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NSW Young Chartered Accountants
NSW Young Chartered Accountants (YCA) are a group of Chartered Accountants and provisional members under
the age of 35 helping to shape the role of Chartered Accountants in the NSW business community. YCA members
are from metropolitan and regional areas representing small, medium and large practices as well as commercial and
finance organisations and the public sector.
NSW YCA helps young members connect by organising popular networking, sporting and celebratory events such
as trivia nights, touch football, netball and basketball competitions, cross industry networking functions, the Young
Professionals Ball and the Young Professionals Christmas Party.
The YCA group also supports CA in the development of the Strategies for Success series which is a group of
events aimed at fostering young members' professional development. These events take place in Sydney's CBD.
Acting as a conduit between young members and the organisation, young members are encouraged to make
contact with the panel if they have any feedback, concerns or queries.
Find out more about attending young member events by joining the Young Chartered Accountants NSW group on
LinkedIn or by contacting the Panel via email: ycansw@charteredaccountantsanz.com.
Nicholas Zammit CA (YCA Panel Chair)
Boral Limited
Nicholas is a Corporate Finance Manager at Boral. Prior to this, he was a Senior Manager at
KPMG performing audit and assurance services specialising in the consumer and industrial
markets sector for over 10 years.
Nicholas completed his Bachelor of Commerce in 2006, majoring in Accounting and Finance.
He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in January 2009 and joined the committee in August
2013, and is Vice Chair for 2015.
Yasmin Parekh CA (YCA Panel Vice Chair)
NSW Treasury
Yasmin is an analyst at NSW Treasury. She provides advice on public policy, financial and
budgetary matters. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2011 after completing her studies at
the University of New South Wales.
Outside of work, she enjoys travelling – a recent trip included glamping in New Zealand.
Matthew Coulson CA

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Optimaxes
Matt brings ten years experience as a Financial Management Advisor.
In July 2012 Matt set up a specialist financial consulting practice, Optimaxes. Prior to establishing
Optimaxes, Matt worked as a manager in CBA’s Corporate Finance division and before that as a
manager within KPMG’s Financial Advisory Group.
Matt has been a Panel member since March 2013 and is the panel Chair in 2015.
Steven Du Preez CA
IRI Asia Pacific and Africa
Steven is Group Financial Controller Asia Pacific and Africa, IRI.
Steven completed his Bachelor of Commerce in 2006, majoring in Accounting. He qualified as a
Chartered Accountant in 2009 and joined the YCA panel in November 2015.
Steven has over eleven years professional services experience working in London, Sydney,
Brisbane, Budapest as well as Atlanta. Having lived in three countries and being an avid traveller,
Steven also created a travel blog (www.thewelltravelledman.com) to capture the experiences and
what he enjoys most, exploring, learning and expanding his network.
Alex Canale CA
KordaMentha
Alex is a Manager with KordaMentha Forensic's dispute analysis division and has over seven
years of experience in forensic accounting and audit having previously worked at Edwards
Marshall in Adelaide.
Alex has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide and a
Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from Kaplan. Alex qualified as a Chartered Accountant in
April 2011.
Laura Curtis (Provisional member)
Macquarie Group
Laura is a graduate at Macquarie Group, currently providing finance support to their advisory and capital raising
business ­ Macquarie Capital. She completed a Bachelor of Commerce – Professional Accounting at Macquarie
University in 2013 and is currently completing the Chartered Accountants Program. Laura joined the Panel in
September 2014 as a provisional member.
Harish Narang CA
KPMG
Harish is a Manager at KPMG performing audit and assurance services for over 7 years. His
clients and his specialties are within the transport, energy and natural resources, consumer and

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industrial markets sectors.
Harish completed his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of New South Wales in 2008,
majoring in Accounting and Finance. Harish qualified as a Chartered Accountant in January 2012
and joined the Committee in November 2015.
He likes to organise group events to bring people together/network and enjoys playing sport,
especially soccer.
Carla Villanueva CA
Ernst &Young
Carla Villanueva was appointed to the YCA panel in November 2015.
Carla has been with Ernst & Young since 2002 and is currently Director ­ Assurance, specialising
in the technology and media and entertainment sectors.
Annie Wang (Provisional member)
Austbrokers Holdings Ltd
Annie is an accountant with business services and taxation background. She has a Bachelor of
Business and Commerce degree from the University of Western Sydney.
Annie is a Chartered Accountants provisional member and joined the YCA Panel in September
2014.
Sean Wengel CA
Sean Wengel is a Principal of William Buck’s Business Recovery Services division. As an
expert in corporate insolvency and bankruptcy Sean provides his clients and contacts with
valuable advice in difficult circumstances.
Sean qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2008 which inspired him to undertake a Masters of
Business Administration. Sean joined the panel in December 2014.
Elizabeth Wong CA
Weston Woodley & Robertson
Elizabeth is a manager at Weston Woodley & Robertson in the business services team and has
12 years of experience in taxation, accounting, business advisory, audit and assurance for small to
large business and individual clients.
She completed her Bachelor of Business degree at the University of Technology Sydney in 2006,
became a Chartered Accountant in 2008 and qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser in 2012.
Camille Woods CA
Monday Mind
Camille is both a Chartered Accountant and Yoga and Meditation teacher and joined the YCA panel in November

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2015.
Scott Thomson (CA Representative)
Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
Scott Thomson is a Relationship Manager for NSW and his portfolio comprises of young members
and SMPs. Scott works closely with the YCA Panel and acts as a key conduit between Chartered
Accountants and its members.
© Copyright The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia 2016. All rights reserved. Member of the GAA.