AcountantsDaily recently asked 275 accountants “Are your happy with your professional accounting body?” to which 175 or 64 per cent replied no.
Both the CAANZ and IPA expressed surprised at the result while CPA Australia declined the opportunity to comment.
CAANZ chief executive Lee White said told AccountantsDaily members are at the core of everything that CAANZ creates, thinks and does.
“Being a member-centric organisation means that the values and attributes that derive from the work that chartered accountants do every day is evident in our organisation and is what we will represent.”
According to Mr White, a 2013 poll revealed 74 per cent of Australian members and 84 per cent of New Zealand members are satisfied with the service provided by the organisations.
“We want members to see their membership as their most valuable resource, for us this means responding to members’ needs, involving members in product and service development and encouraging personal involvement in the organisation and among their peers.”
Vicki Stylianou, the IPA’s executive general manager, public affairs, provided details of a Beaton benchmarking survey in which the IPA scored close to the top of the benchmark with 7.78 out of 10 for customer engagement – up significantly from 2013’s 7.18.
Ms Stylianou said the IPA has been working hard to improve its offering to members, particularly helping members to adapt to the evolving industry as convergence with financial advice increases.
She said the IPA sees it's role as not only responding to member demands but also leading members to the path of success.
“We have to lead them and guide them and make suggestions about what we think they should be doing given the environment in which they are operating,” she said.
“There are a lot of commentators out there saying accountants are going to be disintermediated or made redundant or technology is taking over etc. so I think given all of that, I think we must lead members and the profession.”
“We do talk a lot to members on an ongoing basis, but at the same time we are thought leaders and doing more and more in terms of leading and guiding members and the profession,” Ms Stylianou said.
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