Institute of Solomon Islands Accountants

The Institute of Solomon Islands of Accountants (ISIA) is privileged to host the former Prime Minister and now current Minister for Finance & Treasury Hon. Manasseh Sogavare to address the first ever inaugural Congress event to be held on Tuesday 17 September 2024 at the Heritage Park Hotel.

Hon. Manasseh Sogavare is the key note chief guest speaker for the event. He brings with him wealth of experience and in-depth knowledge of Solomon Islands economic development, policies and other relative subjects for sustainable economic growth for the country.

ISIA Council and members of the Institute are excited as this is one of its well awaited event for years being able to host the first ever Congress for the Institute.

The Institute anticipates that the presences of the Minister will generate fruitful discussions at the event linking to the congress theme “Building for a Sustainable Future for Solomon Islands: The Role of the Accounting Profession in Nation-Building” Let all work together to build a sustainable Solomon Islands future

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS (IPA) GROUP CEO TO ADDRESSS ISIA CONGRESS

The Institute of Solomon Islands (ISIA) is delighted to have the presence of the IPA Group Chief Executive Officer Professor Andrew Conway to speak at the upcoming Congress.

Professor Conway will be presenting on the topic “Governance & Ethics: Professional Skepticism: Adopting a questioning mindset and critically assessing information and evidence to ensure accurate financial reporting & compliance”

As CEO, Andrew is responsible for the future of the Institute of Public Accountants and the Institute of Financial Accountants where he leads an international team that represents more than 50,000 members in more than 100 countries known as the IPA Group.

Andrew helps small businesses around the world navigate complex social, environmental, and economic issues. In 2023, the IPA was named Association of the Year by the Associations Forum for its commitment to professional excellence.

He is a vocal mental health advocate, and co-founder of the multidisciplinary IPA-Deakin University SME Research Centre where he initiated the Counting on U wellbeing program to better support the small business community.

Andrew is a former Treasury chief of staff, and the youngest CEO of a public entity in Australian history. In 2001, he was awarded the Centenary of Federation Medal for his service to the community.

Andrew holds academic qualifications in education, commerce, and post-graduate qualifications in artificial intelligence from Deakin University. In 2016, he was presented with a Distinguished Fellow award from the Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University.

Andrew is also an honorary professor of accounting at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, an adjunct professor at Deakin University, and an adjunct professor at Lanzhou University.

Philomena Leung is a Professor Emerita at Macquarie University and Group Executive Education at the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA). Before this appointment, Philomena has held multiple senior Professorial roles as Head and Associate Dean in Australia since 1990. Philomena has developed and instigated different innovative educational and transdisciplinary programs, including, internal audit and risks, a multi-disciplinary cyber security hub, a think tank for the chairs of accounting and finance ANZ, and an innovative program for future skills through an Education 3.0 program, and pioneered accounting ethics education in Hong Kong and in Australia.

Philomena has published extensively in academic journals in the areas of auditing, ethics, governance, and accounting education and been the lead researcher commissioned to develop a model for ethics education in accounting for 160 countries under the auspices of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

In particular, Professor Leung has recently completed the first version of the Global Certificate of Public Accounting (GCPA) program for the IPA Group in collaboration with Incept Labs. This world leading transdisciplinary accounting certification program uses a microcredential framework to create various new opportunities for accounting professionals working in the public interest and with a broad range of competencies.

Philomena holds a PhD in accounting ethics (RMIT University), a Master of Accounting and Finance (Glasgow) and is board director for the Institute of Internal Auditors Australia. She is an expert panel chair of the Hong Kong Accreditation body for Academic and Vocational programs.t Class Honours Degree in Science from Monash University, a Master of Arts from the University of New South Wales and is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College.

Andrew Schloeffel is Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner to Honiara.

Prior to this role, he was Assistant Secretary Fiji and Vanuatu in DFAT’s Office of the Pacific. Andrew has previously served overseas as Counsellor Economic at the Australian High Commission in Honiara (2018-2021) and in defence, private sector and World Bank roles based in Dili, Port Moresby, and Washington DC.

In Canberra, Andrew has worked on foreign and economic policy and international development issues at the Department of Defence, the Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, the Australian Agency for International Development and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Andrew holds a First Class Honours Degree in Science from Monash University, a Master of Arts from the University of New South Wales and is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College.

Connfederation of Asian & Pacific Accountants (CAPA) to speak at the upcoming ISIA Congress in September

The Institute of Solomon Islands Accountants (ISIA) welcomes the Chief Executive, CAPA Mr Brian Blood to present at the upcoming Congress next month. Mr Blood is an international guest speaker and will be speaking on “Inclusivity and Growing Together - Developing a robust ISIA – What it takes for the profession to be successful and contributing towards society and economic success, including a focus on accountants in the public sector”.

Brian has been Chief Executive since September 2009 and was previously with global Big 4 accounting firms for 27 years in the United Kingdom and Australia, including 16 years as a Partner.

He commenced his career with Arthur Andersen in London, England and transferred to Sydney, Australia in 1985, later joining Ernst & Young. As an audit partner he worked with many large, multinational corporations. In his last ten years as a partner, he worked increasingly with public sector clients, in both an audit and advisory capacity.

He is currently an independent chair or member on a number of Australian state-government audit and risk committees in planning, environment, transport, health and emergency services sectors.

The entities are significant in size, some with over 10,000 employees or with assets worth billions of dollars.

Brian was the President of CPA Australia in 2002. In 2003, he was honoured with a Centenary Medal for services to the accounting profession in Australia.

The New Zealand Country Head of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) Mr Peter Vial is delighted to attend and speak at the ISIA’s Inaugural Congress next month. He will be delivering his key note speech on the topic
Digital Transformation Through Artificial Intelligence - Adopting artificial intelligence in a developing economy/accounting profession.

Mr Vial has been the New Zealand Country Head for CA ANZ for seven and half years since early 2017 whilst the Chief Executive Officer Ms Ainslie van Onselen heads the organization which is based in Sydney, Australia.

The organization was inspired to become a sponsor for Congress to help Professional Accounting Organisations (PAOs) build their capacity to serve their members and communities. This is a strategy including supporting the four PAOs in the Pacific including ISIA.

Mr Vial is a Fellow Chartered Accountant a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and a Chartered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors. He is passionate about the differences chartered accountants across the world are making in their communities and in business, not for profit organisations, government and academia.

ISIA expresses its gratitude and appreciation to CA ANZ for its sponsorship. The sponsorship will definitely assist the Institute with its congress logistics.

ISIA Congress a platform to Empower Women

With ISIA Congress less than a month away, the Institute sees itself as a platform for empowering women leaders by offering an opportunity to address the public and private sector in a bid to find solutions to achieve a sustainable economic growth. Gender and Equality balanced is importantly required at the upcoming Congress. The Institute is delighted to announce its only local female guest speaker Ms. Lily Lomulo. Ms Lomulo will be presenting on the topic “Empower and Embrace New Change and Resilience: Building a resilient Solomon Islands work force through educational pathways. Resilience is a skill that can be cultivated with practice and by focusing on these elements, organisations can build a more resilient workforce”.

Lilly currently holds the Head of Talent Culture and Inclusion at British American Tobacco (BAT) Solomon Islands, has dedicated over two decades to driving excellence in Talent Attraction, Development and Retention; Diversity, Inclusion, and Culture; and Building leadership. Her efforts included significantly building line manager capabilities across Southeast Asia and placing accredited rewards for BAT in South Pacific. Under her leadership, BATSI earned accolades such as the Inclusion Diversity and Local Talent award from SICCI’s Business Excellence Awards and attaining twice in a row the prestigious American based annual "Great Place to Work" certification for the years 2023 and 2024.

Before her current role, Lily held senior positions in various private organizations, in general management, accounting, and corporate and regulatory affairs.

Lily is deeply passionate about community support serving on several boards, including the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce, the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, and Trade Disputes Panel. Currently, she contributes her expertise as the board of director for State owned Solomon Power Ltd and NGO Solo Enviro.

Lilly is committed to developing young Solomon Islanders and focuses on fostering leadership skills and empowering women to build confidence, engage in decision-making processes, to contribute meaningfully to the nation's growth and hope that her profound impact on her industry and community underscores her dedication to creating an inclusive, dynamic, and forward- thinking talent in Solomon Islands.