Date issued: 29 January 2009
CPA Australia has announced Dr Margaret McKerchar FCPA is the new president of its New South Wales Division. The role, which commenced on 1 January, will see Dr McKerchar lead a 33,000 strong membership across the state.
Dr McKerchar is an associate professor of taxation and associate head of school (research) at the Australian School of Taxation (Atax) in the faculty of law at the University of New Sout Wales, a premier provider of taxation education and research in Australia.
Dr Margaret McKerchar, a local of Orange, has a long and distinguished career as a tax academic and has an international reputation as a leading researcher in taxpayer compliance. Dr McKerchar also sits on the editorial board of several academic journals.
Dr McKerchar started her tax career working for the ATO and has also gained broad experience in public practice as a registered tax agent.
During her time as president one of Dr McKerchar's main priorities will be to promote the important role that the accounting professional can play in fostering CSR and the adoption of sustainable business practices.
'There is a greater awareness today of the need for organisations to take a strategic and integrated approach to business management. Apart from focusing on financial goals, organisations need to set goals to address social, ethical and environmental issues,' says Dr McKerchar.
'As strategic business leaders, CPAs are ideally placed to understand the breadth and complexity of these issues, and to create initiatives to help organisations plan, implement and monitor their performance.
'Although we are in challenging economic times, it is vital that we maintain our focus on sound management practices, particularly in respect of human capital, if business sustainability is to be achieved.'