4 unmissable sessions at the IPA National Congress

A full agenda across the three days covers technical and product knowledge, management and professional skills, and professional and ethical standards – with up to 30 CPD hours attached.

Practical sessions will provide skills and strategies to use now, including on:

• AML regulation and risk mitigation
• Cybercrime trends
• AI tools and automations 
• Dealing with a more active ATO
• SMSFs

On Friday, a panel led by IPA Group Executive Advocacy and Policy Vicki Stylianou will discuss the Quality of Advice Review and its outcomes for the profession. Another panel, made up of stars and rising stars of the profession, is all about women finding their voice in practice – highly valuable for both women and male champions.

And finally, if you are at the Gala Dinner in person, you’re going to hear from Dylan Alcott AO – we’re beyond excited to share this moment! Alcott is the ultimate triple threat (possibly quadruple threat – or more. We might need an accountant on the case to settle that one).

He’s a paralympic medallist in both tennis and basketball, a radio host and an actor. He was 2022 Australian of the Year, and now, with the Dylan Alcott Foundation, he leads an organisation that helps kids with disabilities achieve their full potential. How does one person achieve all this? We can’t wait to find out.

Other agenda highlights include:

The future of revenue, budgets and tax

A wide-ranging discussion in Wednesday’s Funding the Future panel will feature Federal Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender, Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman Karen Payne, and IPA General Manager of Technical Policy Tony Greco.
Spender, Payne and Greco will discuss the future demands on Australian Commonwealth expenditure, the pressure that place will place on an increasingly narrow tax base, and how tax, funding and budgets may change in the future.

Tuck your crystal ball away and tune in.

• Panel: Funding the Future 
• 12pm, Wednesday 29 November
• Allegra Spender, Member for Wentworth 
• Karen Payne, Inspector-General of Taxation & Taxation Ombudsman
• Tony Greco, General Manager of Technical Policy, IPA
• Facilitator: Andrew Klein

The PwC fallout

NSW Senator Deborah O’Neill alleges that PwC is doing little to restore trust in the firm or the sector.

"What I think we're seeing, sadly, is PwC, having borne all of this scrutiny, does not still seem to understand that there needs to be transparency and change," O’Neill recently told Sky News.

"What we've seen is incredible failure of leadership and what we saw documented in the internal report paid for by PwC into themselves was actually a reveal of the cultural practices, now that doesn't happen unless the leadership enables and perhaps rewards the sort of behaviour that is now synonymous with what was happening inside PwC."

The full impact of PWC’s scandals is still to be seen – and questions remain over how trust in the sector can be regained, how ethical standards can be better enforced and monitored, and more.

Join O’Neill and industry leaders to hear more about what happens next, the role of ethical standards and more.

• Panel: Post PWC - where do we go from here?
• 9.50am, Thursday 30 November
• Andrew Mills, Chair, Financial Reporting Council
• Senator Deborah O’Neill, NSW, Australian Labor Party
• Peter de Cure AM, Chair, Tax Practitioners Board
• Rachel Grimes AM, Director, Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board
• Facilitator: Vicki Stylianou, Group Executive Advocacy and Policy, IPA

Commissioner Jordan’s (near) final word

Having served 23 years on the Board of Taxation and 10 as head of the ATO, Jordan is due to step down in February.

In his time at the helm, great focuses have been closing tax gaps and integrating technology to improve compliance.

• 3.20pm, Thursday 30 November
• Commissioner of Taxation Address

The Australian economy: Supply chain disruption, inflation, cost of living

They’re the burning issues across Australian boardrooms and dinner tables now – and we’ve assembled a panel of absolute experts to discuss the lowdown on what’s happening now and what we can expect next.

If you’re keen to hear about what’s driving inflation now and how the RBA can act to contain it, how cost of living pressures are impacting on Australians as both citizens and consumers, and how policy might address some of the economy-wide pain, tune in.

• 9.55am, Friday 1 December 
• Antony Currie, Associate Editor, Reuters Breakingviews
• John Kehoe, Economics Editor, The Australian Financial Review
• Mike Mortlock, Managing Director, MCG Quantity Surveyors
• Paul Bloxham, Chief Economist, HSBC (Australia, New Zealand & Global Commodities)
• Stephanie Flechas, Associate Director, Strategic Policy and Reform, NSW Treasury
• Facilitator: Andrew Klein

This article was updated on 23 November 2023.