A year ago, Alex Malley was riding high. Watching the tennis finals from his sponsor's seats in Melbourne's Rod Laver arena, the world's most ambitious accountant could behold CPA Australia's logo displayed as prominently as the Australian Open's major partners Kia, Rolex and ANZ – as could a global television audience.

In the seven years since seizing control of CPA, Malley had popularised the once-stodgy accounting standards body into a high-profile corporate brand, one with strong recognition among white-collar professionals, even if most of them hadn't the faintest idea what it did and whom for.