CA ANZ unhappy about accounting merger
The Pipeline features developing news from around the sector.
Chartered Accountants ANZ is upset the federal government has decided to merge the existing accounting standards bodies into a single entity and continues to say there has been inadequate industry consultation.
Chartered Accountants ANZ reporting and assurance leader Amir Ghandar. Jessica Hromas
The merger of the bodies – the Australian Accounting Standards Board, the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board and the Financial Reporting Council – was announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers at the end of last month.
Dr Chalmers said the “new integrated body [would] better support the ongoing implementation of climate-related financial disclosure standards in Australia”.
That announcement came after the government put the merger option to the public as part of its consultation on climate-related financial disclosure at the start of the year.
CA ANZ, the main professional body for big four partners, submitted a response to that consultation supporting a different option of creating a separate dedicated sustainability standards board. Despite this, the body then said the merger announcement was made without first consulting the sector.
The body’s assurance and reporting leader, Amir Ghandar, said the climate reporting consultation paper was “clearly not aimed at the wide-ranging financial and capital markets stakeholders impacted”. He said the merger move had “confused stakeholders”.
The government has yet to finalise the details of how the new merged entity would be governed. But it will release draft legislation for public consultation, along with details of transitional arrangements. The new combined body will be in operation by July 2026.
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