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In August of last year, Accountancy Ireland carried an interview with David Simpson who had been appointed by the Council of the ICAI to chair a Strategy Review Group (SRG). Having consulted widely amongst ICAI members, the SRG established work groups to look more closely at four key areas: - Governance - Education / Brand - Regulation / Serving the Public Interest - Member Services The SRG brought its report and recommendations to Council in November 2004. Since then, the report has been circulated to all ICAI members and readers who have looked at it will be aware that, more recently, Council has been examining options in relation to the most controversial SRG recommendations which were those relating to Serving the Public Interest.

Council asked Deputy President, Martin Wilson to examine and report back on how best to implement the SRG recommendations on Governance.

It now falls to incoming ICAI President, John Greely, to steer events over the next 12 months. It is a onerous challenge but one that Mr Greely is keen to take up.

I began by asking him where things currently stand and what are his immediate priorities as he takes up his office.

"As you know, Council accepted the recommendations of the SRG in 3 areas - Education and Lifelong learning, Serving the Members, and the Brand. Our Chief Executive and his team are already working in those areas. The increased investment in Accountancy Ireland is one visible instance of what we are doing. We had well over 400 members attending an extremely successful Conference in Galway. Our Young Professionals Group has gone from strength to strength with a long waiting list for places at their recent conference.

"We are strengthening our management team - recruiting a Directors of Life- Long Learning, a Director of Publishing and a Head of Tax. This is evidence of our commitment to develop a renewed member services culture within the organization.

“My top priority in the coming year will be to work on adding value to the standards and reputation of the Chartered Accountant brand. Amongst other things, I want to see us organising life-long learning courses that will broaden the range and skills of ICAI members. We are already working on this and have high level courses in the pipeline for non-executive directors, pensioner trustees, and chairmen of audit committees”.

Tax is an area close to the President’s heart. “It's an area where our members have a strong reputation, they command respect and wield influence at the highest levels, and yet, as an Institute, we have not always reflected that well. I am looking forward to seeing that change in the coming year.

“We have worked hard in recent years to build and develop our influence with the revenue authorities both north and south of the border, but we are aware that we have a good deal more work to do here. We have contributed greatly to improved compliance in many areas but we need to get that recognized and accordingly have our legitimate concerns listened to.

SERVING THE PUBLIC INTEREST Wherever there is talk about raising the profile of the Institute, and the Institute's public role, the question of the public interest is never far behind. The Institute delivers on its public interest function by regulating its members.

The SRG recommendation to establish a separate regulatory entity proved controversial at Council in January. But there has been progress since then. A two man working party comprising of my colleagues Jim Aiken of the SRG and Paul O'Connor, Chairman of the Professional Standards Committee have been working quietly on a solution that will satisfy the independence requirements identified in the SRG interest but which will still allow Council and our Chief Executive to overall control of policy making and business affairs. They presented a new approach which involves the establishment of a public interest board within the Institute with an independent Chair to our Council meeting in May. Their approach was broadly welcomed by Council although there is some work still to be done before proposals can be finalized.

GOVERNANCE The SRG observed that too much Council time is sometimes taken up with operational matters to the detriment of its policy making role. The Deputy President, Martin Wilson, has been leading a small group looking at that area. How do you see it moving forward during your year ahead?

This is a not an easy issue to get right - there is often a fine line between policy making and operational issues. Sometimes it is difficult when the people charged with responsibility for both do not have the time to sit down and talk to each other. That is why I think the SRG’s proposal for an Executive Board made up of Council members and key Institute executives is a worthy step forward. We are currently grappling with the make up of such a board,. For example, should the board be chaired by a member of the Officer Group, or should the original SRG proposal for a paid Executive Chairman be retained. However, despite that, I think there is broad agreement that an Executive Board represents the way forward.

OTHER PRIORITIES As a small practitioner, Mr Greely feels that he has a finger on the pulse and that he can bring his feel for the real issues to the fore. I asked him if there are other areas, outside the Council agenda, where he would like to make his mark in the coming year? “I truly believe that in recent years the Institute has turned a difficult and painful corner. But I think we have done so successfully. We have given our incoming Chief Executive a mandate to respond to that by developing and enhancing our member services support.

“I suppose one of the things I’m most looking forward to is getting out and about and meeting as many members as I can over the coming year. I am proud to by a Chartered Accountant and I think we all should be. It is time to get the spring back in our step and I would hope to persuade members during the year that our future is a promising one. Sometimes we can be too critical of ourselves.”