Mentors

The role of the mentor 

As a mentor, you’re expected to initiate the first mentoring session with your mentee treasurer. You also need to  be available for follow-up sessions at convenient times and locations, as required. You should make your time commitment clear to the mentee prior to commencement.

As a mentor treasurer you are required to:

• provide your mentee with the support documentation available in the mentor toolkit, including the Treasurer Guide and the Microsoft Excel-based sample cashbook, and ensure they fully comprehend the documentation
• educate and encourage your mentee to acquire the skills and knowledge to fulfill the role as treasurer, including but not limited to:
  • good bookkeeping
  • correct banking procedures
  • record keeping
  • internal controls
  • presentation of regular reports (financial and management analysis and commentary if required)
  • presentation of annual financial statements
• convey both technical financial skills and principles of good governance
• alert the committee to any serious deficiencies in the organisation’s management of the financial affairs, which may become apparent during the course of the mentoring process
• maintain regular communication with your mentee
• retain the position of mentor to the organisation for one calendar year from date of appointment, unless unavoidable circumstances render this impossible
• hold Professional Indemnity Insurance either through CPA Australia or your own private cover
• provide feedback to CPA Australia at the end of the mentoring assignment.

Your role as a volunteer mentor is to provide advice and assistance free of charge. You are not expected to do the work, or to accept responsibility for it. 

Mentors may choose to undertake further roles within the organisation, however, to avoid any conflict of interest, you must first cease the mentoring role under this program.

Qualifying for the program

To participate as a mentor, you must: 

• be a current member of CPA Australia, with CPA or FCPA status
• be fully covered by professional indemnity insurance. 

After you register 

Once you’re registered with the program, refer to the mentor toolkit which contains information and tools which will assist you in your role, including: 

• a mentor guidebook
• a volunteer treasurer guide book, which includes a list of major known regulatory matters relevant to small not for profit organisations
• a simple Excel based bookkeeping system
• a treasurer audit checklist.

You are encouraged to consider additional training in commonly used external accounting packages, such as QuickBooks and MYOB. These may be claimed as part of your CPD commitment.

Finding a mentee organisation 

As a registered mentor you can select an organisation to work with via the online listing of mentees, or when organisations make a request to you for assistance. It is your choice whether to accept mentee requests.

The benefits of being a mentor 

As a mentor, you will be sharing your expertise with volunteer treasurers who require help to ensure the success of their not-for-profit organisations.

You will not only be assisting your community, you can also claim CPD hours for your time spend mentoring. Each hour that you donate contribute towards your CPD obligations. When you record mentoring activities for CPD, use Code K. To support your CPD claim, we recommend you minute your mentoring sessions using the File note mentoring session in the toolkit.

Mentors provide their assistance to mentees on a personal voluntary basis, acting in their own name and not that of CPA Australia or any other entity. CPA Australia members must be of good standing during their membership.