IPA National Congress starts today

After the restrictions of the past couple of years, this National Congress will allow IPA members to meet face to face.

Virtual sessions are also available for those who can’t physically be there.

“The last couple of years have been challenging for the IPA community and restrictions have meant that we have been unable to gather together as we normally would,” said Vicki Stylianou, IPA group executive, advocacy and policy. 

“We have recently seen our members supporting each another and the wider community in many ways — putting your hands up to help during bushfires, floods, and a global pandemic.

“Even when we had to stay apart, our community never felt more connected and we want to continue this trend during the 2022 National Congress by bringing our community back together.”

Sessions will begin today (16 November) with a webinar from Petris Lapis, director of Joy on staying cool, calm, and collected among the chaos.

Tomorrow (17 November), the congress will get into full swing with physical and virtual sessions covering topics as diverse as tax liability management for primary producers, blockchain and cryptocurrency and the next 10 years with Associate Professor Chris Berg, and preparing an accountancy business for sale.

Andrew Conway, IPA chief executive, will also host a seminar on AI and machine learning and David Williams, chief information security officer with Fortitech will host a session on 14 ways to protect your business from cyber attack.

On Friday (18 November), Ms Lapis will chair a panel on women with guests Lapis Panel: Belinda Raso, Karen Payne, and Steph Young and the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman Karen Payne will give an update.

Jeremy Hirschhorn, Deputy Commissioner of Taxation will be replacing Commissioner Chris Jordan who has had to pull out due to illness for an address on Friday (18 November) and the congress will finish with a keynote address from former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove.