Largely through our irreverent Rear Window column, The Australian Financial Review has raised serious questions about the governance of the accountants' professional association, CPA Australia. They have questioned whether CPA is living up to the principles suggested by its claim to be "a leading advocate of sound corporate governance". They have questioned the role of CPA's lively chief executive Alex Malley, whose face has been plastered over bill boards from Sydney to New York promoting his book "The Naked CEO". Then there is his Sunday morning television show, "In Conversation with Alex Malley" where he interviews celebrities with little direct relevance to practising accountants. It appears that watching this program can count towards a member's compulsory professional development hours.
Mr Malley has admirably grown CPA's global membership to more than 150,000 and boosted its revenue to $180 million in line with its goal to ""maximise the share of people who want a career built on professional accounting skills". The questions, however, include whether this global expansion is in the best interests of its Australian accountant members and in accord with CPA's role as a certifier of accountancy accreditation under the Corporations Act. That is, CPA is both a professional membership organisation and regulator of professional accountants.
As we reported yesterday, CPA members such as Armidale accountant Brett Stevenson have begun asking questions. Mr Stevenson's queries include CPA's election system, where the board appoints close to half those supposed to vote for it; CPA's refusal to disclose individual executive or director salaries; and the lack of detailed breakdown of CPA's costs, including for Mr Malley's book and television show. When pressed, CPA has argued that Mr Malley's high profile brand-promotion is a legitimate tool for reaching a younger and broader audience and building membership. Unless CPA can satisfactorily answer the questions of Mr Stevenson and others, however, it will end up damaging its own brand.
