Ruth Picker BA, FCA, FSIA, FCPA, is Global Leader, Global IFRS Services, Global Professional Practice, with Ernst & Young. Ruth has 29 years’ experience with Ernst & Young and has held various leadership roles during this time. Up until June 2009, Ruth was Managing Partner — Melbourne and the Oceania Team Leader of Climate Change and Sustainability Services. Prior to this role, Ruth was a senior partner in the Technical Consulting Group, Global IFRS and the firm’s Professional Practice Director (PPD) responsible for directing the firm’s accounting and auditing policies with the ultimate authority on accounting and auditing issues. She is a member of Ernst & Young’s Global IFRS Policy Committee.

Ruth’s authoritative insight and understanding of accounting policy and regulation was acknowledged through her appointment to the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC), the official interpretative arm of the International Accounting Standards Board. She is currently a member of the IFRIC and the only Australian on that body.

Ruth was responsible for the preparation of Ernst & Young’s Corporate Governance Series (which includes guidance for directors and results of numerous corporate governance surveys) and subsequent advice to a number of entities in both the private and public sectors on the application of corporate governance.

Ruth has conducted numerous ‘Directors’ Schools’ for listed company boards. These schools were designed by Ruth and are aimed at enhancing the financial literacy of listed company board members. She is a frequent speaker and author on accounting issues and has been actively involved in the Australian accounting standard-setting process, being a past member and former deputy chair of the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and having served on the Urgent Issues Group for 3 years. She has been a long-standing lecturer and Task Force member for the Securities Institute of Australia, serving that organisation for 17 years.

Her written articles have been published in a number of publications, and she is frequently quoted in the media on accounting and governance issues.

In November 2000, Ruth was awarded the inaugural ‘Lynne Sutherland Award’ — an Ernst & Young award created to recognise those people at Ernst & Young who contribute to the development and retention of women and who support and enhance the ability of Ernst & Young to attract and retain talented people.

Ken Leo BCom (Hons), MBA, has been an academic for over 40 years, including 20 years as Professor of Accounting at a University in Western Australia. During this time he has taught company accounting to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He has been involved in writing books published by John Wiley & Sons since 1981, and has also written books and monographs for other organisations, including CPA Australia, Group of 100 and the Australian Accounting Research Foundation. As a founding member of the Urgent Issues Group in 1995, he served on this body until 2001. He subsequently served on the Australian Accounting Standards Board from 2002 to 2007, and was deputy chairman for some of that time.

Janice Loftus BBus, MCom (Hons), is a senior lecturer in accounting at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. Her teaching interests are in the area of financial accounting and she has written several study guides for distance learning programs. Janice’s research interests are in the area of financial reporting. She co-authored Accounting Theory Monograph 11 on solvency and cash condition with Professor M.C. Miller. She has numerous publications on international financial reporting standards, risk reporting, solvency, earnings management, social and environmental reporting, and developments in standard setting in Australian and international journals. Janice co-authored Accounting: Building Business Skills  published by John Wiley & Sons. She is the editor of Financial Reporting, Regulation and Governance . Prior to embarking on an academic career, Janice held several senior accounting positions in Australian and multinational corporations.

Victoria Wise BCom, MEcon, PhD, FCPA, FPNA, is a Professor in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Deakin University, Australia. During her 20 years as an academic she has taught financial accounting and auditing to undergraduate, honours and postgraduate students. Victoria has more than 130 publications including books and book chapters, refereed and professional journal articles and conference proceedings. Her journal articles focus on international financial reporting standards, corporate governance and regulatory issues, and public sector and small business financial reporting. Her current research interests include corporate regulation and governance.

Kerry Clark BCom, CA, Executive Director — Technical Consulting Group, Global IFRS. Kerry has 17 years’ experience with Ernst & Young and is currently on secondment to the Ernst & Young Calgary office in Canada, assisting many of Canada’s largest oil and gas companies in their conversion to IFRS. Prior to this she was a key member of the Technical Consulting Group, Global IFRS in the Ernst & Young Melbourne office in Australia where she was responsible for advising clients on the application of IFRS to complex transactions. Kerry has been involved in the authoring of many Ernst & Young publications and Charter magazine articles and assisted Ruth Picker in conducting ‘Directors’ Schools’ for listed company boards. She has also spoken on accounting issues in many different forums.