Business Women Australia Boardroom Roundtable: ESG Readiness, Reporting & the Opportunity for Better Business

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are moving rapidly from aspiration to expectation. In Australia, mandatory climate-related financial disclosures began phasing in from January 2025, with Group 1 entities started to report, many other organisations will use 2026 to start preparing for mandatory sustainability disclosures in the years ahead. For Group 2 and 3 entities, 2026 is a critical preparation year. This is when the governance, data and reporting foundations will be built to support repeatable, assurance‑ready disclosures that can withstand increasing levels of scrutiny.

The question is no longer whether to address ESG, but how to prepare, report responsibly, and lead with integrity.

Business Women Australia invites you to an intimate Boardroom Roundtable hosted at BDO Australia, Western Sydney.

This is not a seminar. It is a facilitated boardroom dialogue, combining expert insight with meaningful peer conversation.

Designed for women in finance and business, this cross-industry discussion will explore both the technical and leadership dimensions of ESG readiness.

We will examine the best ways to prepare for evolving reporting obligations, understanding governance accountability, decision-useful disclosures, and data integrity. Share ideas and insights in moving forward with integrity and avoiding greenwashing.

This Roundtable discussion is about readiness, and about the opportunity to embrace better business beyond compliance, embedding ESG into strategy and culture.

The discussion will be hosted by Monica Lei, Director at BDO Western Sydney, and facilitated by Wendy Harper, Advisory Board Chair of Business Women Australia, guiding a confidential and strategic dialogue grounded in conscious leadership. We have also invited experts in ESG reporting as well as academics to this event to lead the conversations.

Facilitated Boardroom Dialogue

This is a Chatham House–style conversation to ensure confidentiality at this peer group Roundtable discussion, and will be grounded in Business Women Australia’s conscious leadership framework.

Who Should Attend

Experienced women in business, finance, leadership and advisory roles across Western Sydney including those in:

Manufacturing
Logistics and transport
Wholesale
Private enterprise and Family Business
Construction and Development
Professional services

Every voice at the table matters.

Seats are limited to ensure depth of conversation and meaningful connection.

With special thanks to BDO Western Sydney for hosting this Roundtable and providing a working lunch.

Meet Monica Lei

Monica Lei is a Director in Business Services with BDO in Greater Western Sydney, where she has played a key role in expanding the firm’s presence across the region since joining in 2019. With more than 16 years of experience in professional services, Monica partners with medium to large-sized private businesses and foreign-owned subsidiaries to deliver strategic accounting, tax, and advisory solutions. Her expertise spans financial reporting, tax compliance, outsourced accounting, audit support, and strategic business advice for complex entities operating in growth-focused and industrial sectors.

Monica’s approach goes well beyond compliance. She is known for her client-centred, relationship-driven style, working closely with executives and finance leaders to understand their commercial realities, strengthen financial foundations, and position their organisations for sustainable growth. She combines technical precision with practical commercial insight, helping businesses improve efficiency, strengthen governance, and enhance capital readiness.

Monica's experience includes advising inbound international businesses establishing operations in Australia, delivering end-to-end outsourced accounting services, supporting mergers and acquisitions, conducting compliance health checks, and guiding organisations through expansion, restructuring, and transformation. Leveraging BDO’s multidisciplinary expertise and her strong professional network, Monica collaborates across specialist teams to deliver holistic and pragmatic solutions.

Monica holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) and is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA).

Meet Wendy Harper

Wendy Harper is a Transformation Leadership Consultant with a deep focus on inner development in leadership. She is Chair of the Business Women Australia Advisory Board, CEO of Agency of Women, Global Ambassador / Co-founder of the Inner Development Goals National Hub, and Non-Executive Board Member of several Non-Government Organisations (sustainability/gender equity). Wendy guides visionary leaders to activate their core agency and resilience for mastering the art of complex transitions. She also curates immersive, gamified ‘Collaboration Gyms’ for building the collaborative muscles essential to successful sustainability and cultural transitions within an organisation.

As the founder of the Agency of Women, Wendy is committed to building the infrastructure required to connect the world’s 2 billion grassroots and rural women as part of a single global movement. The pilot project iterating the model is being developed in partnership with Vanuatu Elder and women's champion, Mary Jack, founder of Mitingar.org (Vanuatu’s first national grassroots women’s representative body), which is advocating, representing, and resourcing the social leadership development capacities of n-Van women amid escalating climate impacts.

About Business Women Australia

Business Women Australia is a national community of women connected through a shared commitment to leadership, growth, and meaningful impact. Across industries, roles, and stages of career, women engage with BWA in different ways, whether leading organisations, building businesses, contributing on boards, or stepping into new levels of leadership.

Our focus is on developing conscious, capable women leaders through pathways that support leadership, business growth, and personal evolution, while fostering genuine connection and collaboration.

If you feel aligned with this, you’re already part of the broader BWA community.

For those ready to go deeper, you can explore our leadership pathways and programs at:

https://businesswomenaustralia.com.au

Contact the host of Western Sydney, Business Women Australia Boardroom Lunch - ESG Readiness, Reporting & Opportunities for Better Business

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