The Federal Government needs to assist small to medium-sized enterprises to unlock the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) believes.
Welcoming the conclusion of the TPP, IPA chief executive, Andrew Conway, said the nation needed to look to export services Australia has a competitive advantage in.
“The IPA has advocated that while Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and other trade agreements are beneficial to our economy, more can be done to realise the benefits, especially for small business and small-to-medium enterprises,” Conway said.
“The TPP region represents 32.6 per cent of Australia’s trade as at 2013 and 37.5 per cent of global GDP; its significance cannot be overstated.
“We are very pleased to see the TPP goes beyond the traditional view and seeks to ensure that the benefits of the TPP extend to SMEs.
“But we also acknowledge that greater opportunities for SMEs seem to come with growing complexity with the TPP sitting alongside existing FTAs and the plethora of trade agreements around the world.
“It is therefore beneficial that the TPP promotes mutual recognition of professional qualifications (and best practice regulations for professions like law). It is also essential that we promote trade in services where Australia can be competitive.
“IPA especially applauds that the TPP is not just about trade and economics but also looks at the ‘horizontal issues’; that is, the regulatory and legal framework with the intention of promoting transparency and regulatory coherence as well as capacity building through regional integration around the Asia-Pacific region.”
