Brisbane bean counter Craig Morrissey has been kicked out of the accountants’ peak body

Craig Morrissey has now been banned from working as an accountant or auditor after more than 20 years in the industry

Illustration of Craig Morrissey by Brett Lethbridge.

OUCH! Embattled Brisbane bean counter and horse racing tragic Craig Morrissey has just suffered a heck of a blow from the accounting industry’s peak body.

In a nutshell, he’s been kicked out of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand for “egregious and intolerable conduct’’ and forced to pay nearly $24,000 in costs.

The move, which now bars Morrissey from working as an accountant or auditor after more than 20 years in the industry, follows this week’s release of an Appeals Tribunal ruling from the professional association.

It upheld an October decision which found that Morrissey “failed to observe a proper standard of professional care, skill, competence and diligence’’ and that he had “committed acts, omissions or defaults which bring discredit on himself…and the profession of accountancy’’.

The case stemmed from the departure in 2016 of several employees from his business, SMSF Audits at Milton, where he acts as general manager but hasn’t done the actual number crunching for a while.

The peak body found that Morrissey had sent threatening emails and profane texts to a former employee. One message warned that “we have done over’’ two people and “your (sic) next’’.

Morrissey also sent confidential client information to other professionals without their consent, published correspondence “intended to besmirch the reputation’’ of another colleague and provided misleading evidence.

This week’s decision describes his actions as “outrageous and totally unacceptable’’ and says that he had made “many unsubstantiated and scandalous allegations’’ about his colleagues.

It also notes that Morrissey “failed to show any genuine remorse or understanding or appreciation that his actions were wrong’’.

Indeed, when City Beat caught up with Morrissey yesterday he was utterly defiant.

“This has no impact on my current employment,’’ he told us.

“It’s business as usual and the business is going through a record period of growth. I’ve got great professionals doing great work and it’s unfair to tarnish their record.’’

But Morrissey repeatedly refused to comment on the substance of the Tribunal findings.

COPPING A CANING

IT’s not the first time Morrissey has copped a caning from the bean counter’s peak body

Back in 2015, he failed to overturn a Professional Conduct Tribunal ruling that he had “breached the fundamental principles of ethical behaviour…by failing to conduct himself in a manner consistent with the good reputation of the profession’’.

He was hit with a “severe reprimand’’ and ordered to pay $16,200 in fines and costs.

That followed a year-long ban from practising imposed by the Tax Agents’ Board of Queensland in 2004.

Meanwhile, Morrissey has yet to lodge a defence to an ATO lawsuit filed last year which alleges he personally owes more than $5 million in tax from 2009 to 2013.

His firm Audit Now Qld Pty Ltd also collapsed last year, owing $8.6 million to unsecured creditors who walked away with nothing.

POWER PLAY

BRISBANE power industry titan Trevor St Baker hosted a quiet bash Wednesday night to thank contributors to his $200 million St Baker Energy Innovation Fund.

About 40 guests, including quite a few of the city’s heavy hitters, were treated to private tours of the Museum of Brisbane exhibit on Mao’s Last Dancer. The man himself, Li Cunxin, even popped in to say a few words.

Among those spied in the crowd were energy players Bob Bryan and Jon Stretch, Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey and former pollies-turned-bizoids Campbell Newman and Larry Anthony.