Public Interest Representation
Building Trust is a key element of the ICAS Strategy "Building a Professional Community". Recognition of the public interest is the primary object of the ICAS Royal Charter, requiring the maintenance of a high standard of efficiency, probity and professional conduct in the interests of the profession and of the public generally. To serve the public interest effectively requires that we retain the confidence of the public in the profession and that we deliver those services that society expects from ICAS members.
Our robust regulatory functions benefit from extensive and high-calibre public interest member representation. Public Interest Members fulfil a non-executive function bringing an external perspective and challenge and encouraging a robust and transparent accountancy profession.
Public interest members also contribute to the governance of ICAS; exercising oversight within the ICAS regulatory functions and ensuring that processes are applied consistently and fairly.
Details of the public interest members on the ICAS regulatory committees are as detailed below.
The Regulation Board
Colin McClatchie FRSE
An experienced Non-Executive Chairman and Director with a developed and eclectic skill-set in corporate governance, risk and reputation management gained within both the public and private sectors.
Matt Smith OBE JP
Matt was Scottish Secretary of UNISON and President of the STUC. He serves on the Scottish Human Rights Commission; the Scottish Standards Commission; the Employment Appeal Tribunal and as a non-executive Director of Scottish Water. He is a Director of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company and of Unity Enterprise. Matt is a Fellow of the SCDI. He sits as a Justice and on the JPAC in North Strathclyde; on the Disciplinary Panel of CIPFA and formerly on the ICAS Discipline and Appeal Panel. He has served on various bodies including the Calman Commission and the McIntosh Commission.
Authorisation Committee
Roy Roxburgh
Roy qualified as a solicitor in 1974 and became partner in Iain Smith & Co in 1977. He remained partner until the commercial department of Iain Smith & Co joined Maclay Murray Spens LLP in 2007. He retired in 2009 but remained a consultant until 2017.
Roy has held a number of positions including Convenor of the Law Society of Scotland’s Insolvency Committee; Vice Convenor of LSSs Company, Insolvency & Banking Committee; LSSs nominee on the Joint Insolvency Committee (until 2017); and moderator for Administration, Receivership & CVA exam paper of JIEB (position held for 10 years).
He was the recipient of the R3 Scotland Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and sat on the ICAS Investigation Committee until 2016.
Liz McAreavey
Liz has a long history of work in both the public and private sectors. She is currently Commercial Director of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Group and Managing Director of Chamber Developments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce. Prior to this role, she was a Business Development Leader at Ernst & Young having been recruited to develop and deliver their Market Leadership strategy for Scotland and integrate a ""one Scotland"" approach to the region. Prior to 2002, she successfully established a number of businesses each of which she led to a successful exit through a trade sale.
Investigation Committee
Bruce Minto OBE FRSE - Convener
Bruce qualified as a solicitor and in 1985 co-founded Dickson Minto W S, a law firm specialising solely in corporate law. He managed that firm for over 30 years and remains a practising solicitor and notary public.
For seven years, Bruce chaired the Stewart Ivory Foundation, a charity dedicated to the provision and enhancement of financial education in Scotland. He was Chairman of the Campaign Board, which raised the costs of refurbishing the Royal Museum, Edinburgh and completed two terms of office as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland fulfilling over 10 years as a Trustee of that Board. He was also a Trustee of its Charitable Trust Board and a Director of its Enterprises Board. He has recently become a member of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh Foundation Board.
Previously a member of the ICAS Disciplinary Committee, he is currently the Convenor of the ICAS Investigation Committee.
Bruce is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, a Regent of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to culture in Scotland.
Carole Ford
Carole has a background in school education (mostly mathematics), having served as the Head Teacher of Kilmarnock Academy from 1997 to 2011.
She retains an ongoing involvement in education, teaching/tutoring on a part-time basis, and writing textbooks for mathematics. She serves as a Commissioner for the Queen Victoria School in Dunblane and is the Chair of the Scottish Secondary Mathematics Group.
From 2011 to 2018, Ms Ford was the Convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s Regulatory Committee (its first lay convener, having been elected by the other members of the Committee) She was also the Convener of the Disciplinary Sub-Committee of the General Teaching Council Scotland from 2009 to 2011.
Irene Grant
Irene worked as a senior leader in banking, primarily at HSBC, where her roles were highly international, leading Corporate Banking teams in UK, Europe and USA. Irene subsequently founded her own business as an Executive Coach, Mentor and Business Consultant, and supports leaders, aspiring leaders and pro bono clients at companies of all sizes, from start-up to complex global multinationals.
Irene also takes on Non-Executive Director roles and in 2018 was appointed a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of Edinburgh International Book Festival, the world’s largest festival celebrating words, literature and ideas.
Irene is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute, a Committee member at the 2025 Foundation, and an active member of the Association of Coaching, Changing the Chemistry and the Institute of Directors.
Rachel Grant
Rachel has recently retired as the Head of the Corporate Recovery and Insolvency team at Brodies LLP, where she was also a partner. She has specialised in corporate recovery and insolvency law for over 25 years, with extensive experience in director disqualification work, and involvement in several high-profile insolvency cases.
Rachel has been involved with several insolvency committees, including R3’s General Technical Committee and the Scottish Technical Committee (which she chaired for over 10 years). She is a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Corporate, Banking and Insolvency Committee and also chairs the Law Society Insolvency Accreditation Panel. In 2017, she was appointed by the Lord President of the Court of Session to the Advisory Council on Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers
She is also an accredited mediator.
Andrew Mackenzie
Andrew Mackenzie has been Chief Executive of the Scottish Arbitration Centre since its establishment in 2011. A solicitor on secondment to the Centre from the Scottish Government, Andrew previously worked as a policy lead in Justice and as a legal adviser to that Government. He sits on the Advisory Board of the International Bar Association (IBA) Section on Public and Professional Interest Council, having formerly been a Member of the Council. Andrew is also Co-Chair of the new IBA Government and Public Lawyers Committee. He also sits on the Advisory Board of the IBA Access to Justice and Legal Aid Committee, having formerly been Co-Chair of that Committee. An Associate Member of Chartered Institute of Arbitration, he also sits on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service Arbitration Court Users Group and the Scottish Government Dispute Resolution Delivery Group.
Judith Sischy OBE
Judith is a languages graduate of the University of Bristol and the University of Toronto where she began her teaching career. On moving to Edinburgh, she taught French and moved into education management. In 1990 she became the first Chief Executive of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) and oversaw its successful development until she stepped down in 2010.
She played a key role in Scottish education, holding appointments on the Scottish Qualifications Authority Advisory Board, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, the Government’s Curriculum for Excellence Management Board and other such bodies.
Judith has since qualified as a tutor of adult literacy and numeracy, has worked in disadvantaged Edinburgh communities and for the homeless. She is a trained mentor for ACOSVO and works for several charities.
She was appointed to the Carnegie Trust for the Universities in Scotland (until 2020), the Court of Queen Margaret University (until 2016) and is currently on the Board of Edinburgh College. She has also served as a public interest member on the ICAS Council (until 2017). She previously served on the Sick Children’s Trust, Common Purpose, the Chamber of Commerce, is a past President of Edinburgh Rotary and is involved with interfaith work in Edinburgh and the middle east.
She was awarded an OBE for services to education and the voluntary sector.
Matt Smith OBE DL
Matt is the former Scottish Secretary of UNISON and has held a range of non-executive appointments. He is presently a Member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal; the Central Arbitration Committee and the CIPFA Investigations Committee. Matt recently completed 2 terms on ICAS's Regulation Board. He is a Depute Lieutenant for Ayrshire and Arran and an Honorary Fellow of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. He served for over 30 years as a JP and JPAC member for North Strathclyde.
Matt is a former member of the Board of Scottish Water and of the Scottish Police Authority. He served as a Scottish Human Rights Commissioner and a member of the Scottish Standards Commission. Other posts held include membership of the Broadcasting Council for Scotland; Irvine Bay Regeneration Company; the Church of Scotland Church and Nation Committee; the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh; and UNITY Enterprise.
Matt served on the Commission for Scottish Devolution (Calman) and the Commission on Local Government and a Scottish Parliament (McIntosh).He was a councillor in the former burgh of Stevenston.