ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

ICAS Ethnically Diverse People survey – you said, we did

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By ICAS

9 August 2021

Learn how ICAS has acted upon the results of its Ethnically Diverse People survey to the benefit of its Members, CA Students and the wider profession.

In September 2020, ICAS ran a survey to better understand the perspectives and needs of its Members who are Ethnically Diverse People (EDP). The survey highlighted areas for ICAS to address, provided insight and a clearer understanding of the issues faced by its EDP Members and revealed how Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) is perceived by the profession.

The survey also delivered rich commentary that ICAS is taking on board and using to shape its Member and Student offerings, to clarify and define its role as a professional body, and to lead the debate around ED&I across the global accountancy profession.

Infographic showing survey results

You said:

I am not sure how ICAS supports its EDP Members and CA Students.

We did:

ICAS has enacted a three-year ED&I integration plan, approved by both ICAS Council and the ED&I Committee, to ensure that it places ED&I at the heart of all that it does. It has also employed a full-time ED&I Manager to help deliver the strategy and support its Members and CA Students, and created a range of content, resources and material which is available to all Members and CA Students on icas.com and includes two dedicated hubs, for diversity  and wellbeing.

In addition to this ICAS has:

  • Signed the Charter for Black Talent in Finance and the Professions, which requires organisations to apply the same standard business techniques to the growth of Black talent as they would to projects for revenue growth. ICAS is the second professional body in the UK to sign the charter.
  • Re-joined the Access Accountancy programme which exists to ensure that everyone has an equal chance of accessing the accountancy profession based on merit, not background.
  • Extended its Protect Helpline to include ED&I. Available to all Members and CA Students, Protect is an independent, confidential helpline which offers free advice about whistleblowing and speaking up.
  • Reinvigorated and reshaped its ED&I Committee to ensure representation across all areas of ED&I and to create the inclusive leaders of tomorrow.
  • Launched a Student Assistance Programme which provides all our CA Students with a suite of wellbeing and support services including a freephone 24/7 365-days-a-year helpline with access to BACP-accredited counsellors.
  • Embedded ED&I into its Code of Ethics
  • Created an ED&I statement of intent.

You said:

ICAS needs to do more to support its EDP Members.

We did:

ICAS has been working to ensure that it embraces ED&I in all that it does. This includes all internal and external-facing communications and its social and digital channels. To date ICAS has:

  • Created a bespoke Diversity issue of CA magazine, with content, profiles of EDP Members and thought leadership on ED&I from the accountancy and finance professions.
  • Launched its Championing Unique Perspectives campaign to profile ICAS Members across the ED&I perspective. The campaign tells unique and personal stories to inspire and educate, promote diversity and inclusion in the profession and champion the benefits of a diverse workforce.
  • Promoted EDP Members and business professionals through a variety of thought-provoking features and leadership articles, including:
    • Beyond boundaries with Indy Hothi CA
    • More than a numbers game with Anne-Marie Imafidon
    • The shape of water with Natalie Campbell
    • Allies and analytics with Sheree Atcheson
    • Interview with Margaret Casely-Hayford
    • Every single story brings value to the workplace with Musfeen Miah CA
    • Keeping pace with ED&I – a range of resources for CAs
    • Wealth of opportunity with Anna Sofal
    • From Cobra to CBI with Lord Bilimoria
    • Celebrating our One Young CA Winner – Amjad Hassan CA
  • ICAS has also embedded ED&I into its Member Value Proposition.

You said:

I don’t understand the diversity makeup of ICAS boards and committees.

We did:

ICAS has published high-level diversity data on its main boards and committees, including ICAS Council (see below) and is working to improve representation to ensure that all are diverse, inclusive and representative of the wider ICAS membership. Some of the key demographics to note are:

  • Ethnicity: 12% of board and committee members are from ethnically diverse backgrounds vs 8% of ICAS membership.
  • Gender: 40% of board and committee members are female vs 35% of ICAS membership.
  • Working pattern: 6% of board and committee members are retired, 66% work full-time and 17% part-time vs 19% retired, 76% employed (full and part-time combined), 3% on a career break, 1% on maternity or paternity leave, and 1% unemployed of ICAS membership.
  • Disability: 11% of ICAS board and committee members declared a disability and ICAS will capture full Member disability data in Q1 2022.
  • Age: 8% of Board and Committee Members are over 65 vs 19% of ICAS membership; and 9% of board and committee members are under 35 vs 23% of ICAS membership.

Boards committees EDI

Look out for a full report on the membership breakdown of each board and committee, to be published shortly.

ICAS has also delivered bespoke Unconscious Bias training for all Members and Staff who undertake recruitment to its boards and committees, and has implemented an inclusive-language guide to ensure that ED&I is embedded in all the communications it issues to Members and CA Students. ICAS is also working on an inclusive-language guide for Members, which will be released shortly.

Get involved

ICAS is keen to profile and promote diversity in the profession and would love to hear from any Member or CA Student who would like to get more involved with ICAS or share their story. If you would like to join the debate, would like to be involved in ICAS’ boards or committees or would like further information, please contact members@icas.com. We would especially like to hear from you if you have an awareness of diversity or the experience to help make ICAS a more inclusive professional body.

What’s next?

Ambitious plans

ICAS has ambitious plans to improve diversity in the profession and in ICAS as a professional body. It will continue to embed ED&I in its thinking and strategy, recognises that there is more it can do and calls on all EDP ICAS Members and allies to get involved.

A follow-up EDP survey

ICAS will be coming back to its EDP Members with another survey in autumn 2021 to ensure that insights are gathered, to help embed a culture of continuous improvement and to set targets and benchmarks to drive the ED&I strategy. The survey will also cover the experiences of Members related to gender and our approach to supporting Members’ mental fitness. If you would like to know more, please contact Ian Bettison, ED&I Manager, ICAS at ibettison@icas.com.

ICAS Ethnically Diverse People survey

By ICAS

7 December 2020

2023-03-MarksElectrical 2023-03-MarksElectrical
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: