Melissa Jane Adams

Member's name: Ms Melissa Jane Adams
Date of Hearing: 14 December 2020
Division: Victoria
Tribunal: One Person Tribunal

On 14 December 2020 the One Person Tribunal found that Ms Melissa Adams breached Article 39(a)(ii)(A) of the of the 14 May 2019 Constitution, in that she “breached this Constitution (or the constitution of the Company in force immediately before the Amending Date), By-Laws, Code of Professional Conduct or the Applicable Regulations”:

Complaint 1:

• in breaching By-Law 4.1, of the 1 April 2019 By-Laws that provides:
  “Every Member… must,… in each triennium, undertake at least 120 hours of Continuing Professional Development of which at least 20 hours must be undertaken in each year of the triennium”,
  by failing to undertake the required amount of Continuing Professional Development hours.

Complaint 2:

• in breaching By-Law 4.2, of the April 2019 By-Laws that provides:
  “Each Member undertaking Continuing Professional Development must:
  1. maintain a record of the precise nature of his or her Continuing Professional Development, including date, time expended and topics covered;
  2. retain such record for at least 12 months after the end of the relevant triennium; and
  3. produce such record to an officer of CPA Australia for inspection upon request”
  in failing to produce for inspection a record of the Continuing Professional Development activities for the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018.

Complaint 3:

• in breaching By-Law 5.2(a), of the 9 December 2019 By-Laws that provides:
  “As soon as reasonably expedient after allocation of a Complaint to him or her, the PCO must:…
  2. require the Member to provide a satisfactory explanation with respect to the matters referred to in the Complaint. If a Member fails to provide a satisfactory explanation in writing with respect to the matters referred to in the Complaint within 10 Business Days (or such further period as agreed with the PCO) of receipt of a request by the PCO, the GMPC may proceed to make an assessment under By-Law 5.3 on the material before him or her without further communication with the Member and the Member will be in breach of By-Law 5.2(a), which breach must be dealt with concurrently with the Complaint”.
  Ms Adams failed to provide a sufficient and satisfactory written explanation and copies of any supporting documents in response to the Complaint within 10 business days.

Ms Adams did not attend the One Person Tribunal Hearing and denial of the Complaints were entered on her behalf.

Penalty and costs

The One Person Tribunal found the Complaints sustained and imposed the following penalties:

Complaints 1 and 2:

• forfeiture of membership
• upon any application for readmission of Membership Ms Adams must provide evidence that she has undertaken a minimum of 40 hours of Continuous Professional Development in the year immediately preceding the date of her application.

Complaint 3:

• a severe reprimand
• a fine of $2000 AUD.

Ms Adams was ordered to pay CPA Australia's costs of $2320 AUD prior to any application for readmission.