Sun, sea, coconut palms, pristine beaches, coral reefs to match Australia's Great Barrier Reef. This could be describing almost any nation in the Pacific: New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Samoa or Tonga.
While national economies in the Pacific Island region are relatively small, there are opportunities for finance, accounting and business specialists in many areas, including banking, tourism, and charity and aid.
Members live and work across the region, including in PNG and Fiji where there are CPA Australia agents located in Port Moresby and Suva.
Banking Australian banks in particular have a strong presence in the Pacific.
ANZ has offices in 11 countries across the Pacific region including American Samoa, Samoa, PNG, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Timor Leste, Fiji and Guam.
Westpac is also located in Cook Islands, Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.
Tourism The Pacific Islands have a strong tourism industry and the hotel industry offers finance experts many opportunities.
Hotels by their very nature have a high cash turnover and, of course, people are needed to control this process. This can range from the position of finance director, right down to assistant accountants and accounts clerks. But, you must be a citizen to work as an assistant accountant or accounts clerk; work visas will not be issued to non-nationals.
Fiji in particular is home to many outposts of the world's major hotel chains, such as Sofitel, Mercure, Hilton, J P Marriott, Outrigger, Westin and Sheraton.
Charity and aid Many aid organisations work throughout the Pacific Islands to assist in developing and promoting projects such as: free trade agreements; effective, accountable and democratic government; improved service delivery; improved justice and security; and minimising the effects of natural resource exploitation.
There are many and varied positions available in this sector including roles as program coordinators, regional accountants and procurement officers.
Program coordinators design, implement, coordinate, monitor and evaluate long-term development and humanitarian programs.
Regional accountants work towards the effective financial management of all activities within regional centres and report to management.
Procurement officers manage the acquisition of all items and supplies for their region.
