Benjamin Ashby Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

During my time at Equipsuper I participated in 5 Successor Fund Transfers (SFT), tested and installed an exciting new tax model, rebuilding the unit pricing model to accommodate over 50 options and enjoyed a great culture of collaboration with a great bunch of people at Equip who shared my focus of putting members first.

Melbourne, Australia

After my success in the MST Team I was moved to the MSA Team which focused on looking after external clients to Mercer. My role in this team focused on migration of Industry Super Funds on and off the platform, building and providing trustee reporting, assisting in provision of government and accounting reporting as well as working with Administration teams to provide better service to our client's needs.Communication Achievement• The MSA team worked mostly in silos based on their portfolio of client’s unique individual needs. This posed a problem as when staff are on leave or change roles this knowledge is missed or lost. In order to mitigate the risk and issues this segregation presented I have focused on building a centralised communication point by re-designing and cleaning the team’s central e-mail inbox so that every e-mail in the inbox is allocated to a team member and only e-mails which have yet to be resolved remain. Also I developed inbox rules to reallocate the flood of e-mails to our inbox which require no action. This has been a great success and helped bring the team closer together as well as give us greater understanding of team work priorities and commitments.

Melbourne, Australia

My role as a Fund Accountant at Mercer focused on first preparing all the necessary government reporting for the Mercer Super Trust some of which included APRA, BAS and Year end Financials. Liaising with the Trustee office and Auditors to ensure we meet our reporting deadlines.BAS Achievement.* The MST has one of the largest and most complicated BAS processes I have come across for a single entity. When I took over the task it was lacking structure. Over 2-3 quarters I unravelled the complexity and provided a more simplified approach as well as finding and claiming back historical RTIC amounts which had been unclaimed.APRA Achievement* Taking over the process of APRA reporting I found that the reporting process was altered every quarter depending on who was preparing the reporting. In order to ensure standardisation and knowledge transfer I mapped the Trial Balance to the respective APRA fields then formulated an excel worksheet to ensure the reporting followed the same mapping each quarter. This worksheet and mapping was later used in the new APRA reporting project as we moved between the changing reporting model.

509 Stkida Rd

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:* Identification and implementation of 50 SMSF procedures, * Provide Mapping of Accounting treatment for Migration, and* Management of Test teams and schedules to provide clear picture of task.DUTIES:* Subject Matter Expert on SMSF product development and Migration of data between software AS6000 and Supermate;* Risk and Issues identification and mitigation for Migration and New SMSF product;* Project staff management and testing cycle management;* Training for new SMSF product deployment;* Manage reporting of quarterly BAS and Actuarial reporting;* Input security and maintain updates on Supermate software;* Engaging and maintaining external stakeholder relationships with Advisers, Auditors Actuaries and SMSF Trustees.

100 St George Tce, Perth, Wa

ACHIEVEMENTS;* As part of my role my team managed two Finance Manager accounts for SMSF. These had not been reconciled in some time. Under my direction we were able to reconcile both.* Hire good quality staff to fill in new roles and replace roles left vacant by Maternity leave.DUTIES;* Reviewing of manual adjustments, Fund Review, Auditor Queries,* Create Quality Report used to monitor error rating,* Organise annual reporting projects (BAS, PAYG, Actuarial),* Queries relating to system, audit and processes.* Testing software upgrades,* Training, Skilling and Ongoing knowledge development of accountants and admin staff,* Engaging Auditors with issues,* Review procedures and drive updates, incorporating all system changes* Maintain checklists, working papers and spreadsheets* Conducting Performance reviews, and* Internal Audit of Property transactions.

216 St Georges Tce, Perth, Wa

ACHIEVEMENTS;* Introduction of a Quality report to monitor errors and identify issues to focus training and prevent repeats of those errors, * Implementation of a training program to quickly introduce staff to SMSF and ensure they add value sooner, and* Development of an deceased estate workflow to explain the complex process of paying out death benefits.DUTIES;* Metrics reporting,* Train new Staff and keep current staff training up to date, * Handle technical and difficult client queries,* Update Procedures, * Identify Risk and compliance breaches and then provide solutions, and * Fix technical Accounting and IT problems.

216 St George Tce, Perth, Wa

ACHIEVEMENTS;* Introduction of an SMSF checklist to simplify production of SMSF financials and tax return, and* Creation of Spreadsheets to assist in the preparation of annual financials and tax return.DUTIES;* Complete SMSF reporting and tax returns,* Review Financials and Tax Returns prepared by other staff,* Correspond with Auditors, Trustees and Advisers, and* Assist Business units with identifying and fixing errors.

West Perth, Western Australia

ACHIEVEMENTS;* Preparing a pre-audit checklist to ensure regular audit errors were not repeated, and * Providing an accounting solution for self-funding instalment warrants.DUTIES;* Setting up new SMSF's and preparing historical data for takeover clients,* Preparing taxation returns and statutory accounts for SMSF's,* Advising clients on taxation issues surrounding the ITAA and the SIS legislation,* Preparing necessary documentation for the day to day running of an SMSFs including investment strategies, Declarations of Trusts, changes in membership, setup of pensions / withdrawal of benefits* Understanding the implications of Unit Trusts held by SMSF's and implementing or requesting the necessary documentation,* Reviewing client's status and providing assistance to estate planners and advisers (eg. Beneficiary Nominations, member components break up and transitional retirement status),* Winding up and paying out death benefits of deceased members or where SMSF's are deemed no longer the appropriate retirement vehicle for a client, and* Preparing and presenting staff presentations with regards to SMSF and various other subjects.

Forest Hill, Victoria

ACHIEVEMENTS;* Developing a accounting process for reporting Sydney Futrues and overseas trading accounts,* Preparing financials for over 800 SMSF financials and tax returns, and* Completing 2 mini migrations as Super Concepts moved from one software package to another in 2001 and then finally moving to another in 2003 called Supervisor II.DUTIES;* Preparing taxation returns and statutory accounts for SMSF's,* Training new staff and assisting fellow staff in accounting for specific investments, development and implementation of procedures,* Preparing qualified audit reports on advice from the auditors and analysis of legislative requirements,

Certified Practicing Accountant (Cpa), Accounting And Business/Management

Commerce Degree, Accountancy And Strategic Management

Activities and Societies: O'week Leader

Year 12, Maths 1& 2