Simon Morris, Jp

Biography

Simon has been teaching professional and academic accountancy students since he qualified as a CA in 1975. Running a short course for KPMG’s Lusaka office in 1984 was a life changing experience convincing him that skills transfer in developing countries can bring empowerment. From 1988 he spent five years with KPMG Ireland, the ILO and Price Waterhouse starting aid-funded accountancy schools in Zambia and Botswana. Another five years were in Vanuatu with British Aid creating and delivering a certificate course which articulated into the NSW TAFE system. He made himself redundant by training Ni-Vanuatu to take over. His Manchester Business School MBA project was on the recruitment, selection and training of finance trainers in Vanuatu. In the interim he worked in the profession and at CQU in Sydney before joining CDU in 2005. In 2009 with an Institute of Chartered Accountants grant he reported on the state of the accountancy profession in Timor-Leste and presented a paper at the ANU Asia Pacific Week in 2010. From CDU seed funding came the first Ministry of Finance students to study accounting at CDU and a contract with UNTL to jointly conduct a training needs analysis and design a diploma course for the Ministry. Simon is passionate about accountancy capacity building in Timor-Leste. He believes that it transforms individuals and the economy. He started his PhD at the Northern Institute in 2013.

Research Interest

Capacity building in developing countries.