SCU defends appointment of new deputy VC

Southern Cross University has strongly defended its decision to appoint Tyrone Carlin as its new deputy vice-chancellor.

Tyrone Carlin, Southern Cross University’s new deputy vice-chancellor (academic).

Southern Cross University has strongly defended its decision to appoint business academic and former CPA Australia president Tyrone Carlin as its new deputy vice-chancellor (academic).

Professor Carlin, who finishes this week as a professor of financial reporting and regulation at the University of Sydney business school, was at the helm of the CPA Australia board for eight tumultuous months in the period leading up to the resignation of its former chief executive, Alex Malley.

Under Professor Carlin’s chairmanship, member frustration at the accountancy professional body grew over the lack of transparency about the chief executive’s salary and lavish spending by the CPA to promote Mr Malley’s self-laudatory book, The Naked CEO, and his television interview program.

A week after Professor Carlin became chairman on October 1, 2016, the board agreed to increase Mr Malley’s notice period from two years to three years, a decision that boosted Mr Malley’s termination payment to $4.9 million when he was sacked in June last year, more than eight months later.

After Mr Malley’s sacking, a board with largely fresh members appointed an independent review panel that heavily criticised the former board, led by Professor Carlin, for its decision to extend Mr Malley’s notice period.

“The board decisions and papers do not provide any further background on the decision to extend the notice period. This reflects very poorly on the former board, given the size of the termination payment being well above any comparable benchmark,” the review said.

The new board said it had heard the member frustration at the size of Mr Malley’s payout. It investigated whether it could recover the termination payment but was advised by lawyers that it could not.

The review panel also said that Mr Malley’s $1.79m annual salary (which CPA Australia had fought to keep secret) was well above member expectations and the benchmark of other member-based organisations. It said the chief executive’s salary should be disclosed to members in the organisation’s financial statements “in line with best practice transparency”.

At the height of the member unrest in April last year the board, chaired by Professor Carlin, moved CPA Australia’s annual general meeting offshore to Singapore, the first time it had been held outside Australia.

A month after the AGM, Professor Carlin resigned on May 31 last year, bringing to an end his six years on the board, including two years as deputy president from 2014 to 2016. Later in the year he resigned as Sydney University’s deputy vice-chancellor (registrar), a role he had held since 2014, and returned to his professorship in the business school.

The CPA independent review also revealed the organisation’s high spending on promoting Mr Malley’s book and his TV interview program, and the cost of the CPA’s sponsorship of the NBL and the Australian Open. The Malley promotions and the sport sponsorships cost the CPA $15.6m in 2015 and 2016. The review said CPA members had expressed concern about governance practices relating to the marketing expenditure.

It said that the promotion of the book and TV program — which included posters of Mr Malley in airport terminals and a billboard in New York’s Times Square — “may have been a misdirection of CPA Australia funds”. It said the organisation lacked a chief marketing officer. Mr Malley was the only person “with control of key marketing levers” and appeared to have a greater role in marketing than would otherwise be expected, the review said.

SCU vice-chancellor Adam Shoemaker strongly defended Professor Carlin’s appointment as deputy vice-chancellor (academic), which starts November 12.

“Tyrone Carlin is an outstandingly qualified leader who was appointed to this role on the basis of talent, merit and character. I look forward to him joining Southern Cross and to him being given the chance to demonstrate those fine qualities as he forges a new career with us,” he said. He declined to answer a question from The Australian that asked how Professor Carlin’s “business engagements” enhanced his ability to perform his role at SCU.

In the announcement of Professor Carlin’s appointment in September, Professor Shoemaker had said: “Tyrone brings a depth of experience to the role, through both his academic and business engagements, that will further propel Southern Cross as Australia’s Engaged University.”

Professor Carlin was asked for his response to findings of the review panel. Through an SCU spokesman he declined to answer.