Following the recent AGM, we said goodbye to one of our longest serving Directors on the Board of Summerland Credit Union, John Shanahan.
John joined Summerland as an independent Director in November 2008 and went on to contribute 11 years of service with us. During this time John was the Chair of the Board’s Audit Committee, a member of the Governance Committee, and more recently, in 2018, was a member of the Board’s Risk Advisory Committee.
Outside of Summerland, John is a distinguished expert on financial reporting, and is the author of the Guide to Accounting Standards (ninth ed.) and Guide to Accounting Regulation (third ed.) – both highly respected textbooks in the industry. He is also an author of the 1997 Federal Government report on universities’ financial statements and advised the government on changes to reporting guidelines for Australian universities for five years.
The 17 January 2002 edition of the Australian Financial Review referred to John in an editorial as an ‘auditing doyen’. John has since appeared before the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit Review of Independent Auditing, a Senate Select Committee inquiring into the Audit of Superannuation Funds and the NSW Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee Inquiry into Accrual Accounting.
During John’s career, he advised the China National Audit Office on risk-based financial audits and has been a forensic accountant, where he was an investigator for the South Australian Auditor-General in the inquiry into the collapse of the State Bank of South Australia and prepared an expert’s report for the HIH Royal Commission.
Previously he was a Partner in National Assurance and Advisory Services of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and worked as part of an international project team on the development of Deloitte’s audit methodology, AS/2. John has also been the auditor of several Australian and international listed companies, including Accor Asia Pacific, Avis, Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific, The Adelaide Steamship Company and Vodafone.
For his services as Deputy Chancellor of Southern Cross University for three years and a member of the University’s Council for 13 years, John was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate from the University in 2018.
On behalf of the Summerland Board, staff and its members, we would like to thank John for his invaluable contribution and expert advice during his 11 years; wishing him all the best in the next chapter of his life.
