for the management accounting profession, continued to publish two issues in 2021 and 2022.
Research:
Research and professional development also continued in the two organizations set up by the ICMA:
- The Institute of Certified Carbon Analysts and Auditors (ICCAA) and
- The Institute for the Advancement of Corporate Reporting and Assurance (IACRA).
Library
The Library now has over 12,200 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. Unfortunately, the physical library could not be used for most of the year due to Covid-19 related lockdowns. Arrangements were made to secure the use of digital library services for members via TopiaU Library Services
Committees & Boards
The ICMA has a number of Committees and Boards for its Governance.
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
The Council thanks all who voluntarily served on these Committees and Boards for their time and dedication.
Services Provided by the Secretariat.
- CPD Register: The institutes online CPD Register where members can upload the CPD they have undertaken in the assessment period.
- CPD: Providing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities to members via Calwest University in the USA and the Academy of Finance and Management Australia (AFMA). Special arrangements were made with these two organisations to provide education programs at discount prices to members due to COVID-19 restrictions.
- Website: Maintaining the corporate website that is in keeping with the enhanced international profile of ICMA (ANZ).
- Member’s Only Area: Maintaining a Member’s Only area on the website.
- CMA Updates: Emailing monthly the Members Update, and Publishing in pdf format 6 copies of the On-Target
- Library: Due to Covid-19 lockdowns the holdings of the library could not be increased in terms of books. However, professional and academic publications obtained by subscriptions continued to be delivered during the year.
- CRM: Having a world-class Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to handle the membership, invoicing, examinations and accounts.
- Assessments: Due to Covid-19 lockdowns assessments were mainly online and digital. The conducting of physical examinations in all Branch locations and in over 20 countries where students undertake the CMA program online will hopefully re-commence in 2023.
- Social Media: The ICMA official sites of Facebook and Instagram were significantly enhanced and the publications of the CEO Blog continued over the year.
Thanks!
- My colleagues will agree that the input of our CEO and Education Committee Chairman, Prof Janek Ratnatunga, our Treasurer, Dr Chris D’Souza; and our Editor of On Target Direct, Dr. Chintan Bharwada.
- The Editors and the international panel of referees for their work in publishing Management Accounting Frontiers (MAF) and Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research (JAMAR).
- Special thanks also go to:
- Prof Michael Tse, our Global Chairman
- David Cartney, our Vice-President
- Hans Ferdinands, our Secretary
- Roshani Perera, our Membership Committee Chair.
- Jehan Ratnatunga, our webmaster
- Chris Perera, our Executive Officer
- Finally, a vote of thanks to our auditor Ben Kaplan (still no relation of Robert) who has once given his time to discharge his duties very professionally.
Membership Committee Chairman’s Report
Ms Roshani Perera presented the Membership Committee Report.
Membership Growth
Membership continued to grow. 2021-22 saw a rise membership renewals as well as new memberships. We had a 28% increase in CMAs and 40% rise AMA’s and a lower 9% increase in the lower levels of membership (CAT/RCA/GMA) – overall financial membership increased by +22% .
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 11,611 members in 104 countries.
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 and in this financial year, the New Zealand Government Qualification Authority (NZQA) provided equivalency assessments for the different levels of the GMA & CMA programs.
- Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) (Level 4 – Certificate)
- Registered Cost Accountant (RCA) (Level 5 – Diploma)
- Registered Business Accountant (RBA) (Level 6 – Advanced Diploma)
- Graduate Program (For School Leavers) – GMA & AMA (Level 7 – Degree)
- Graduate Conversion Program (For Non-Accounting Graduates/ Professionals) – GMA& AMA.
- CMA Program (For Accounting Graduates/Professionals) –CMA (Level 9 – Masters Year 2)
- 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 2020-2021.
- International Financial Reporting Standards
- Risk Management (online)
- Islamic Banking and Finance
- Family Business.
- Foreign Exchange Management
- Transport and Shipping
- Supply Chain Management
- Project Management (online)
- Project Finance (online)
- Takaful (Islamic) Insurance
- International Business Analysis (online)
- 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
- Business Valuation (online)
- Digital Marketing (Online)
- Pricing & Revenue Management (Online)
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
Treasurer’s Report
Dr Chris D’Souza presented the Treasurer report.
He said that at the beginning of the Pandemic in April 2020 Revenue dropped to practically NIL and the subsequent revenue recovery for 2020-21 was slow. However, the executive had quickly adapted to the new covid world and introduced measures like webinars and zoom programs. As a direct result of the proactive adaptation by its executive, ICMA’s revenue collections recovered to within 5% over the previous years in 2020-21.
The Treasurer reported that membership collection grew by 35% over the previous year and by 26% over the pre-pandemic level in 2019-20.
During the current year. like the global economy, we are facing challenging times which have been exasperated by the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy which constitutes our 5th largest membership base. The Institute had to come up with special measures and hardship fees to assist them. Consequently, the Treasurer predicted slow growth in the current year, but that the ICMA will remain steady as it grows and will put in place measures to grow and retain its members.
He reported that the financial position of our association keeps growing stronger. The Members funds grew by 4% during the financial year 2021-22 and is we expect it to keep growing stronger steadily.
Prudent financial management has left our association well placed to confront the aftereffects of the Pandemic with an accumulated balance of members funds of 1.4 million dollars and coincidentally the ICMA’s current liquid assets close to that figure as seen from the Balance Sheet.
Professor Brendan O’Connell, FCMA
President, ICMA Australia
