For over hundred (100) years The Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) have been deeply committed to building the best professional community across the SME and SMP sectors within Australia. The foundation, they believe, of any professional community is ‘a sense of belonging’.

The organisation facilitates the sharing of diverse knowledge, ideas, and support to many differing industry sectors. They also incorporate education offerings, events, technical support, advocacy platform, and other services exist in their aim to strengthen the community, whilst improving the quality of life of small business.

The Institute recently invited Fifteen Trees Director, Colleen Filippa to be on their business sustainability panel during their two-day conference held in April at the exquisite RACV Goldfields Resort on the land of the Dja Dja Warrung in Creswick, Victoria.

I was delighted to be invited to the panel along with Dr Aneesha Varghese Cowan (Managing Director, Global CFO Solutions) and  Dr Mayuri Wijayasundara (Honorary Fellow Industrial Ecology, Deakin University) to talk about what we can do as individuals and as a part of larger organisations to work towards a more sustainable workplace.

Between the 3 of us, we discussed the big climate picture and circular economies, what IPA are doing at their level of industry and what was happening at the office level. Taking questions from the floor led to interesting discussions, and it was wonderful to see the engagement from attendees.

Colleen Filippa | Director | Fifteen Trees

Thoughtfully, the IPA decided to contribute to the planting of one tree per conference attendee, resulting in 70 native trees being planted in the Ballarat district of Grenville, in the weeks following the conference.

The trees were planted in early autumn, and included indigenous species such as Wattles, Callistemon, Sheoaks and Eucalyptus trees. Some of the benifits of trees include:

• adding to the flora biodiversity,
• providing habitat for fauna,
• preventing erosion of the river banks during high flows,
• increasing diversity of insect life and
• the diversity of feed for the life in the river.

Thank you so much to those who have contributed to our trees. The planting of these trees are appreciated by our family, our community and by those coming after us.

Jason Hutchin | Member | Leigh Creek Landcare

If you would like to know more about sponsoring community tree planting projects and how we can assist you in becoming a more sustainable business, please contact Colleen at <[email protected]>.

Writer – Lou Ridsdale

Lou a green thumb, Earth Lover, big-hearted nature freak, plus a savvy media and horticulture expert, who passionately believe that everyone can lead a more nourishing and sustainable life. Lou founded Food Is Free Inc., a unique grassroots food security platform specialising in food security education. You can find Lou here.