The project “Assessing and addressing tax system complexity”, which has received a $150,000 ARC Linkage Grant, responds to calls for fresh empirical research to underpin efforts to simplify the tax system.

The team of academics, including Dr Binh Tran-Nam from UNSW and colleagues from Monash, Curtin and University of Tasmania, will work with The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and its members to explore the causes, indicators, costs and effects of tax system complexity, and to identify and evaluate means through which the complexity can be reduced and monitored.

Professor Chris Evans says the project will have a significant impact, “It will seek to identify the key factors underpinning tax system complexity, measure the costs it imposes upon taxpayers, and develop complexity indices that can test new policy measures and monitor improvements.

“Reducing tax system complexity will improve government, business and personal productivity, increase compliance and improve interaction between tax agencies, practitioners and taxpayers. The comprehensive business and personal indices of tax system complexity that the project will produce will be a world first,” he said.

Professor Evans is one of the invited tax academics attending the government’s Tax Forum, being held in Canberra on 4 and 5 October.

For further details, contact Professor Chris Evans on 02 9385 9546 cc.evans@unsw.edu.au.

Hosted by the Australian School of Business, the event will be an opportunity to listen to Mathew Godfrey share his insights on how to go from “simply being creative to being innovative”, drawing on his extensive experience in building brands in the Asia Pacific region.

“The continuing struggles of international markets to establish economic stability, never mind sustained growth, means that the centre of gravity of global growth is rapidly shifting to Asia. This focus will cascade into an unprecedented explosion of innovation across the region, driven by political, cultural and entrepreneurial factors unique to the continent. The balance of economic power from West to East will quickly be followed by a similar shift in creativity and innovation”, he said.

Dr. Julien Cayla, Senior Lecturer in the School of Marketing and Coordinator of the Marketing in Asia Speaker Series confirmed that ASB was excited to have Matthew Godfrey included in the series, “These are two topics that are really top of mind in most large companies: innovation and the growing Asian markets. As President of Y&R, Mathew Godfrey interacts with a wide range of senior managers in the region; he also has many years of experience in Asia.

“While ad agencies are often seen as communication suppliers, they are in a great position to scan what happens across industries and how to take insights and technologies from one market and apply those to another,” he said.

Prior to being appointed president of Y&R in 2010, Godfrey was the CEO and COO of Publicis Asia. In 2009, he was a Media Magazine finalist for Asian CEO of the Year, as well as Marketing Agency Professional of the Year.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Wednesday, 24 August, 2011

Time: 6pm – 9pm (including networking drinks)

Location: UNSW CBD Campus

Level 6, 1 O’Connell Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Please contact Steffi Chen for more details Steffi.chen@unsw.edu.au.

A new level of performance at the Australian School of Business is heralded by the appointment of a new senior executive team. Four outstanding senior external appointments have been made to complement and strengthen the School’s existing leadership team.

The team – all highly-experienced leaders from business and academia – is tasked with leading ASB’s development in four key areas: promoting high impact research; delivering an outstanding student-centred educational experience; building selective Tier 1 alliances; and fostering a collegial and innovative culture.

Dean of the Australian School of Business, Professor Alec Cameron, welcomed the incoming executive team members: Professor Greg Whitwell as Deputy Dean Programs and Students; Professor Chris Styles as Deputy Dean and Director, Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM); Ms Rosemary Sinclair as Director of External Relations, and Ms Betsy Marks as Executive Officer.

The calibre of the appointments, along with the new organisational structure, reflects a fresh approach as the School aligns and energises its strategic objectives, Professor Cameron said. “When we established the Australian School of Business five years ago, we adopted a product-oriented organisational structure which separated our programs into three portfolios: undergraduate, postgraduate and executive programs. Our experience has shown greater synergy for branding, content and delivery can be achieved through grouping programs into pre-experience and post-experience markets. The make-up of our new senior team reflects this approach.”

Meet the senior executive team

Professor Greg Whitwell, Deputy Dean Programs and Students

Formerly Deputy Dean and Director of the Graduate School of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne, Professor Whitwell’s focus is to ensure ASB’s education mission is supported through student-centred education.

Professor Chris Styles, Deputy Dean and Director, AGSM

Associate Dean (Management Education) at the University of Sydney Business School for the past seven years, Professor Styles will bring together all AGSM programs to serve the post experience management education and leadership development market.

Rosemary Sinclair, Director of External Relations

Ms Sinclair was Managing Director of the Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG) for the past decade. The focus of her new ASB role is to ensure the School is well positioned and highly engaged with external stakeholders, including business and government.

Betsy Marks, Executive Officer

Formerly Executive Officer to Professor Janice Reid, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney, Ms Marks is no newcomer to UNSW. She previously held the roles of Executive Officer to former vice-chancellors Rory Hume and John Niland.

Joining the new senior team members to spearhead ASB’s next growth phase are: Professor Mark Uncles, formerly ASB’s Associate Dean, Undergraduate, who has been appointed Deputy Dean, Faculty, to focus on recruitment of high calibre academics from Australia and overseas, and to support the development of academics; and, Professor Roger Simnett, formerly Head of ASB’s School of Accounting, who takes up the role of Associate Dean, Research, to further build ASB’s distinguished research performance. Simon Arnold continues as ASB’s General Manager.

The team qualified for the challenge after winning the National Final which was held at Monash University a month earlier.

The CIMA Global Business Challenge gives students the opportunity to test their business management skills, expand their competitive talents and gain practical experience as a chartered management accountant.

Nelson Boyd, a Bachelor of Commerce/Law student said, “The CIMA Global Business Challenge tested my knowledge of business and allowed me to collaborate with team mates to effectively reach team objectives. The finals were an opportunity to not only test myself but also meet and network with fellow competitors from around Australia.”

The challenge brought together 17 universities from around the world and a panel of esteemed judges from organisations across the globe, including Barclays, Shell, L’Occitane en Provence and Tangs Department Store.

The UNSW team ‘Eva Consulting’, which consists of Paulette Lo, Nelson Boyd, Matthew Zaidan and Jared Goh came third in the Final of the Global Business Challenge which was held on 23 and 24 July in Chengdu, China.