Overview
Background
Dr Thea Voogt is an Associate Professor in the School of Law and the Director of Business Law.
She specialises in income tax law, agriculture tax policy tools, the impact of climate change on the financial fortitude of farming families, corporate governance and business structures.
Thea leverages her significant business experience in senior executive roles and her background as a chartered accountant in industry projects. She holds a Doctorate in Financial Management and Master of International Commercial Law (UQ).
Thea is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an award-winning law teacher. She is the 2017 recipient of the prestigious UQ Business, Economics & Law Faculty Teaching Award. She also received the 2017 Inspired me to learn Award for Teaching Excellence in an undergraduate compulsory course, and the 2016 Award for Teaching Excellence in an undergraduate compulsory course from the UQ School of Law.
Prior to joining UQ, Thea was the CEO (Principal Officer) of the superannuation funds of the University of Johannesburg, a Professor in Accounting and managed large tenders for this institution. Over the course of her career in South Africa, she was closely involved with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants as sought-after speaker, researcher and umpire for the national qualifying exams for chartered accountants. Thea also held a Ministerial appointment to the Board of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
Availability
- Associate Professor Thea Voogt is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Commerce, Institution to be confirmed
- Masters (Coursework) of Commerce, Institution to be confirmed
- Doctor of Philosophy, Institution to be confirmed
- Masters (Coursework), The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Farm self-reliance and resilience through domestic Australian tax laws
The measurement of farm self-reliance and resilience is extraordinarily difficult in Australia because farm operations often involve more than one legal entity, multiple taxpayers and inter-entity transactions. Dr Voogt studies the role that government support through domestic tax laws in Australia plays in farm self-reliance and resilience.
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Drought policy and climate change in an Australian domestic tax law context
There are a large number of drought and climate change tax policy tools that are intended to help primary producers achieve self-reliance. Dr Voogt's research focuses on the efficacy of these tax-focused policy tools in Australia.
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The impact of domestic income tax law on small business structures in Australia
The legal form, or combination of legal forms adopted to conduct a family business enables family members to benefit from operations using their ownership interests, employment rights or through discretionary entitlements. The same interests, rights or entitlements should also explain their access to business-generated cash to fund their personal expenses and the way the family unit is taxed. However, relying on the underlying social construct of a family business and their position as risk takers, family member participants may argue they are entitled to take cash generated by the family business to fund their personal expenses on an ongoing basis with little or no formality. Objectively, family member participants’ right to take business-generated cash for personal purposes is constrained by the nature of their ownership rights (if they have any), by the legal form adopted to conduct the business, and by complexities that arise from ever-changing domestic income tax laws in Australia.
Research impacts
Surviving the dry spell: UQ Research Impact feature https://bit.ly/2WpWLou
Dr Thea Voogt leads a pilot study to discover the best ways to structure family businesses in Queensland’s drought-affected regions to ensure they not only survive but thrive. The study is a first of its kind to focus on how the law and accounting intersects in small business structures.
Partnering with the Remote Area Planning and Development Board and Rural Financial Counselling Service North Queensland, the team works with farmers, business owners and community leaders across the local government areas of Barcaldine, Barcoo, Blackall-Tambo, Boulia, Diamantina, Longreach and Winton. A unique feature of the project is the high levels of trust between participants and the researchers that involve private and confidential access to income tax returns and business financial statements.
The pilot study is part of a larger collaborative project Small Australian firm business structures. The research team comprises Prof Ross Grantham (UQ School of Law), Prof Martie-Louise Verreynne (UQ Business School) and Dr Thea Voogt.
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Thea Voogt is:
- Available for supervision
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Media
Enquiries
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