Strategic Review : The work gets underway
Author:
Brian Walsh
Spring is here and the days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and the sound of grass being cut fills the air at weekends. People are planning holidays, new business ventures and, surveys show that, in the Ireland of today, North and South, there is a general air of optimism about the future.
The same can be said about the Institute. We have emerged from a difficult period in our history when regulation and disciplinary matters, and their knock-on effect on the finance and resources of the Institute, took centre stage. We learned a lot in that period. As a result of the experience gained, our Bye-laws relating to professional conduct, and our quality assurance monitoring system are the envy of others and, indeed, are often copied. If we have another Public Concern case, the procedures we now have in place will ensure that it will be dealt with in a more efficient and cost effective manner.
However, we lost something in those five years as well. Our education & training and examination system, which was leading edge through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, lagged behind other bodies, who moved ahead. The relationship of the Institute with its members was also effected. Large increases in subscriptions were required to counter the drain on resources, caused by the Public Concern cases. Members in practice, particularly smaller practices, began to see their Institute more as a regulator than a body which represented their interests. And the Institute was reticent in promoting the brand because of all the negative "noise" about Accountants emanating from various tribunals.
We have now moved on into, what looks like, a much brighter future. Council received and endorsed a very upbeat and positive plan for the development of our education, training and assessment processes at its March 2004 meeting. New challenges face us as we move into an era of supervised self-regulation, and our contract with the membership must be renewed. Plans to promote post-qualification specialisms jointly with academic institutions are well advanced and we will promote the Chartered qualification in schools and colleges unashamedly as being the best. We also plan to revisit the "Talk First to a Chartered Accountant" campaign, which was so successful some years ago.
In the last Comment Page (February 2004), the President expressed his intention to establish a Group to carry out a total strategic review of the Institute and how it operates. He said that it would include a review of all our activities, where we are in the market place, where we want to be, and how we are going to get there. It will also include a review of the Institute's governance and the management structures, and the relationship between the Institute executive and members. Council endorsed the establishment of such a Group at its meeting on 4th March 2004, and it has now had its first meeting. The Chairman of the Strategic Review Group is Past President, David Simpson, and the other members are:
Jim Aiken, Director of Corporate Affairs - NI Transport Holding Co, and member of Council,
Prof. Patricia Barker, Professor of Accounting, DCU Business School
Aidan Collins, Director of International Business Operations - Iona Technologies, Member of Council, and Chairman of the Younger Members Development Group.
Sinéad Donovan, Associate Director, - Grant Thornton, Member of the Younger Members Development Group, and Member of the Accounting Committee
Paul Smith, Managing Partner, Ernst & Young
John Travers, Lay Member of Council
Brian Walsh, Chief Executive - ICAI
A Project Director, Philip Ryan, FCA has also been appointed.
I very much look forward to participating in the Group's work, and I believe its report will form the basis of the Institute's development over the next ten years.
A bright future lies ahead.
Brian Walsh, FCA
Chief Executive