Provide members with personalised and engaging experiences

This is a significant piece of research that will underpin our work in improving value and service to members at each stage of the membership journey. Focus groups, fieldwork research and qualitative surveys have been completed for members in Australia.

Fieldwork research commenced in China and Malaysia in February-March 2019. 

This project will assess the current state of the member service experience, including member interaction channels, customer service delivery models, evaluation frameworks and related systems and technology. It will deliver valuable recommendations on how we can improve value to members through technology and service.

The purpose of the audit is to produce a report highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the existing social media strategy, and to help inform the development of a more refined strategy that allows for two-way communication with members.

We introduced live webchat in September 2020 to enhance its service options. Webchat can be accessed through the homepage of the website, by clicking on the ‘Live Chat’ button to communicate directly with our Melbourne Contact Centre.

We have invested significantly in technology to improve the enrolment experience for Associate members. The priority is to eliminate outages and minimise delays for members. 

The November enrolment period saw no outages. Overall, members reported a quick and seamless enrolment experience. There were close to 5000 successful enrolments on day one and the average enrolment time per unit was just 30 seconds. The project was delivered on time and to budget.

A renewed focus on content to reflect member interests resulted in an increase of 100,000 visits to INTHEBLACK in December 2018, when compared to site visits in December 2017.

February 2022 - new Intheblack.com website released

This focus continued through 2019 with more stories featuring CPA Australia members, with 177 to the end of September.

Most popular topics:

• Superannuation
• Workplace
• Excel
• Accounting
• Careers.

Most popular articles:

• How much Super do you need – 52,000 page views
• The fear of rejection at work
• Outrageous tax claims.

Additional statistics:

• 10,000 subscribers opted in to the INTHEBLACK email 
• 36% increase in traffic to the intheblack.com from external sites
• 2,020 audio articles downloaded since launch in June.

A new event management system provides a streamlined process for members booking to attend events. The self-service system enables members to register for events, provide payment, change sessions, and cancel and arrange a refund.

New learning and development offers which were released, included the Harvard Manage Mentor ‘Crisis Management’ and the Tax Banter ‘Stimulus Package Update’ webinar.

Our website is a critical touchpoint for members. We are continually working to deliver a website which will provide a more personalised experience for users.

A strategy was developed that had input from a range of stakeholders, including member groups. A user-led approach prioritises the voice of the member and enables advanced functionality with personalised portals for different types of users.

Work was carried out on a detailed design for the build and implementation phase, and the first release occurred in mid-2021.

More than 9.3 million views in 2021.

Further updates in 2022 to include greater personalisation through member dashboards

Communication protocols have been put in place to support email communication from Divisional Presidents to members in that Division. Additional work is being done to establish new digital channels for members in each Division to communicate and connect with each other as part of a professional network.

In November 2018, Division and Branch Councils shared member engagement initiatives and put forward recommendations for potential improvements.

In December 2018, Councils are developing member engagement plans to be submitted to the Member Engagement Committee. These will inform recommendations on changes to the overall strategy for member engagement and help build an appropriate evaluation framework.

2021 – CPA Australia held more than 2,110 member events – including 1300+ virtual events attracting more than 180,000 registrations.

Our offices host regular member events throughout the year in which industry specialists present on topics that are relevant to members in the local area, the profession as a whole or particular accounting and finance disciplines.

2019

Ho Chi Minh City

• Consumer finance – a digital perspective – examining the transition to the era of digital payments in Vietnam.
• Tax update for members: CPD event focusing on latest tax laws and legislation.
• Trends in leadership – a CPD event that looked at cross-cultural dimension of effective leadership and the terminology of leadership, entrepreneurship and organisational structures.

Jakarta

• Risk and opportunity on investor relations – breakfast dialogue in conjunction with Monash University Indonesia Representative Office.

Malaysia

• Artificial intelligence (AI) in the accounting and auditing profession.

Shanghai

• Associate member welcome event – a reception to engage associate members on their career journey.
• Digital economy: opportunities and challenges for management. Looked at the rise of digital economy and the impact on government policies, taxation, risk management and the social structure.

Singapore

• Talk on fintech and the future of finance focusing on how fintech is transforming the industry and broader economy, and changing the way companies do business and people work.
• Growing a fintech company – explored evolution of fintech and analysis of regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs.
• A women in leadership event in where members heard from inspirational women and discussed what it takes to become a leader in a male dominated industry.
  Tasmania
• Business in the boardroom event in Burnie, attended by members and the local business community. The lunch focused on the economic opportunities for the region and the value of developing relationships with the local network of CPA Australia members.

2020

With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting in-person events throughout 2020 and 2021, many events were conducted via webinars, livestreaming or in a hybrid format.

2021

Ho Chi Minh City

• IFRS adoption in Vietnam
• CPA Australia live webinar
• Vietnam tax update
• e-commerce webinar

New Zealand

• Established Tax Committee to support CPA Australia's tax experts in the Policy and Advocacy team
• Established its first Discussion Group (Audit and Assurance) in March
• Tax planning for the 39 percent rate
• Mentoring insights
• Women in Business: Celebrating Success

WA

• CPA Week 2021 Conference held on 14-15 June, at the Hyatt Regency in Perth, and was attended by more than 200 accounting and finance professionals. The two-day convergence and optional half-day masterclass, were a key engagement activity for members across multiple sectors in Western Australia
• Not For Profit Forum
• Resources and Energy Finance Forum

ACT

• From Executive to the Board’. ACT Division hosted a panel discussion taking members through aspects of transitioning from executive positions to director roles, as well as other opportunities such as advisory boards, audit committees and review panels.
• ACT Public Practice Forum

Queensland

• Cairns Forum
• Women’s committee – Whole Brain Thinking
• Cyber Security – What you need to know

NSW

• Internal Controls and Governance Insights from the Audit Office’s 2020 Audits 
  Tasmania
• Tasmanian Public Practice Symposium

Victoria

• Women in Super
• How to protect yourself and your organisation from fraud
• Career evening

We launched a new Member Engagement Platform CPA Member Connect on 15 September 2020.

CPA Member Connect is an online communication channel which provides members with a way to connect with each other and to network professionally. It complements existing social media channels and enables members to connect with peers and other members in their local division or industry sector, and to exchange ideas and benefit from each other’s experience.

As of September 2021, there are more than 15,500 registered members.

• 1,100+ discussion threads
• 5,700+ posts

A COVID-19 safe virtual certificate presentation was held in Queensland division in semester 2, 2020. The event celebrated the achievements of members advancing from ASA to CPA status, CPA to FCPA status, and those achieving a significant membership milestone.

Malaysia held its first victual certificate presentation ceremony on 17 June 2021, with Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, Andrew Goledzinowski, in attendance.

In Hong Kong we ran a series of small COVID-19 safe certificate presentation ceremony on 21 June 2021, in Hong Kong.

Certificate presentation ceremonies were also held in June, at 13 regional centres around Australia: Gold Coast, Townsville, Albury-Wodonga, Cairns, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Mackay, Wagga, Illawarra, Launceston and Devonport.

Our employees have attended culture workshops designed to build a member-centric culture aligned to the strategy objectives.

2021 - Developed and launched CPA Australia’s organisational values – The CPA Australia Way. 

C – Create Opportunity
P – Pursue Excellence
A – Achieve Together

These values describe the commitment we make to each other and to members and will be embedded in all our practices

We have launched our inaugural Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Endorsed by Reconciliation Australia, the Reflect RAP formalises our commitment to reconciliation with Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

February 2022 - Launch Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) – the next phase of our reconciliation journey. The Innovate RAP focuses on:

• developing and strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• engaging employees and stakeholders in reconciliation, developing and piloting innovative strategies to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

View the Innovate RAP here.