CA ANZ partners with leading innovation hubs

29 October 2018

CA ANZ partners with leading innovation hubs to capitalise on disruption in the profession

Today Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) unveils its plan to align with some of Australasia’s leading innovation communities, The Icehouse, Fishburners and Stone & Chalk, as part of its strategy to strengthen the accounting profession for the future.

“Our Strategic Review, involving more than 100 member workshops, confirmed that the profession is changing rapidly, with much more diversity and disruption than experienced in the past. For the profession to remain at the forefront, it is vital we keep pace,” said Rick Ellis, CEO of CA ANZ.

“Members, particularly in public practice, yearn for connections with new solutions, technologies and insights to be able to shape the services they offer.

“One source of this disruption is within innovation communities - they are evolving business models, creating new markets and driving operating efficiencies.”

CA Catalyst brings together Chartered Accountants from all segments, innovation communities Fishburners, The Icehouse and Stone & Chalk, and technology providers to create opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration.

“This includes immersions within innovation communities, access to training, toolkits and guides for disruption-readiness, and exposure to practical solutions,” said Ellis.

“CA Catalyst is an opportunity for Chartered Accountants to get on the leading edge of the future of accounting, build personal and organisational capabilities, explore new markets and services, and leverage innovation to provide greater value for themselves, their clients and their communities.”

The Icehouse

The Icehouse believes in the extraordinary potential of New Zealand business owners and entrepreneurs, enabling their success through knowledge, connection and investment.

“We’ve created this ecosystem of founders, business owners, leaders, advisors and investors who are all motivated to help make business for good in New Zealand,” said Andy Hamilton, CEO of The Icehouse.

“Our partnership with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand is really about surrounding founders and business owners with quality people who can shine the light around the options they can take to reach their potential.

“There will be a series of activities that give members more tools to have better quality conversations while we also learn together because I think the reality is this new age of helping SMEs with new technology, new adoption, new processes – that’s a team game that we need to do together.”

Fishburners

Fishburners is a well-established not-for-profit in Australia, nurturing high impact, scalable start-ups in a culture of shared ideas and experiences.

“This partnership and professional exchange offers fantastic learning opportunities for both organisations and will generate huge benefits to our startups as they prepare to expand,” said Pandora Shelley, CEO of Fishburners.

“Much of the conversation in the startup world is focused around securing a funding outcome. Yet, understanding when to take on external funding and how to apply that funding efficiently is equally important - with many of our most successful startups boot-strapping for a significant period in the early stages.

“Fishburners is focused on supporting startups at every stage in their growth journey. Helping them to start out strong, with a firm financial foundation is critical.

“Many startups, particularly at early stage, don’t have the resources to take on a senior CFO who can provide this kind of advice.

“Through this partnership, start-ups can have access to accounting and financial expertise, assisting them to make confident and accurate decisions about their growth.”

Stone & Chalk

Stone & Chalk is one of Australia’s leading fintech innovation hubs, helping their twenty-six corporate partners to build internal innovation capability.

“CA ANZ has a great global footprint and between us, there is a whole range of things we can do that not only amplifies the partnership here locally, but also starts to go out into the regions and beyond,” said Alex Scandurra, CEO of Stone & Chalk.

“The CA ANZ membership base is a group of people that are sophisticated in financial services, have incredible expertise themselves as individuals and have deep networks in terms of their professional careers.

“It is really important for Chartered Accountants to understand how they can adopt and use the latest technology to do what they do even better.”

For more information, charteredaccountantsanz.com/about-us/ca-catalyst.

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