‘Navigating tax and business challenges: Understanding the relationships and roles of business advisors and accountants in supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs'

A research project is underway which focuses on how accountants and business advisors support Indigenous entrepreneurs with tax requirements as well as more broadly how accountants, business advisors and Indigenous entrepreneurs perceive the current tax system. As a result, the project team are investigating beyond tax-specific support, we are also interested in understanding how indigenous entrepreneurs engage with other business-related knowledge/skills, such as business planning, financing, marketing, etc. This seminar will provide an overview and preliminary results of field work undertaken among business advisors, accountants and their clients, some of which are operating in the Kimberly region. Data was collected in June-July 2024. With early findings indicating that Indigenous entrepreneurs are largely supported by non-Indigenous accountants who may not fully understand the cultural specificities of Indigenous people and the impact it has on their business choices. Ensuring that accountants are culturally sensitive could positively impact the overall accountant-client relationship. We aim at providing insights that are of relevance for a variety of stakeholders, including 1) Indigenous entrepreneurs understand how their perceptions and understanding of wealth accumulation and distribution of income impact on business decisions related to fiscal matters; 2) the ATO, improve policy and incentives that are more aligned with Indigenous entrepreneurs values and business practices and the development of a more culturally relevant and sensitive communication that better resonate with the Indigenous culture; 3) Our project will provide the accounting profession and its associations e.g. CPA and CA ANZ, with insights that could help tweaking the current accreditation system. For example, looking at the CA Program and even how the Mentored Practical Experience is delivered to integrate learning opportunities about challenges professionals encounter within Indigenous context. This research project was borne after an extensive consultation with colleagues, accountants and entrepreneurs (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous), and members of CPA, who highlighted a clear gap in knowledge and ability to support clients. The study involves myself in collaboration with Dr Mattia Anesa, Lecturer at the discipline of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, The University of Sydney Business School and Dr Tarunna Sebastian, Lecturer at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney.