In a “special announcement” issued yesterday, the accounting association’s board of directors cautioned members that they may receive “unsolicited correspondence” after a particular member received access to the membership register, including name and postal address.
“It is with regret that we have released this information to the member, however we were legally obligated to do so under the Australian Corporations Act 2001,” the announcement stated.
“We are now concerned about the security of your personal information … we have made every effort to protect your personal information. For completeness, we have written to the Australian Privacy Commissioner and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to inform them about these circumstances.”
The board accuses the member of disseminating misinformation on the association’s performance, governance and remuneration structures and said it has received a number of complaints about this correspondence.
While the member in question is not named, the announcement follows the revelation that CPA member Brett Stevenson was successful in getting his hands on the member register in accordance with his legal rights.
Mr Stevenson confirmed to ifa sister title Accountants Daily last week that he received the register after forking out $2,351.16 from his own pocket, with support from other disgruntled CPA members.
There are very serious issues with how this organisation is being run. I would not be dismissing this so lightly. There needs to be a deeper investigation.
Why are there so many articles on the cpa , I thought this was the ifa
Potentially because quite a few independent Financial Adviser firms are mixed in with an accounting practice?
Because the people in charge of CPA at the moment launched a financial planning dealer group last year, accompanied by lots of rhetoric about how superior accountants were to financial planners. This was endorsed by ASIC Chairman Medcraft at the time. The dealer group has turned out to be a complete failure, although a lot of CPA staff still got paid a lot of money for it. Interestingly, Medcraft has been publicly criticised by David Murray today for overplaying his personal politics instead of just getting on with his job. It is very much in the interests of financial planners to see Alex Malley and Greg Medcraft held to account.
Plus that dealer group is one of the things pissing off the members according to the reports on this website. Not sensational journalism but good exercise keeping the bastards honest!
not to mention that the model ASIC wants is for consumers to get their super & retirement advice from their trusted Accountants, those angels, and then just go and buy a product from a bank or industry super fund. Financial Planners are evil, the sons of product factories of course and should be avoided. Many advisers know that accountants have been breaking the laws for years, giving stock broking tips etc etc, fearful of sending clients to those devil planners, and losing face. It highlights that ASIC wholly than thou trusted accountants approach is flawed and it’s deeply rooted in senior management. PS and before all the accountants out their shout me down I’m just jealous and I do love you.
Another load of journalistic sensationalism .