24 August 2006 
 
The Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, of the remote community of Nhulunbuy, will be the first Community Based Organisation (CBOs) in the Northern Territory, accountable for the acquittal of government grants, to take part in a pilot program, ‘Footprints in the Sand’, in September, to learn more about corporate governance and financial management.  
 
The program was introduced into the Northern Territory following success of the program’s global launch, with Aboriginal Corporation Goondir Health Service, in the rural community of Dalby, Queensland, in August 2006.  
 
Chartered Accountants Mark Robilliard (founder of global organisation Accounting Comes Alive) and Patrick Hoiberg are two of the key people responsible for the success of the program and believes that after more than six months of building and testing workshops ‘Footprints in the Sand’ will help Board of Directors, CEOs and key staff of CBOs to acquire and use the language and essential concepts of financial reporting.  
 
“The program offers a practical hands-on approach, ditching technical jargon, slide shows and lectures, in preference for using colourful aids, discovery learning and storyboarding,” Mr Robilliard said.  
 
“This method of teaching in accounting practice has seen great results with participants now claiming to be able to know what to look for in the financial reports, and the sorts of questions they should be asking based on the information in front of them,” Mr Robilliard said.  
 
Working in remote communities has meant that Mark and his team have met numerous educational challenges, which have been overcome by taking the same effective adult learning principles embodied in their other business-oriented workshops and re-engineering them to suit the specific financial literacy needs of Aboriginals and Torres Straight Islanders working with CBOs  
 
“We are hoping that the ‘Footprints in the Sand’ workshop will help to provide a whole new level of financial literacy and self-governance possibilities for community based organisations that receive, spend and report on grant funding,” Mr Robilliard said.  
 
“Soon we hope to ‘close the circle’ by having Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people to take on lead roles in the workshops and to communicate the key accounting principles and in turn attract more Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander students into the various accounting fields - an area rich with opportunities,” he said.  
 
CEO for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Graham Meyer, has commended Mark and Patrick on their innovative efforts claiming the program ‘Footprints in the Sand’ is a pragmatic approach to the issue of lack of financial literacy in Community Based Organisations.  
 
“This program is a great example of a pioneering initiative, conceived and developed by Chartered Accountants, aimed at providing an excellent service to communities with limited understanding of financial management and reporting,” he said.  
 
“It is important to educate CEOs and Boards of Management of CBOs in how to read and understand financial reports used for grant acquittal, how to create reports, manage funds and be more accountable and transparent about their operations by adopting contemporary governance practices,” Mr Meyer said.  
 
‘Footprints in the Sand’ was designed and implemented by Mark Robilliard, Chartered Accountant and Founder of the global organisation Accounting Comes Alive; Brisbane Chartered Accountant Patrick Hoiberg; Helen Hewett of Fineline Consulting and Mick Adams, a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and well known supporter of men’s health and governance issues within the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander community.