September 2025

Newsletter

AFAANZ AWARDS

Applications are now open for Awards to be granted to AFAANZ members at the 2026 Conference.

AFAANZ Life member is granted to members who have made an outstanding contribution to AFAANZ and an outstanding contribution to at least one of scholarship, education or the profession. Click HERE for the criteria. Applications must be received by 7th November 2025.

The Fellow of AFAANZ Award is granted to members who have made a significant contribution to AFAANZ's activities over a sustained period of time. Click HERE for the criteria and application. Applications must be received by 7th November 2025.

Outstanding Contribution to Practice Award

The aim of this award is to recognise outstanding contributions to accounting and finance practice by members of AFAANZ. This award may be made to more than one recipient provided nomination(s) are of a sufficiently high merit and meet the selection criteria. Applications must be received by 24th October 2025. Applications details are available HERE

Introducing Solo Money: a business transaction account, built right into the app

We’ve just taken another big step in supporting sole traders with the launch of Solo Money – a business transaction account fully integrated into the Solo by MYOB app.

Last year we introduced Solo by MYOB - our mobile app for Aussie sole traders that takes care of the admin, so they can focus on doing what they love. Now, accounting, payments and banking are all in one place. No more app-hopping. No more chasing numbers across platforms. Just one powerful tool to help sole traders start, survive, and succeed.

As our CEO Paul Robson says: “Sole operators take a leap of faith when they start their own business. Reducing complexity and improving cashflow transparency is critical.”

Why it matters for educators: This is a fantastic tool to support student entrepreneurs in building their ventures with real-world business capability.

Read more about Solo Money here: https://www.myob.com/au/press-releases/launching-solo-money

Educators keen to collaborate with MYOB to provide students with access to Solo by MYOB, please connect with Shailan Patel and Tricia Andrews.

AFAANZ Doctoral Education Network (AFDEN)

Quantitative Research in Sustainability Accounting

AFAANZ is proud to present the following research training course facilitated

by Professor Naomi Soderstrom

Overview

This course is designed to give students a background on accounting sustainability research. The course will trace the development of the field, identifying research themes, methods, and challenges in pursuing sustainability research topics. The course consists of three 2-hour modules. The first will an overview of historical sustainability-related research, identifying themes that resonate with current research. The second module will focus on market valuation of climate-related disclosures. The focus on disclosure is particularly relevant for Australian researchers given the new climate-related reporting standards in Australia as well as new disclosure requirements under IFRS. The third module will focus on measurement issues in sustainability research, particularly related to measuring sustainability performance.

The first module will be held online, and the remaining modules will be held in-person at the University of Melbourne:

Module 1: Monday 13 October 2025, two hours, online 10:00-12:00 AEST

Modules 2-3: Friday 7 November 2025, four hours, in person 10:00-12:00; 13:00-15:00 at the University of Melbourne - Room 8.038, The Spot, 198 Berkeley Street, Parkville.

Final Assessment Due: Friday 5 December 2025, 5 p.m.

Course outline is available HERE.

To register your interest, please click HERE. Students will need to be AFAANZ student members, email info@afaanz.org if you need to join or renew your membership.

Accounting History is pleased to announce that the 13th Accounting History International Conference (AHIC) will be hosted by the University of Wollongong, Australia from 8-11 July 2026. We invite scholars, practitioners, and researchers to contribute to “Accounting through the ages: Lessons for modern challenges,” a conference that bridges our rich accounting heritage with contemporary challenges. You can view conference details HERE, and paper submissions are open HERE with a closing date of 13th Feb 2026. The Call for Paper document can be downloaded HERE.

Special Issue: ‘Accounting and Totalitarianism in an Historical Perspective’: Accounting History invites historically grounded scholarship that interrogates the many ways accounting has intersected with, enabled, resisted, or been transformed by totalitarian projects understood as a form of rule that seeks to penetrate and re-engineer every sphere of collective and private life. The closing date for submissions is 31 July 2026. The Call for Paper document can be downloaded HERE.

Special Issue: ‘Accounting History - Women and Accounting's Past’ invites submissions that seek to expand and deepen the body of scholarship on women and accounting. The closing date for submissions is 28 September 2026. The Call for Paper document can be downloaded HERE.

Early registration for both events are now open HERE

Advancing Research and Dialogue in Financial and Sustainability Reporting

Opportunities for Academic Engagement with the AASB

AASB Dialogue Series

The AASB Dialogue Series is an ongoing forum for academics to share advanced research and engage with the Board and the broader financial reporting community. Delivered as webinars, the series fosters thought-provoking discussions on key issues in financial and sustainability reporting — from regulatory developments and practical challenges to broader market implications. By connecting academics, practitioners and standard setters, the AASB Dialogue Series supports collaborative exploration into emerging topics and contributes to shaping the future of financial reporting in Australia.

The upcoming AASB Dialogue Series event is on ‘Goodwill and Impairment —Science, Art, or Fantasy?’. The International Accounting Standards Board’s ongoing project on ‘Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment’ aims to improve transparency and the usefulness of information, while addressing concerns over cost, complexity and timeliness.

Dr Mark Wallis will share new research on goodwill impairment testing in Australia. A panel of experts will then provide perspectives on challenges and potential solutions for goodwill and impairment reporting.

Register here to attend:

If you would like to present your research in a future Dialogue Series, contact us on standards@aasb.gov.au .

Special issue - Call for papers

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Management, reporting, and assurance to address social and environmental challenges

Guest Editors:

Sumit Lodhia (Adelaide University, Adelaide, Australia)

Amanpreet Kaur (Adelaide University, Adelaide, Australia)

Nathalie Crutzen (HEC Liège, ULiège, Liège, Belgium)

The United Nations established the SDGs in 2015. These represent 17 global goals and 169 associated targets (UN, 2015). Organisations are impacted by these goals, and they have responded through their management, reporting and assurance processes (Lodhia, 2025, Lodhia et al, 2023 2025, Kaur et al, 2025) to address systemic societal and environmental challenges (Dimes et al, 2025, Grana et al, 2025). However, existing research has touched the surface only and there is scope for exploring the management, reporting and assurance of the SDGs in greater depth (Bebbington and Unerman, 2018, 2020), given that more than a decade has elapsed since these goals were formulated. This Special Issue is an opportunity to bring together research that addresses how organisations have responded to the SDGs since their inception.

Organisations respond to their sustainability challenges internally (sustainability management) and externally (sustainability reporting) (Lodhia, 2013). Assurance provides credibility to these processes (Farooq and de Villiers, 2019, 2020). Thus, the development of SDGs management, reporting and assurance is critical and provides an understanding of how organisations respond to these goals.

SDGs impact most organisations, including corporations (Lodhia et al, 2023), the public sector (Kaur et al, 2025, Lodhia et al, 2025), and other institutions such as NGOs, B-Corps, charities, social enterprises, universities and hybrid organisations (Lodhia, 2025). An understanding of SDGs management, reporting and assurance overall in specific sectors or across the sectors is lacking. Research approaches such field research encompassing methods such as interviews, content analysis, observation and focus groups are needed to understand the context within which management, disclosure and assurance of SDGs takes place. It is also essential to consider country specific and regional studies into SDGs management, reporting and assurance in order to understand the similarities and differences in these practices.

There is also a need to explore specific SDGs, as each of the 17 goals aims to address a distinct social, environmental or economic issue affecting global communities. Moreover, the SDGs are inherently interconnected, whereby progress in one area can generate cascading effects, either beneficial or adverse on others (Nilsson et al, 2018). Despite this complexity, the interrelationships among the goals remain largely underexplored in current research and practice. Hence, it becomes worth exploring how organisations address specific goals and whether a tradeoff is involved in addressing the goals.

There is indeed further scope for expanding our knowledge base in relation to the management, reporting and assurance of the SDGs and this special issue attempts to address this. Potential issues to consider in this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

The management of SDGs by organisations, the organizational and behavioral processes involved, and the measurement of SDGs.
The disclosure of SDGs, the motivations for such disclosures and the links with internal processes.
The assurance for SDGs and the role of auditors in this process.
The role of stakeholders in management, reporting and assurance of SDGs, stakeholder perceptions of corporate SDGs practices, and stakeholder engagement processes
The role of modern technologies (such a blockchain and artificial intelligence) in SDGs management, disclosure and assurance
The use of social media for corporate information dissemination on SDGs
The impact of the Covid pandemic on SDGs management, reporting and assurance.
The impact of regulatory requirements on the management, disclosure and assurance of SDGs
Partnerships between organisations for the management, reporting and assurance of SDGs
Rainbow washing of SDGs management, disclosure and assurance.

Submission deadline: 28th February 2026.

Papers should be submitted through the journal’s online submission system at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/medar choosing the SDG special issue in step 5 of the submission process.

The Australian Accounting and Assurance Public Policy Committee (AAAPPC) has been working on a project Attracting the Next Generation of Accounting and Finance Professionals. This project was undertaken by DXP Consulting operated by Mary Clarke, and included Scott Copeland, Paul Wells and Garry Carnegie.

A summary of the report is available HERE

Further information can be found from the project leader’s perspective at Mary Clarke's LinkedIn account.

The full report is available to anyone who request it, by visiting the AAAPPC contact page: https://www.aaappc.org/contact-us/

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is seeking feedback on its approach to remission of interest and failure to lodge penalties, lodgment and payment deferrals, and payment plans.

Click HERE to go to the ATO webpage.