Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Very briefly, I think it is incumbent upon me, being an accountant, to make some observations about the Governance Review Implementation (AASB and AUASB) Bill 2008. I concur with what Senator Coonan has said. In discussions with both the CPAs and chartered accountants, they do not anticipate any ramifications in the way the standards would operate. Obviously the standards underpin the whole process of how, in accountancy, we do our job. This is something that has been pursued since the Uhrig review. It was also pursued in the 1975 royal commission on Australian government administration, which argued for greater flexibility, and that has also had an influence on this bill. For those peculiar individuals who are out there listening to this and have a strong interest in accountancy standards, there is and there has been some oversight of this.