Inside ICAS: November update from the Office Bearer Team
An update from the ICAS Office Bearer Team on what’s been happening at ICAS over the past month.
President Catherine Burnet CA, Deputy President Bruce Pritchard CA and Vice President Indy Hothi CA together make-up the ICAS Officer Bearer Team. Here they bring the first, in what will be a regular, monthly round-up of ICAS news.
The aim is to help keep Members up-to-date with all the latest developments at ICAS and to provide helpful links to further information.
Catherine Burnet CA, ICAS President
“This month CA magazine was shortlisted in the PPA Scotland 2020 Awards for Member Magazine of the Year and Cover of the Year. We are really pleased to receive this recognition following the magazine’s relaunch in February this year. For me, the magazine has been catapulted right up to date in terms of content and format and the topics covered really capture the sheer diversity, curiosity and impact of what being a CA is all about. The award winners will be announced on 3 December, so fingers crossed!”
Bruce Pritchard CA, ICAS Deputy President
“It’s hugely positive that ICAS has been able to continue to deliver CA training and examinations throughout 2020 using online methods. In the last week of October alone, 1,800 exams were sat by 450 students online. A student poll was also issued that week to over 300 students asking for their views in relation to their online learning experience with ICAS. This will help inform future online teaching delivery.”
Indy Hothi CA, ICAS Vice President
"At the end of October I was delighted to co-host with Cara Haffey the ICAS #FinBiz2030 webinar in partnership with Chartered Accountants Worldwide. We had a fantastic speaker line-up discussing a variety of important issues, including the future challenges we face and how young leaders can navigate this landscape and make a difference in their personal and professional lives. Over 3,000 delegates registered for the webinar and it was viewed in 141 countries worldwide. A fantastic turnout and representation for ICAS in the global finance community."
Other news and updates
The second member satisfaction survey of 2020, inviting half of the ICAS membership to give their views, opened on 16 November and will close on 25 November.
Members involved were notified directly via email. Members have also been notified that the 2021 Annual Renewal process has begun. ICAS has frozen membership subscription fees at their 2020 rates and introduced new subscription models to help with payment of the fee.
There are also plans for a Special General Meeting to be held online on 30 November. The meeting will consider and, if thought fit, approve a number of governance changes. Members are being urged to vote on these proposals in advance of the meeting.
Over the past month, ICAS has delivered a considerable amount of engagement activity on the policy front. ICAS gave oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Finance and Constitution Committee on the Scottish budget, attended a Scottish Government roundtable to discuss the budget and held a call with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance in the Scottish Government to discuss Scotland's Strategic Framework and business financial support issues. The Scottish Government has also amended the Hardship Grant criteria for local restriction businesses to include unincorporated associations following a direct approach by ICAS.
ICAS has also responded to the IASB review of the IFRS for SMEs and joined a new HMRC small business technical forum to discuss key issues on HMRC's digital strategy. ICAS attended a further meeting with HMRC to discuss a report into HMRC’s powers, which has been commissioned by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.
Bruce Cartwright CA, ICAS Chief Executive, recently wrote to HMRC to request a three-month waiver of filing penalties, due to the additional COVID-19 pressures faced this year. ICAS also attended a meeting with HMRC's Employment Tax Forum to discuss the HMRC Annual Report and made a submission on the review of Capital Gains Tax. ICAS recently met with the Minister for Trade to discuss the new Scottish Inward Investment strategy and has been invited to join a new steering committee for the SDG Network Scotland.
Engagement
The ICAS webinar programme continues and, in addition to the global #FinBiz2030 event, has included over the past month an ICAS Insights webinar exploring How has the US performed after 4 years of President Trump. Hosted by our New York Network Chair, we had 230 registrations with 155 delegates joining on the day and viewers in the US, UK, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Jersey, Mexico and Uganda.
Our weekly Ask ICAS webinars have been continuing with the following now available to watch on demand:
- 29 October – Ask ICAS: Legal Advice for IPs
- 5 November – Ask ICAS: Coronavirus employer and business support update
- 12 November – Ask ICAS: The Pensions Regulator Perspective
- 19 November – Ask ICAS: Managing risk in the tax practice.
Other online events we have run over the past month include a CA Club event with KPMG, a virtual careers fair with the University of Dundee, and two Area Network webinars, also now available to watch:
- 11 November – Glasgow & West Area Network: Charities in challenging times
- 18 November – London Area Network: Business survival in a global pandemic.
ICAS's Tax Team delivered a webinar on Social Mobility in the accountancy profession in partnership with the University of Glasgow. Also with Glasgow University, the team recorded a one-hour lecture for 4th-year accountancy students on Scottish taxes. With Manchester University ICAS participated in a student speed interviewing session for its BSc accountancy students. And with Robert Gordon University hosted a joint session on the graduate apprenticeships for NESCOL. ICAS also joined ICAEW and CIMA for a discussion of Careers in Accountancy for Warwick Business School. And ICAS has created a video resource on routes into Chartered Accountancy for Developing the Young Workforce, Scotland’s youth employment strategy, which will be shared with schools in Scotland.
That’s all for this month’s round-up. Look out for your next monthly update towards the end of December.
Join ICAS and the Office Bearer Team