2016 Business Links Seminars

Information about Business Links seminars held in 2016.

"Public Audit: Assessing public value" CAGTR Business Links seminar

8 December 2016 from 7.15 am - 8.45 am

The Public Audit Act 2001 requires New Zealand’s Controller and Auditor General to audit public sector entities. A similar requirement is replicated in most other countries. But, what public value does this exercise deliver? Does the purpose of a public audit differ from that of a private sector audit? This seminar presents research into the value of audit in the public sector. It examines issues using theory which is relevant to the private sector as well as the public sector. The research was undertaken on behalf of the Centre for Accounting, Governance and Taxation Research (CAGTR) for the Office of the Auditor-General.

Presentations

Dr Carolyn Cordery, Associate Professor, School of Accounting and Commercial Law and member of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board
David Hay, Professor of Auditing, University of Auckland

Commentary

Robert Buchanan, Chair of the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board
Greg Schollum, Deputy Controller and Auditor-General

“Current challenges in accounting standard setting” CAGTR & XRB Business Links seminar

28 November 2016 from 5.30 pm - 7.00 pm

Hans Hoogervorst and Sue Lloyd will present on the challenges facing the IASB. Kimberley Crook will comment on the impact of these issues for standard setting in New Zealand, and Phillippa Harford will discuss the challenges facing New Zealand companies in implementing IFRS on topics such as impairment testing, revenue recognition and leasing.

Speakers

Hans Hoogervorst, Chair, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
Sue Lloyd, Vice-Chair, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
Kimberley Crook, Chair, New Zealand Accounting Standards Board
Phillippa Harford, CFO, Infratil

CAGTR Business Links seminar—Professor Eva Eberhartinger

15 June 2016 Time: 5.30 pm

Since 2010, media reports have drawn attention to the fact that some highly profitable multinational companies seem to pay comparatively little corporate income tax in the source country, with effective tax rates on foreign profits of Google Inc. and Apple Inc., for example, of 3% and 1%, respectively. In 2013, the OECD published a global action plan comprising 15 actions aimed at tackling the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) of multinational enterprises. After two years of intense work the final reports on the actions were delivered and endorsed by the G20 in February 2016. Since then, the OECD together with non-OECD countries have worked on specification and implementation. The EU strongly supports the OECD, it issued a draft directive which addresses several of the BEPS issues. However, the draft directive is not fully in line with the OECD´s suggestions.

Professor Eberhartinger´s talk will present the background of the BEPS Action Plan and discuss the current state of implementation in OECD and EU. She will critically analyse the effect that the measures suggested may have, from a tax policy perspective as well as from a firm´s perspective.