Letter of the month: Raising awareness of MND

I want to express my appreciation to Alex Malley for the initiative he has shown with the concept of the president's charity. This is especially important for me personally because he is promoting motor neurone disease as his particular charity. This is demonstrated in March INTHEBLACK where I am recognised as a member battling this disease, hopefully for a long time yet.

I am one of the fortunate few who have well and truly outlasted the normal life expectancy of the typical person afflicted with MND. As such I have had plenty of time to become aware of aspects of the disease that the 'normal' sufferer and his / her family do not have time to recognise before they unpleasantly fade away.

The main one of these aspects is the lack of community awareness about MND. Therefore, I very much appreciate the work the president is doing to promote awareness of it. I would like to think that the more the community becomes aware of MND and its effects, the more resources there will be allocated to find the cause and a subsequent cure.

Thanks again,

Phil Brady CPA
Sydney NSW

A reader is inspired

Three cheers for Alex Malley! How inspiring it was to read about his determination to champion support for those who suffer from one of life's cruellest diseases (March INTHEBLACK). Motor neurone disease is a destroyer of lives, not only for sufferers, but those heroic individuals who surround them.

I am as equally thrilled as Alex that he has chosen this 'low-profile' cause over the equally worthy yet media friendly illnesses within society. A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world.

Adam Gorczyca CPA
Hastie Group

The age of experience

I am a first-time contributor to Feedback. However, having received the March issue of INTHEBLACK, and reading the 'The age of experience' article, I felt compelled to tell of my own past five years' positive experience of 'mature part-time work'.

At age 53, after a 35-year career in accounting, predominantly in manufacturing, I was in a fortunate financial situation where I could transition from full-time, high-stress roles, to part-time, low-stress employment. This was thanks to an employer, with whom I spent 17 rewarding years from 1977, who 'forced' employees to contribute a minimum of 6 per cent of their gross wages to a super scheme, while effectively doubling those contributions.

After the usual long-planned holiday and home maintenance activities were satisfied, despite my original plans for part-time work being more aligned to a three-day working week, for 'fun' I tried a job as a motorcycle postie. Great fun, but unfortunately, five days a week, and 'high-risk' behaviour on the motorcycle wasn't really for me.

Reluctantly I looked for any position that offered three days a week. Apart from gaining intermittent general labouring roles, I soon realised that I had no choice than to return to what I had the most skills and experience in, that is accounting / administrative duties.

For the past four years, I have been happily employed as a three-day-a-week office administrator / government lobbyist / paymaster / bookkeeper / handyman / driver with a local disability group home, which provides full-time care for eight disabled adults. In all honesty, now nearing 60, unless ill-health catches up with me, I can see no reason why I wouldn't want to be here for many years to come.

Oddly enough, as an applicant aged well over 50, I had changed employers four times in a period of 12 months, which equalled my total employer changes in my entire 35-year accounting career. Yet I had no fear in 'trying out' any of the part-time roles, 'just to see if I liked them'. Maybe at this stage of our lives some of us Baby Boomers are getting more like Generation Y than we realise!

Not only have I achieved all of my pre-retirement goals, but I also have the satisfaction that I am putting something back into the community, rather than simply contributing to the wealth of greedy managers, directors, and faceless shareholders.

Bob Nash CPA
Via email

Measuring footprints

Congratulations for the inclusion of such a comprehensive article (March INTHEBLACK) on carbon emissions and the tools available to businesses to calculate their carbon footprint. As is frequently highlighted by CPA Australia, in a social and increasingly regulated sphere of environmental responsibility, being 'green' is now the strategy of economically intelligent businesses.

We equally, however, need to integrate into business consideration of other pressing environmental issues, such as the over-consumption of scarce natural resources. If we don't focus on reducing our inputs, as well as our outputs, we will still inevitably have to bear the costs of a degraded environment.

To best inform decision-making, our focus needs to be on the ecological footprint of business, rather than simply the carbon footprint. As mentioned in Ms Tarrant's article, ecological footprint tools are relatively new (although the need for such a tool is fuelling much scientific and theoretical research which can be viewed on the Global Footprint Network website). However, a lack of concrete evidence can no longer be an excuse for inaction in this area.

In bottom-line terms, businesses that fail to improve their resource efficiency are taking substantial risks. The rising prices of energy, water and waste disposal due to rapidly decreasing supply, changing community expectations and increasing involvement by government in the resource efficiency space, for example, the environmental and resource efficiency (EREP) regulations introduced this year by EPA Victoria, combine to suggest that only those businesses that integrate environmental considerations and costs into their decision-making can truly be expected to succeed in the long term.

Jane Hermiston ASA
Economist
EPA Victoria

Praise for Michael Laurence

Please pass on my congratulations to Michael Laurence on his excellent article 'SMSFs borrowing to invest' (March INTHEBLACK). It is an extremely well-written article, easy to read and full of most useful information. A top essay, well done.

Gregory Froomes Wyllie CPA
Duncraig WA

The answer is 'no'

Overworked, underpaid, timesheets, unreasonable productivity targets ...

A career in public practice, what is there not to like? After reading the letter by Robert Lopez, titled 'What's to be done about the skills crisis?' (March INTHEBLACK) I felt compelled to write a response from a younger accountant's perspective.

Public practice is failing to draw and hold its share of younger accountants as a result of the culture of the firms themselves, not as a result of graduates not willing to work hard and strive for knowledge and excellence. It's not a matter of poor work ethic, it's about not settling for something inferior. There are too many other opportunities out there.

Timesheets, unreasonable productivity targets and long working hours consume your every day. Then there's the weekly training sessions, tax update sessions and studying for a professional qualification. All this while earning a clerical wage and yet being expected to be a highly skilled taxation machine. Where is the work / life balance that HR promoted in the interviews? Is this what I really signed up for?

For me, and many of my young colleagues, the answer was and continues to be 'no'. Young accountants realise that there is a world out there without timesheets, with better pay and a more reasonable workload allowing for a work/life balance. Without a change to a better culture it's hard to see a bright future for public practice.

Joel Feros ASA
Via email

What about experienced members?

Congratulations for publishing side by side the letters of Jessie Brauer and Robert Lopez (March INTHEBLACK). Ms Brauer is indeed a brave soul for exposing those practitioners who have, effectively, been falsifying their CPD records for more than three triennia.

My own firm, established in the 1920s, is finally closing the doors. The three remaining practitioners have a combined 142 years of experience with this firm only, and we have diligently remained up to date from a variety of sources.

I totally agree with Mr Lopez, each intake of young people is less literate and less numerate than the one before.

The actions of CPA Australia and its sister bodies to drive out of the profession the experienced members really beggars belief. The latest SMSF auditing nonsense broke the camel's back.A home for our clients' files would be appreciated.

Doug Spencer CPA
Via email

Living in the 70s

In response to last year's letter by Michael Pinn, 'Short-term sacrifice, long-term gain' (September 2007 INTHEBLACK) I feel compelled to point out that the 1970s are over and it is now 2008. I am a mature-age student in the final stages of a bachelor of commerce accounting degree. I left full-time work paying $45,000 to complete the degree, as the money I was on was barely enough to keep me going, let alone allow me to buy a home.

Your dream graduate employee is working on $25,000 (after tax $22,150, before deductions such as 'low income tax offset'). He or she has to eat, find accommodation, pay for power, phone, dental, petrol, insurance, registration and depreciation of personal assets.

Mr Pinn, you are an excellent example of being over qualified. That is, you are too old and out of touch with reality post-20th century. If your business can't remunerate a graduate accountant enough to maintain independence and dignity it is time to close the doors of your prehistoric tax return factory and enjoy retirement.

Three years study living on next to nothing to be rewarded with $25,000 per annum., maybe I should have left school after year 10 and got a job paying nearly double Mr Pinn's remuneration packages. At least I wouldn't have to pay back my sizeable student loan.

Ty Twigden
Gold Coast

For further information read Michael Pinn's original letter.

Care to comment on any business or accounting issue, or want to let us know what you think of INTHEBLACK? Send your feedback to: INTHEBLACK.inbasket@itechne.com

Letters should be kept to fewer than 250 words, and may be edited for length and style. Next month, the writer of the letter of the month receives a set of either Break Out, black / red cufflinks for men or Octomatic white cufflinks for women.

Visit CPA Australia's president blog to discuss topics with the president and other members.

Reference: May 2008, volume 78:04, p. 10 - 11