The hefty new bill and boring red-tape set to hit hard-working Aussies – even though Treasurer Jim Chalmers knows it’s mostly a waste of time
- New audit element of climate change compliance legislation
- Will affects thousands of companies
- They may each have to pay up to $50,000 in audit fees
Thousands of Australians will face huge bills and even more frustrating red tape under an Albanian government climate change plan.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is forcing up to 8,000 small and medium-sized (SME) businesses, as well as non-profits, to conduct expensive and time-consuming audits to identify ‘climate risks’, despite its own department estimating that 95 percent of them don’t even need to to do.
The impost is part of the climate change compliance legislation that Dr Chalmers introduced to Parliament earlier this year as part of the Climate Reporting Bill.
The new laws require as many as 7,600 companies to unnecessarily spend up to $50,000 each on audits – with a total cost of up to $380 million – that serve no purpose.
Dr Chalmer’s department has already noted that ‘we assume that 5 percent of companies in this group have material climate risks that they would be required to disclose’ – but still expects thousands of companies to carry out the audits anyway.
Treasurer Jim Chalmer’s own department knows that only 5 percent of companies have climate risks that need to be disclosed
The SME sector and accounting professionals are in action, demanding changes to legislation be made before they come into effect.
The new audit comes as national economic data released last week shows the economy at a virtual standstill (quarterly GDP growth of 0.1 percent) and productivity improvements at a complete standstill.
The accounting industry said legislation needs to be amended to eliminate unnecessary red tape, describing the Climate Reporting Bill as a ‘ticking time bomb worth several hundred million dollars’.
Amir Ghandar of Chartered Accountants said the legislation will unnecessarily impact “thousands of smaller and medium-sized entities.”
The main accounting bodies – CAANZ and CPA – have worked together to call on the Albanian government to amend the legislation.
Accountants have described the new legislation introduced by Anthony Albanese’s government (pictured above) as ‘unsustainable’
It comes at a time when the accounting sector is also warning of a shortage of accountants within the profession, with the government’s recent draft visa recommendations failing to include accountants in category 1 for approved entry to help close employment gaps.
Although accountants could benefit financially from the extra red tape introduced by the Albanian government – as they would be the ones doing the unnecessary and expensive work – an industry survey conducted in April this year still showed that 88 percent do not support the proposal. new laws apply the way they do, and 84 percent don’t think affected businesses will be ready to comply when they expire.
Of course, this could risk that companies that don’t even engage in practices that pose “climate risks” will face even more compliance penalties.
Mr Ghandar described the situation as ‘untenable’.
“It not only wastes limited financial resources, it also hinders the critical will to participate,” he said.
The Opposition has pledged to look at the situation if elected and make the changes needed to cut red tape and avoid the unnecessary financial burden Labor is imposing on businesses and non-profits.
