Business centres

Business Services is the heartbeat of the organisational aspects of ICAS. We are a team of 20, covering all the core aspects of running a busy and complex organisation that supports our Members and Students. A real “can do” team, we are focused on a service ethic, taking ownership and responsibility for delivering effective business support across all of our Centres. We are involved in all business planning linking all ICAS through strategy, and we see the full range of what we do as an organisation and how we do it.  The teams within Business Services are:

• Facilities – providing a welcoming and safe environment for all.
• Business Development – developing business with customers and clients while investigating new opportunities.
• HR – Partnering across all ICAS Business Centres developing, supporting and implementing our People Strategy
• Finance – managing and providing business and financial services.

We are the Business Centre that focusses on customers, both internal and external. Our teams are accountable for all incoming communications – email, chat and phone – and managing the ICAS knowledge base. We include experts in gathering, analysing and actioning data on insights and Customer Champions who answer questions from Members, Students, firms and stakeholders across ICAS. Our IT and Digital team is responsible for the delivery of our IT strategy and security, supporting all software and hardware assets. We are accountable for data management across all ICAS services, Apprentice management, and the delivery of exams and assessments. We keep Member and Student needs at our core and always seek to improve on all aspects of our service. The teams within Customer Experience are:

• Member and Student Channels
• Member, Student and Regulatory Operations
• IT and Digital

The ICAS Secretary is equivalent to a company secretary and is the ultimate governing body of ICAS and is supported by ten principal Boards, Committees and Panels, which in turn are supported by close to 30 subordinate Boards, Committees and Panels. There are over 30 Members of Council including four Public Interest (non-CA) Members.

ICAS governance standards are based on the standards prescribed by the UK Combined Code of Corporate Governance and therefore a high standard of formal governance oversight is required for interpreting and applying complex rules and regulations
In addition, the ICAS Secretary manages the Governance Executive Support team and the Executive Assistant to the CEO, supports Executive Team meetings and has budgetary oversight of the Executive Office, Council and Office Bearer expenditure.

• Plan Council meetings with the added complexity of co-ordinating more than 30 Members of Council.
• React swiftly to unexpected requests for assistance from the Office Bearers, CEO and Executive Directors.
• Act as gatekeeper ensuring that papers are clear, concise, well formatted and error free.
• Executive and Governance Assistants.

Launched in 2012, the ICAS Foundation aims to support academically talented young people from disadvantaged communities to study accounting or finance related degrees at university. This can include school leavers, college students or university students already studying an undergraduate degree.

We are a small, passionate team of 3 dedicated to supporting our Students, with around 150 volunteer mentors. As a registered Scottish charity, the ICAS Foundation relies on the support of ICAS Members who donate to the Foundation, advocate on its behalf and volunteer to assist Students as mentors, as well as partnerships with corporate organisations and major donations from individuals.

Learning covers all aspects of teaching and examining for the CA syllabus. As owners of the syllabus, our teams are constantly looking for ways to improve and update existing content and identifying the need for new subjects for our Students. This often means being involved in development projects and upgrades, particularly now in the all-digital environment that has resulted fr

om COVID-19. We also examine the syllabus, running a number of exam diets each year across the three levels of the CA qualification.
Our Students range from graduates and school leavers (many of whom are also Apprentices) to experienced finance professionals, so our Learning Centre ensures that every Student develops the competencies they need to be awarded the CA designation and, where relevant, a practising certificate and/or audit qualification. This involves ensuring that they have a training contract with an employer who can provide them with the right experience, and then tracking and approving the Relevant Practical Experience (RPE) they gain through our Achievement Log process.

The main teams within Learning are:

• Tutors– our largest team, teaching our Students in Scotland and supporting them when necessary with coaching. This team also delivers syllabus development work and approves relevant practical experience.
• Digital Learning– responsible for the instructional design of digital learning content for our Virtual Learning Environment.
• Policy and Quality Assurance– responsible for governance and regulatory compliance as it applies to Learning.

The Member Engagement and Communications team is responsible for providing support, communication and information to our Students, Members and external stakeholders. We champion the ICAS Brand, engaging and attracting  future generations of Chartered Accountants to the profession, working for and with our Members both in the UK and globally to provide value add content and services which help our them connect and succeed.

We are also responsible for the management of all ICAS’ digital channels and our flagship the CA magazine, which provides leading edge thought leadership and inspiring content. The team also manages the insights programme which helps to shape and drive our business plan goals, the strategy for the provision of Members professional development and CPD, and the delivery of our face-to-face and digital events programme both in the UK and internationally. The teams within Member Engagement and Communications are:

• Member Engagement
• Marketing
• Content and Communications
• PR
• Brand
• Insights
• Professional Development
• Digital Marketing
• Members Board

ICAS has an obligation to act in the public interest. Our Members and firms are expected to adhere to the highest standards, including technical competency, ethics, and behaviours. The Standards Centre includes the following key activities:

• Regulatory Authorisations and Monitoring
• Investigation and Discipline
• Practice Support
• Policy and Influence (Taxation, Corporate Reporting, Audit and related Business Policy, Insolvency, Pensions, Charities and Public Sector)
• Ethics
• Sustainability
• Thought leadership and Research

The teams within Standards are responsible for the regulatory oversight of Members, Students and firms, and the development and monitoring of ethical standards. We adopt a developmental approach and focus on providing regulatory guidance and technical resources for firms and practicing Members and offering valued practice support and advice when its needed. The Policy teams engage with regulators, government and key stakeholders on the future of the profession and business, and we develop thought leadership on sector wide issues.

The Strategic Initiatives team works across ICAS to enable and drive delivery of projects and ways of working that support the delivery of our strategy.  We are a small team that evolves as different projects dictate the need for specific skills and specialisms.  That doesn’t mean we are pigeonholed – as you get to know ICAS there are likely to be opportunities to get involved in projects beyond your initial remit.  In Strategic Initiatives we work in an agile environment, often within changing priorities, challenging the status quo and delivering timely solutions to key business problems.  Right now, we are focused on delivering three programmes of work – Continual Improvement, Learning Transformation, and Data.