CPA Australia 2015-2016 Member Information - Financial Performance and Governance

Sep 2, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick

Document sections address CPA Australia’s financial performance from 2015 to 2016, explaining how surplus and revenue increased and what drove those changes across membership, CPA Program sales, and professional development. It details expenditure growth factors, especially digitisation and system upgrades, added investment in CPA Australia Advice, and currency depreciation impacts. Additional content describes how the organisation uses strong cash reserves and where member funds are planned to be invested from 2017 onward, covering strategic priorities and governance election mechanisms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time1 h 21 min

AccessFree to download

Financial performance (2015–2016)

Surplus changes and contributing factors

Revenue changes and contributing factors

Expenditure before tax and contributing factors

Using the financial position and planned investments

Cash position and how it enables initiatives

Investment focus during 2017 and beyond

Governance

How members vote for the Board

| | | | --- | --- | | SOUND FINANCIAL FOUNDATION | | | Surplus increased from 2015 to 2016. What were the contributing factors to this? | 2016 reﬂected a strong operating performance across the organisation delivering an operating surplus of $8.2m. This result compares to $7.6m in 2015.
Prudent management has delivered combined surpluses of $58.5m over the last eight years, compared to $32.2m delivered in the preceding 122 years.
CPA Australia is not immune to the underlying effects of the lack of conﬁdence in the broader economy, which provided challenges to some of our revenue lines. Our strong ﬁnancial result means we are well positioned in the event of unexpected economic turbulence and makes our current and future strategic investments possible.
We have continued to deliver strong CPA Program professional level sales and maintained membership retention in line with our high expectations.
In 2016, CPA Australia continued to focus on the goal of being the world’s best member service organisation by increasing our investment in member service with the delivery of a new online membership application system and the replacement of paper forms with digital versions. We also established CPA Australia Advice, which provides an independent licensing solution for our members in public practice.
We also continue to invest heavily in promoting the CPA certiﬁcation to employers, recruitment agencies, government and the general public. | | Revenue increased from 2015 to 2016. What were the contributing factors to this? | Revenue growth was 3.2 per cent or $5.6m. The increase can largely be attributed to:
• Growth in membership – we ﬁnished the year with over 160,000 members, driven by strong new member growth and member retention of 98.3 per cent for fully qualiﬁed members
• CPA Program segment sales
• Increased professional development sales | | Expenditure before tax ended higher than 2015 (3.5 per cent). What were the contributing factors to this? | This is largely attributable to:
• Further investment in the digitisation of the CPA Program, higher technology and depreciation costs associated with upgrades to our core business systems and further investment in the digital capability of the organisation. This includes our membership customer relationship management (CRM) system, multi-currency gateway, new learning management system, new corporate website, new online assessment tool and an overhaul of our disaster recovery capability. Such initiatives allow members to interact with us in the manner and using the channel of their choice.
• Our increased investment in CPA Australia Advice
• The depreciation of the Australian dollar also resulted in higher operational costs in overseas locations and an FX translation loss | | | | | --- | --- | | How is the organisation utilising its strong ﬁnancial position? | CPA Australia’s cash in excess of operating requirements is approximately $90m. This equates to roughly six months contingency in the event of a signiﬁcant downturn in cash ﬂow or other business shock.
The current cash position is not considered excessive for an organisation like CPA Australia that has been in operation for more than 130 years.
Although investment is certainly not a core business activity, the revenue earned on investments is used for member activity.
The cash holdings give us the ﬂexibility to embark on new initiatives, exploit emerging opportunities and combat competitive threats and do not constrain the organisation in a particular period to spending only that level of income.
The Board and management frequently assess the requirements of the business in the short and long term to ensure we will have sufﬁcient resources to maximise our offer to members. | | Where is CPA Australia planning to invest member funds during 2017
and beyond? | CPA Australia maintains a clear commercial focus in all of its activities and the tight ﬁscal management of the organisatio

FAQs

What contributed to the increase in operating surplus from 2015 to 2016?

2016 reflected strong operating performance delivering an operating surplus of $8.2m versus $7.6m in 2015. Prudent management delivered combined surpluses of $58.5m over the last eight years, and strong results supported strategic investment despite broader economic uncertainty.

Why did revenue increase from 2015 to 2016?

Revenue grew by 3.2% (or $5.6m), largely due to membership growth, CPA Program segment sales, and increased professional development sales.

What drove the higher expenditure before tax in 2016 compared with 2015?

Expenditure rose mainly from further digitisation investment in the CPA Program and higher technology and depreciation costs from core system upgrades, plus increased investment in CPA Australia Advice. Depreciation of the Australian dollar also increased operational costs overseas and caused an FX translation loss.

How can members vote for and influence the Board election process?

A clear nomination and appointment process exists since the Representative Council’s establishment following the EGM in 2006. Eligible members can seek election each year, with nominations called openly and transparently, and members participate through Divisional Councils and the Representative Council electing the Board from voting members’ applications.

Sep 2, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick