Message from the President, IMA ANZ Chapter
The Need for the Chapter:
Immigrating to Australia after having acquired the CMA qualification, I was surprised to note that the region did not have an IMA Chapter. The job market was conspicuous with the lack of demand (or rather, the awareness) for CMAs which was very unlike the rest of the world.
I was sure that I was not the only one. There would be many others who would have pursued the qualification to build their knowledge base and improve their job prospects only to find that the businesses here were blissfully oblivious to a force that could take them to the next level.
Not that a CMA had a competition from CPA and CA in the region – they are totally different fields of expertise in my opinion – but organisations and students in the region were grossly missing out on the field of expertise that could have greatly helped them to progress, particularly during the period of COVID19, the ensuing downturn and the massive digital transformation of businesses in a short period and a magnitude probably never experienced in the history of mankind.
Formation of the Chapter:
After further studying and gauging the situation, I got in touch with IMA USA. We had some doubts and challenges on various issues which we worked upon and then decided to go ahead with the formation of the Chapter. 32 founder members came together to form the first Chapter in the ANZ region, and we were recognised as Chapter #959 on July 23, 2020 (link here).
The elections for the Chapter were held on July 18, 2020 and the first Board with nine members were elected (link here).
Targets for the First Year:
- Increasing the membership to at least 150
- Establishing, promoting and mentoring the Students Chapter; tie-up with Australian universities.
- Monthly/fortnightly CPE sessions on topics relevant to the current economic environment, ranging from management accounting to AI and ML, employability, business management, work-life balance, and emerging career opportunities.
- Networking and career growth among members.
Connecting to the Members of IMA:
If you are a member of IMA and have your address in the ANZ region, you would already be a member of the Chapter, unless you have specifically opted out. Contact us if you have not been receiving communications from us, or have any other issue related to the Chapter.
Regards,
Vishal Chopra
U.S. CMA, CPA (Aus), CA (Ind), MBA
LinkedIn: Vishal Chopra