DAY THREE: WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15

Wrap up

Augusto Lopez-ClarosDirector Global Indicators Group, Development Economics, World Bank Group (USA)

Global leadership conversation – competitiveness, trade and the G20

1.When you get a budget right it leads to growth, when you get it wrong it leads to instability.

2. The 2008 crisis interventions for the Global Financial Crisis were 60 times larger than the Marshall plan of 1948.

3. Population ageing and climate change is going to put pressure on budgets around the world.

4. Countries need to be more honest about their fiscal situation.

5. Upskilling workers is essential for countries to develop and compete in the global economy.

Key points:

Shane CrockettTax Services Director, William Buck

Corporate tax update

Shane Crockett Tax Services Director, William Buck

Key points:

Jonathon Larosa Senior Tax Services Manager, William Buck

1. It is the obligation of a director to an in the best interests of the company and not of the share holders or self.

2. Being a 'sleeping' or inactive director is not a defence against DPNs

3. Foreign Tax offsets are subject to:- Foreign taxes must be paid.- Must be correctly imposed under foreign law.- Must relate to income or profits or gains.- Not available for taxes imposed on percentage of asset sale proceeds. - From 1 July 2008 - 'use it or lose it' .

4. Tax treaty definition of PE does not automatically satisfy 'carrying on a business' requirements

5. Changes to legislative include: - Repeal of MRRT.- Budget repair of levy.

John King FCPAManaging Director, AJK Consulting Pty Ltd

Winning cashflow strategies

1. Companies need to think about prices which are not sustainable. 

2. Timing of cash inflows and outflows underpins cash flow management.

3. Self-funded growth does not depend on external parties, making it advantageous.

4. Companies need to focus on sustainable cash flow when thinking long term and free cash flow for short term.

5. Drivers of sustainable cash flow  are profit performance, debt levels & debt servicing, capital efficiency. 

Key points:

Inclusive leadership and valuing diversity

Key points:1.There are different types of diversity:

Cognitive diversity - Differences in how we think.Affective diversity - How we feel and believe.Behavioural - How we behave.Identity diversity - Differences in who we are.

2. Diversity is about differences. Inclusion is about the action you take to include difference.

3. Some organisations are more inclusive than others, the best are intentional and active about it.

4. Telstra is pulling a way from thinking about special groups and moving towards thinking of ‘everyone’

5. All roles at Telstra are flexible so it is important to make sure even the CEO and executive team act as role models for flexibility.

6. Plenty of technology available to support flexibility. If you let staff know what the expectations and deliverables are, you can let them manage their work routine flexibly.

Troy RoderickGeneral Manager, Diversity and Inclusion, Telstra

Clare Lezaja FCPAFinance Director, Telecommunications, Telstra

Shayne ElliottChief Financial Officer, ANZ

Changing the conversation: From enablement to performance driver

Key points:

1. ANZ's finance team aims to drive the financial performance by shaping strategy, allocating resources and ensuring decisions are based on facts.

2. Key resources at ANZ - operating expense, project investment spend, funding gap and capital.

3. ANZ has a huge focus on banking technology with 250 projects on the go at any one time. There's a minimum spend of $5million for each.

4. The people who work at ANZ are the most important asset. Finance is less about numbers and more about influence.

Dave CardenNational Manager – Unified Communications, Solution Sales, Telstra Business, Telstra

Innovation is a function of collaboration

Key points:

1. Invention is one thing but to truly innovation, collaboration is key

2. The essential ingredients to innovate are: Vision. Proximity. Language. Purpose. Trust.

3. The measures of collaboration effectiveness are: Customer engagement. Employee engagement. Talent acquisition and retention. Idea to execution.

4.  The human factor is the key measure for innovation

5. Using the cloud opens up new collaboration possibilities

China’s economic development and cross-border issues facing the accountancy profession

Speakers: Jessie Wong CPA, Director in Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Quality Control and Risk Management, KPMG China; Len Jui, Partner and Head of Public Policy and Regulation, KPMG China

Key points:1. China was considered one of the poorest countries in 1979, but is now on track to become the largest economies in the world. China may continue to grow dynamically for another 15-20 years.

2. There are around 200,000 qualified accountants in Australia servicing 23 million Aussies. But only 99,000 accountants in China servicing 1.3 billion people in China. Only 11 firms in China are licensed and qualified to do cross-border work.

3. We tend to look at China as one central government, but there are many regional authorities in charge of interpreting, implementing and enforcing policies. Problems with inconsistancies in standards exist around the country.

4. Because China is a big place the only way to regulate it is through numbers. Which means quantitative audits.Size requirement of licensed firms that want to conduct audit has increased since 2013.

5. Ministry of finance and security regulator assess and inspect companies - even foreign ones.

6. Archives for audits and regulation can not be taken out of the PRC. Auditors must adhere to Archives Law and State Secrets Law.

Bryce HoldawayDirector, Empower Wealth, Property Advisor & Buyers Agent

Property investment: How to build a passive income for life

Ben KingsleyChief Executive Officer, Empower Wealth

1.Only 1 in 10 investors buy 3 or more properties.

2. Investors need to consider asset selection, borrowing power, cashflow management and defence.

3. Investing in property is a process, not an event – you need to set goals, evaluate, develop a strategy and tactics, implement your plan and measure and monitor performance.

4. A good advisor will want to learn about you – your current and future financial capacity, motivations, goals and dreams and your skill set when it comes to property investment.

5.It is important to defend your assets, income and lifestyle as party of your property investment strategy.

Key points:

Gillon McLachlanChief Executive Officer, Australian Football League

AFL Boss Gillon McLachlan – leading a new era of the game

Key points:

1. You can never be fully prepared for every aspect of being a CEO in any organisation.

2. No one can succeed in life without a good work ethic. 

3. 70% of the AFL's revenue comes from the sport's broadcast rights.

4. There needs to be a balance between AFL fan expectations, fixtures, pricing and stadium entertainment. 

5. The AFL needs to keep progressing and evolving as a sport.

Sara Watts FCPAVice-Principal (Operations), University of Sydney

A CFO’s role in the digital economy

Key points:

1. Digital economy will become the economy - customers will become more connected and demand more while organisations will get flatter and be more agile. 

2. By 2050 a trillion dollars will be added to the Australian economy from digital technology.

3. Organisational models are changing due to global competitiveness and c-suite collaboration.

4. 2.5 billion gigabytes of data is generated everyday - you need to work out what is important to your business.

5. CFOs need to take the lead by understanding the implications of digital disruptions, apply analytics to make strategic decisions and embrace new ways of collaborating.

Steve Fousekas CPAHead of Group Planning and Performance Management, Telstra

Perspectives on planning and forecasting

Key points:1. It's all about people, process, technology

2. Guiding principles: More detail doesn't mean better. Make change in steps. Ask the right question (at the right time). Look ahead not back. Finance and business as partners

3. Strong leaders is essential to effect the change.

4. Statistical measures of progress : Reduction of systems and hardware. Simplified planning dimensionality. Improved timing of data. Simplified job families

5. It's about people, collaboration and governance

Practical considerations of doing business in China

Speakers: Jessie Wong CPA, Director in Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Quality Control and Risk Management, KPMG China; Len Jui, Partner and Head of Public Policy and Regulation, KPMG China

Key points:

1. China may be the second largest economy in the world but there is pessimism: Income disparities. Corruption. Pollution. Relation-based society vs. rule of law. 2. Starting a business in Australia takes 3 days on average. Starting a business in China takes 33 days on average, and involves 13 procedures. 3. When doing business in China, foreign-owned and private-owned enterprises cannot avoid doing business with State-owned enterprises. 4. Doing business in China is all about relationships. Saving face, or “mianzi” is very important 5. Great resource: US-China Business Council publishes an annual China Business Environment Survey which shows trends, challenges and opportunities regarding doing business in China.

Jillian BowenContent and Social Media Manager, CPA Australia

Leveraging the power of LinkedIn

Key points:

1. Personalise your connection requests with a short note that provides the context of why you want to connect.

2. Don’t promote your other social media platforms to your LinkedIn connections.

3. If someone views your profile, don’t mention it or ask them why.

4. Unless it is from someone you don’t know, try and respond to messages within 1 -2 days.

5. Keep things professional on LinkedIn and don’t share personal information

Chris Jordan AOCommissioner of Taxation, Australian Taxation Office

Reinventing the ATO

1. Reinventing the ATO is a purposeful program of work to change the culture of the ATO and improve the client experience. 2. Commissioner Chris Jordan says ATO is designing for the majority of people who do the right thing - strategies based on risk, transparency and behaviour. 3. Project Do It closes 19 Dec - 1200 people have disclosed more than $120 million of previously unreported income and more than $700 million in assets.

"Reinventing the ATO is a purposeful program of work to change the culture of the ATO & improve the client experience"

Key points:

Benjamin Roberts-Smith VC MGVictoria Cross recipient

Frontline leadership: The battle for success

Key points:

1. Leadership is about making the right decision, especially those which are not easy to make.

2. A good leader has courage, an endless pursuit of excellence and must lead by example.

3. In business when you feel like you're losing control, this is the time when you need to focus on the goal. 

4. Decisions must always be based on the facts and personal experiences. 

5. To empower people you need to articulate the intent. 

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