Archived News for Executives and Senior Management

The Queensland Government has announced the appointment of new directors for four of the state’s Government Owned Corporations (GOC).

Fairfax has announced David Hoath, CEO of its Melbourne publishing arm, as the company's new Chief Operating Officer of its Metro operations, reporting directly to Metro CEO Jack Matthews.

Revered industry veteran Mike Lattin has announced his departure from Australia based international broadcaster GlobeCast, having served nine years as CEO.

Global engineering firm WorleyParsons has announced the appointment of Andrew Wood as the company's new Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective at the end of the company's AGM on 23 October.

The Queensland Government has ordered Queensland Rail to refocus its business to improve the quality of its frontline services following a review of the corporation’s ‘bloated’ executive.

The Federal government has announced the appointment of a new Chair and reappointment of commissioners to the National Water Commission.

The CEO of Cairns Regional Council, Lyn Russell, has been dismissed and will  receive a payout reported to be worth around $500,000, including 12 months’ pay and entitlements.

The Sydney Opera House Trust has announced Louise Herron as the Trust's new Chief Executive Officer, commencing 6 August.

The Federal Government has passed tax reform legislation through Parliament that will  strengthen the director penalty regime and protects workers' superannuation entitlements and amendments to the taxation of financial arrangements and consolidation regimes.

Investment group Perpetual has announced plans to significantly cut its executive remuneration deals, significantly restructure the company and to put a halt to ongoing losses.

The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson has announced the final board appointments and the chief executive officer to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Business Events Sydney has announced the appointment of Gabrielle Trainor as the company's new independent Director on the Board.

The Federal Government has announced the appointment of Jane Treadewell as Chief Executive Officer to lead the newly established Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design.

This week’s turmoil of the country’s media landscape continues after David Leckie announced his retirement from the role of Chief Executive Officer of Seven West Media to transition to a new position as Executive Director, Media for Seven Group Holdings.

David Jones has announced the appointment of Susan Leppinus as Company Secretary and General Counsel, effective from 10 July 2012.

Accountants and auditors should recognise that a company's culture and 'tone at the top' can have a profound impact on operational safety, risk-taking, and ultimately, financial position, according to Professor Russell Craig, Head of Victoria University's School of Accounting and Finance, and his co-researchers.

In a paper published in the New York State Society of CPAs in the CPA Journal, Professor Craig, Professor Joel Amernic (University of Toronto), and Professor Dennis Tourish (Royal Holloway, University of London), argue that a company's corporate culture – and its impact on safety operations – must be assessed and given due acknowledgement if audited financial statements are to be fair and accurate.

Using BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a case in point, the researchers say that auditors should broaden the notion of what an audit is, so that operational risks generated from a company's culture and management tone are factored into potential liabilities.

The researchers present evidence to suggest that BP's 'tone at the top' and corporate culture (and consequently its management and operational systems) were dysfunctional. Not only did the company have a poor safety record, but another disaster appeared almost inevitable.

"A close examination of BP's tone at the top and consequent culture reveals a h­igh likelihood that a major man-made safety-related disaster would befall BP every few years...[Yet] no acknowledgement of the company's susceptibility to disaster was included in the company's financial reports or was identified by conventional auditing procedures," the paper notes.

"In such circumstances, in the interests of fairness of presentation, we submit that a provision for disaster should have in fact been made in the accounts."

The absence of a "provision for disaster" in BP's financial statements – one that would take into account the array of environmental and legal costs that would follow a future major disaster – meant that BP's audited financial statements did not comply with the  "fairness of "presentation" objective outlined in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the researchers argue.

Professor Craig said that while it would have been impossible for BP to predict which of its operations would be the site of a future disaster, "there was a strong case that a liability existed and was growing by the year".

If financial statements are to be the fair presentations that they claim to be, he said, auditors needed to take a more holistic approach and scrutinise more than just the numbers.

"These things have an impact -- a corporate culture that over-values cost-cutting to the detriment of safety will more than likely have financial consequences down the line -- so they should be taken into account by auditors if the provision of fair and accurate financial statements is the goal," Professor Craig said.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council has announced the appointment of Gary Dawson as the group's new Chief Executive Officer. Mr Dawson will begin his role at the end of July.

Westpac banking group has announced that Carolyn Hewson will be stepping down from the Board at the end of the month following an eight-year tenure with the bank.

Air New Zealand has announced the appointment of Christopher Luxon as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Rob Fyfe who departs at the end of December.

Business advocacy group Business SA has announced it has appointed Nigel McBride as the group’s new CEO following an extensive search process.