Indigenous professionals highly sought

How many Indigenous accountants are there?

The Australian Federal Governments 2017 Closing The Gap report didn’t quite meet expectations of 9 years ago. All but one of the 7 areas had been met, being Indigenous year 12 completion rates . This coincides with findings Indigenous professionals are meeting parity in employment, per Stan Grant’s article for the ABC.

This is not surprising. Indigenous professionals are highly sought given the low supply of university graduates. The number for Indigenous students studying a business related degree in 2016 was 1,500 students in Australia. To compare, this is the number of first and second year students studying a commerce degree at one university. But this number is not in one course in one university, it is in the whole of Australia.

Professions driving Indigenous professional numbers

The work of many different bodies have assisted in driving increased Indigenous professional numbers. There is the ‘More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Teachers Initiative’ (MATSITI) which promotes more Indigenous teachers; Australian Indigenous Doctors Association who promotes more Indigenous doctors; and Indigenous Lawyers Association of Queensland who promotes more Indigenous lawyers. All have created means and support to further the pipeline of Indigenous professionals in their fields.

Indigenous Accountants Australia initiative

Indigenous Accountants Australia is a little different, but has the aim to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accountants in Australia. This is not an association or body but a ‘joint initiative’ of the two peak professional accounting bodies, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and CPA Australia. I commend both organisations to take it upon themselves to promote increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accountants. I currently sit on the initiatives ‘advisory committee’.

New Zealand and Australia First Nations People accountants

Both bodies operate in Australia and New Zealand. In fact, there was a gathering of First Nations people accountants and business people last year at the Indigenous Accounting and Business Conference at Deakin University in October 2016. Here we met with our Maori accounting cousins from across the ditch, Ngā Kaitatau Māori o Aotearoa (National Maori Accountants Network). Both accounting bodies through the joint initiative were event sponsors.

Accounting professions standards and ethics

The two professional accounting bodies stand on their being the peak accounting bodies for the accounting profession in Australia and New Zealand. A profession built on reputation of holding standards and ethics. Some words that come to mind for accountants, especially in audit, are ‘quality, accountability, addressing risk and areas of concern,  objectivity’. The most resonating words in audit is the term ‘true and fair view’ for an auditors opinion.

Reaching parity for Indigenous accountants unrealistic in the short term

For parity of 3% to be reached in the accounting profession, there would need to be more than 6,000 accountants with a professional designation (sometimes referred to as a ‘qualified’ accountant). such professional designations are Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA), IPA or similar. This is not a realistic number in the short term considering the time to become a professional designation accountant. A high school student must complete any prerequisite subjects in high school which is decided in year 10 for year 11 and 12 studies. A degree is 3 years minimum and the professional bodies programs take upto 18 months. This is a 7 year pipeline from start to finish without deferral.

Who is accountable?

So how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accountants with a professional designation are there? The honest answer is it is not known. Why not?

The question is

• How would you logically expect to find out this number?
• Who would you expect to be asking the question to measure and report?
• Who is in the best position to do so? Who would take an onus of ensuring ‘quality, accountability, addressing risk and areas of concern, objectivity’? Who would ensure the number presented was a ‘true and fair view’?
• If you wanted to know how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand and CPA Australia there were, who would you expect to have this number? In what documentation would you expect them to gather this data?
• How would you track year opening and closing balances, like a balance sheet, to know the movement to know if the number increased or decreased? And by how much?

Has the number increased?

In summary, Indigenous professionals are in high demand with a low supply from universities. There are Indigenous associations and initiatives that are driving to increase this number in their respective professional fields. The Indigenous Accountants Australia initiative is one such initiative with the aim to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accountants in Australia. It is a joint initiative of the two peak professional accounting bodies, Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand and CPA Australia. However, we do not know how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accountants with a professional designation there are. The numbers are not being collected and reported. So how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander accountants are there? And has the number increased year on year?

(Photo credit to Primetime)