Academics: Challenges in Educating Future Accountants

On Monday, 5 June 2023, the AASB held a session in Melbourne on The Challenges of Educating Future Accountants.

Dr Andreas Barckow, IASB Chair and Professor Ann Tarca, IASB Member, were in attendance and were joined by a panel of experts who shared their insights about the challenges in educating future accountants. 

Dr Barckow provided an overview of how he sees standard setting influencing higher education and how higher education can influence standard setting.  The expert panel then provided their perspectives as accomplished professionals in higher education and practice.

Professor Tarca was then joined by Professor Dean Hanlon and AASB Research Principal Dr Eric Lee, who provided their perspectives about how standard setters use academic research and the current research initiatives of the IASB and the AASB.

In-person and virtual attendees could interact with the panel and ask questions of the panellists at the end of the session.

Keynote Speakers:

• Dr Andreas Barckow, IASB Chair
  
  Dr Andreas Barckow is a highly regarded leader in the field of international accounting. From 2015 to 2021, he served as President of the Accounting Standards Committee of Germany (Deutsches Rechnungslegungs Standards Committee e.V.).
  He has been an active participant in numerous advisory bodies to the IFRS Foundation and the IASB, including membership of the IASB’s Accounting Standards Advisory Forum and the IFRS Advisory Council. Moreover, he is an acknowledged expert in IFRS Standards, having previously served as the lead technical partner for financial reporting matters in the German member firm of Deloitte.
  Dr Barckow holds a Diploma and Doctorate degree in Business Administration from the University of Paderborn and is an Honorary Professor at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management. 
  He started his term as Chair of the International Accounting Standards Board in July 2021.
  
  
• Professor Ann Tarca, IASB member
  
  Ann Tarca joined the IASB in 2017 and was reappointed to serve a second term in 2022. She joined the IASB from the University of Western Australia’s Business School, where she was an accounting teacher and researcher since 1996 and a professor since 2011. She was head of the Accounting and Finance Discipline Group.
  Professor Tarca served as a member of the AASB from 2014 to 2017 and was research director for the AASB from February 2017. She was an academic fellow of the IFRS Foundation from 2011 to 2012. She has authored a textbook on accounting and written a wide range of research papers related to IFRS Standards, for which she has received many awards. Professor Tarca is an active member of the international accounting academic community, having served on several boards and committees.
  Professor Tarca is a chartered accountant with a PhD in accounting from the University of Western Australia.

Moderator:

• Professor Dean Hanlon, RMIT University
  
  Dean Hanlon is a Professor in the School of Accounting, Information Systems & Supply Chain at RMIT University. He holds a PhD in accounting and has over 25 years’ experience in academia. Dean’s current research interests are in financial reporting, taxation and corporate governance. He has been the recipient of several competitive industry-based research grants and has published extensively in both international and domestic peer-reviewed accounting, finance and taxation journals.
  Dean has previously served on CPA Australia’s External Reporting Centre of Excellence and the Technical Committee of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. He currently serves on the Academic Advisory Panel of the AASB. Dean has also acted as a technical and pedagogical consultant for CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
  Dean is a Fellow of CPA Australia and a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Panellists

• Professor Keryn Chalmers, Dean, Swinburne University of Technology
  
  Keryn is Dean, School of Business, Law and Entreprenurship at Swinburne University of Technology. Her discipline area is accounting. Her publications include papers in quality internationally refereed journals, research books, professional oriented articles, and two of the leading Australian accounting textbooks.
  In 2022, Keryn was appointed President of the Australian Business Deans Council, the peak body of Australia’s university business schools. She is also a past Australian President of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand.
  Internationally, Keryn is the former President of the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER). Through her role on the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), representing the IAAER, she was involved in the development and implementation of accounting education standards to contribute to the competence of the global accountancy profession. She was also a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Effect Analysis Consultative Group.
  Keryn is a Fellow of CPA Australia, a Senior Fellow of FinSIA and a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand. She has served on several Advisory Boards and provided expert opinions on accounting matters. She addresses international and national forums concerning accounting and education issues and has been a member of various CPA Australia committees.
  
  
• Ken Weldin, Joint Head of Audit and Assurance and Partner, PKF
  
  Ken is a Partner and joint head of Audit & Assurance at PKF where he also Chairs PKF’s national Integrity business.
  Ken provides both external and internal audit services across multiple industries, both in the public and private sectors. His interests are in challenging and enhancing the thinking, strategies and actions around risk and governance, particularly in the Education, Healthcare and Innovation sectors and how these will drive growth and prosperity across Victoria and Australia more broadly.
  With over 30 years of professional experience in the UK, US and Australia, including time in commerce and financial roles in industry, Ken focuses on ‘the Right Information, of the Right Quantity, of the Right Quality and at the Right Time’ in informing corporate decision-making and financial reporting outcomes.
  Outside of PKF, Ken serves as Chair of East Grampians Health Service and as a Director and Audit Committee Chair of Housing First Ltd and the Governance Institute of Australia. Ken is also an Adjunct Professor (Department of Accounting) at Monash University and a member of the Sustainability Panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
  
  
• Dr Eric Lee, AASB Research Principal
  
  Eric has over 18 years of experience across academic, technical accounting and standard-setting roles. As the head of research at the AASB, he leads and manages the AASB research program to enhance the process of evidence-informed standard-setting for all sectors. A key responsibility of the role is to identify and develop research projects and thought leadership papers that are most relevant to the AASB work and its strategic directions. He also plays a significant role in developing relationships with Australian and international researchers and standard-setters.