Globe trotter
There’s little doubt that Aubrey Joachim
is the institute’s most travelled president.
The first Australian to accept the honour
tells Ruth Prickett how he plans to
increase CIMA’s influence internationally.
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financial management
You’re the first CIMA president from
outside the UK and Ireland. Does this
affect what you bring to the role?
I was born in Sri Lanka and now live in
Australia. In between I’ve lived in the Middle
East, East Asia, the UK and even had New
Zealand residency for a short time. I run my
own training company, so I travel the world
meeting financial professionals with a huge
range of qualifications and backgrounds, so
my perspective is international. I think this
should reinforce one important message: the
skills for business success remain the same
irrespective of your location. The ubiquitous
language of management accounting is
unaffected by national differences in standards
and regulations. We need – and are getting –
a new type of financial manager who wants
to work in different parts of the world, much
like Médecins sans Frontières. I want to
spread the message that CIMA’s qualification
is a passport to wherever you want to be.
Is this common language really enough
to overcome national barriers?
I recently ran workshops in Tehran. The
organisers wanted the same course on three
consecutive days: one for local government;
one for the health sector; and one for
education and other industries. Over 150
people attended each day and almost 90 per
cent didn’t understand English – we used a
simultaneous translator. Despite this, the
standard of their questions was unbelievably
high. All participants were well educated
(most had a master’s degree) and understood
the universal financial management concepts.
The same was true in China. It’s not a
question of what language you speak.
How is the institute planning to spread
this message?
CIMA is talking to businesses in South
America, India and China. India has huge
potential, because its businesses already
have excellent financial accountants but need
management accountants to drive them
forward. We need to pitch the message to
business communities and political leaders
that the way forward is not conformance alone
but performance as well – ie, not increased
regulation but more informed decision-making
that largely mitigates regulatory lapses.
How has the global recession affected
CIMA’s aims for the coming year?
The institute was founded 90 years ago at
perhaps the peak of the industrial age – an
Peter searle
CIMA’s message to employers worldwide
Chartered management accountants are financially qualified business leaders. They
operate within all areas of organisations, in both the private and public sectors, driving
success and creating value through a combination of the application of leading-edge
techniques and an in-depth understanding of the businesses in which they operate. While
qualified in accounting and finance, their focus is commercial and forward looking,
pre-empting and adapting to businesses’ changing needs. Specifically they:
nDesign, implement and manage integrated information systems that combine financial
and non-financial data to provide insightful reports that inform decision-making.
nDesign, implement and manage transaction processing activities, including financial
accounting, payroll, purchasing and payments.
nDesign, improve, measure and manage business processes, ensuring optimum
efficiency and effectiveness in the organisation’s use of resources.
nAct as analysts, consultants and managers of relationships, projects and change in
support of the business; and as “business partners” integrated into divisional and
operational units and processes, providing commercial and strategic insight, innovative
thinking and a collaborative approach.
nFormulate and manage policies, strategies and objectives, producing business plans,
forecasts, scorecards, cost/benefit analyses and budgeting information.
nDesign and implement best-practice corporate governance processes, including risk
management, internal audit and control, and board and stakeholder reporting.
nDetermine the capital structure and acquire and manage funds.
nConduct due-diligence processes in M&As, partnerships and joint ventures.
era that posed its own challenges. Its aim
then was to bring a different perspective to
organisational management. Today,
management accountants have another
chance to contribute to enhancing business
models, operations and processes to help
their organisations create value. CIMA is
doing that by giving its stakeholders the best
toolkits: not only the updated syllabus, but
also a suite of CPD products and technical
guidelines to help members sharpen their
skills and increase their confidence so that
they can help their organisations to survive.
In order to attract both new members and
employers, CIMA must remain relevant as a
qualification for students and as a “value
proposition” for members and employers.
We need to offer businesses global solutions
and people who can influence their
organisations’ performance using the
institute’s core strengths.
I’d like to see further collaborations with
financial bodies across the globe as well as
organic growth this year. CIMA is a flag-bearer
for the profession worldwide. We should be
bringing together all other bodies with similar
aspirations – as we have been doing already
with our memorandums of understanding.
Is it proving harder to influence change
when firms are so focused on survival?
In my most recent presentations I have
started by discussing what Barack Obama
has been saying to the automobile industry in
the US. Although he’s a lawyer with a social
justice bent, he has been talking like a
management accountant. He’s called for
changes to the cost structure of these
organisations and identified problems with
overcapacity and how they manage working
capital. He has also offered the US public a
lifetime guarantee of service for vehicles,
thereby enhancing top-line growth. He’s
talking about making a fundamental change
to the way they run their businesses. To
achieve this he’s fired the chief executive of
General Motors (who was an accountant) and
replaced him with the CFO. He is saying that
– despite some lapses – accountants are still
the ones who should be able to turn
organisations around and, if they can’t
achieve that, they shouldn’t be in this job.
We need to capitalise on this message.
Change is most easily accepted during
a fight for survival – what Charles Darwin
really meant was “survival of the most
financial management
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adaptable”. This is
now the challenge for
every organisation.
How will CIMA
contribute to the agenda
for change?
Too many finance professionals still
lack confidence that they will be heeded.
Perhaps this is because they haven’t been
involved enough in strategy and decisionmaking in the past. It’s vital that our members
play a key role in such processes. The
financials of a business are only the outcome
of what happens in that business.
Management accountants should be as
involved in driving performance as in analysing
the financial outcomes after the event.
This year the CIMA Innovation and
Development team will be working on exciting
areas such as business intelligence and the
finance function as a business partner. While
governance and financial regulations provide
fiduciary stewardship, it’s the performance
aspects that give members the confidence
they need to rise to the challenges of the
changing economic landscape. Another
important development is the introduction of
the 2010 syllabus. This has been backed by
excellent thought leadership on the issues,
challenges and demands of the business
world – both practical and theoretical. We
must take advantage of all the opportunities
that arise and ensure that our members and
students can do this in their organisations.
What will your role be in this?
I will be talking to big employers – eg, oil and
gas companies, banks and also public-sector
bodies – and my message will be that we
need more new-style financial professionals
who can take organisations forward rather
than simply looking at where they came from.
Of course, many members are already doing
this, but I’d like there to be more. In addition,
I realise that many members and students are
in SMEs. They need even more support to
help them move to the leading edge.
We should also be learning from each
other. We ought to be able to draw together
CIMA people worldwide into a powerful
network to share experiences to enhance our
collective knowledge and the competence of
the membership as a whole. No member or
student anywhere on the planet need fear
isolation. This is why I’ve started a blog on
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financial management
www.cimasphere.com.
I want this to attract
people to come in and
form a community to
share their experiences
and obtain help. Collective
knowledge is a powerful thing.
What do you see as the main quality that
you can bring to the presidency?
I think the key trait that got me here is
inquisitiveness. I’ve always been keen to
experiment and challenge established norms,
and I think all management accountants
should be willing to go into organisations
and change things to deliver results.
Your home is in Australia. How will you fit
CIMA around your other commitments?
I come from one of the best countries in
the world and now I’m in one of the most
interesting and challenging roles in the
world’s most dynamic accounting body.
When I joined its executive committee about
four years ago I thought hard about how I
could find the time to serve on it. I couldn’t
go to my employer and say: “Sorry, I need to
go to London every month.” I realised that my
CIMA skills offered another career path and I
started up my training consultancy. This
means that I already travel the world. I fix my
institute dates first and arrange my other
appointments around them.
Running my own business has been
interesting – it’s the first time I have done this
– and I’m also showing the people I teach
how I have used the CIMA qualification to
enable me to live the life I want to lead.
What do you do in your spare time?
I spend most of it at 38,000ft. I read a lot on
airliners (I rarely watch the in‑flight movies). I
generally prefer publications such as Fortune,
HBR, the Economist – and FM, of course –
but I can learn as much about business from
reading a sporting magazine. I like to write,
too – about business and also cricket.
To me, business is entertainment. It’s what
gets my adrenaline flowing. If you can make
everyone in the organisation feel this
adrenaline, you’re halfway there. I would like
other members to be able to relate to my
experiences and I don’t think that the next
generation will need to retire as long as we
can stay inquisitive and open to the idea of
doing things differently.
Quick CV
1973-77
Aubrey Einstein Anthony Joachim takes a
job at the finance department of Unilever in
Colombo. Starts the CIMA course in 1975.
1977-79
Takes a break from business to serve in the
Sri Lankan Air Force as a volunteer officer.
1979-82
Headhunted (via a CIMA contact) as an
accountant by a leading garment
manufacturer in Sri Lanka.
1982-93
Joins the Dubai operations of McDermott
International, a US conglomerate involved
in oil and gas, as an asset accountant.
He is later promoted to senior finance
manager responsible for the Middle East
and East Asia. In 1984 he completes his
exams and becomes an FCMA two
years later. In 1988 he leads a team of
accountants at McDermott to victory in
the Benson & Hedges Middle East
Management Challenge. In 1991 he wins
the CIMA/Reed global management
accounting competition. A year afterwards
he is transferred to McDermott’s London
office as projects finance manager.
1993-2005
Joachim moves to Sydney and becomes
an Australian citizen, first working as a
consultant in the financial services sector
and then joining Sydney Water
Corporation as a senior finance manager.
2005-
Sets up a consultancy running financial
and management accounting workshops,
courses and conferences around the
world. He also speaks regularly at
conferences for the Australian, Malaysian
and Singaporean accounting bodies, and
writes for a number of professional
journals, as well as cricketing blogs.