Bruce Cartwright CA offers thanks and support from ICAS during the coronavirus pandemic
A note of thanks and support from ICAS Chief Executive, Bruce Cartwright CA.
We have many people to thank during this crisis. The NHS frontline staff are doing an incredible job to keep our health service running and supporting all those in need. Our supermarkets are keeping us all well fed, our educators are supporting the children of key workers, our public transport services continue to ensure we can get from A to B when needed, our cleaners are extinguishing the virus in our public spaces, and our newsrooms are keeping us all well briefed on developments. I could go on.
Although life has changed, and we are experiencing certain restrictions that have changed the way we do things, work is continuing. And, for many of us, we are in fact busier than ever.
This is true of our government, our civil servants, HMRC, Her Majesty’s Treasury - and all those working to implement the new measures introduced by government to try to ease the economic impact of coronavirus.
This is also true of our accountants. I know many of you are working around the clock to support your colleagues, your organisations and your clients through this time of immense difficulty. And, of course, you are supporting your families and those around you in your communities too.
The economy has been hit hard and many of us Chartered Accountants work in banking, in business, in financial services.
These are challenging times for us all and I want you to know that you are not alone, ICAS is here to support you.
We have a team of experts at ICAS who are working extremely hard to digest all of the latest measures and highlight how these might impact you. They are regularly producing articles, guidelines and videos to help guide you through the coronavirus pandemic.
All of these resources are being continually added to the ICAS coronavirus hub on our website.
We also recently launched a new weekly webinar series, ‘Ask ICAS’, which allows you to submit your queries direct to our team and hear about some of the latest information and guidance of relevance to you.
As an organisation we have adapted to the current situation through remote working, facilitated by the technology we now have at our fingertips. Our team is working hard to support one another and to support ICAS members.
I want to thank them. And I want to thank you. We are all in this together and I have been heartened to see how well we can all pull together at a time of crisis.
Please do get in touch with us here at ICAS if we can be of any further support to you – you will find our contact details below.
I would also like to highlight to members that as Chartered Accountants you have support from SCABA – the Scottish Chartered Accountants’ Benevolent Association. SCABA can support CAs, their dependants and prospective CAs who are in need by providing grants, loans and support visits. Please visit our website for more information.
Lastly, if you haven’t already done so, I’d encourage you to join CA Connect. This platform was recently launched to enable CAs to connect with one another in a secure online environment. New discussion threads have recently been added on coronavirus and the forum is a great way to stay in touch with your fellow CAs during this time.
Take care everyone and keep in touch with us.
Contacts
General member support: members@icas.com
Student support: students@icas.com
The Scottish Chartered Accountants’ Benevolent Association: admin@scaba.org.uk