Members Matter
ICAEW Council elections for London start on Monday 8th February. 3 SPA members need your help in a very competitive election. 15 candidates for 9 places.
I (Howard Gross) am standing for re-election. I have been on council since 2002, I am the longest serving committee member of the London Society and Past President. I am a member of the North London Branch which I chaired in 1984. I have been your chair since 2017 and was Vice Chair (non exec.) before. In my spare time I chair our local patient group.
Viresh Paul Deputy President London Society and Ken Solomons North London Branch are both standing as well. Please support us all.
Kindly consider tactical voting. If you just vote for one, two or all three of us. it would be great. If we are your only choice weven better. I welcome comments from them to put to you and any comments or questions from you.
ICAEW Governance
I am member of a group of four (3 are SPA members) ICAEW council members who have been successfully challenging ICAEW on its governance. Its autocratic plans have been dropped and a working group (which we suggested) has been set up to review the structure in all aspects. Alan Hyams who has been re-elected to council, unopposed, (many congratulations Alan) is an SPA member of the group of four and the new governance group. The group is duty bound to consult with all of council. SPA member Peter Hollis is also a member of the group of four.
Meanwhile our Chief Exec. did not wait for the outcome and is restructuring the ICAEW board. Information is limited even to council members. So we do not know what caused the change or the cost thereof. I understand two executive jobs have been advertised.
In my opinion, for ICAEW to remain democratic Council should continue to be the body that the board reports to not the other way round.
ICAEW District Societies
The way the District Societies operate is also being challenged. There have been some very healthy discussions. It seems that ICAEW board wishes to re-organise the control of the independent District Societies by setting up communities. I wonder what the difference is. Each D Soc. has its own community although some are more successful than others. We are not allowed to learn the names and email address of London constituents therefore communication is impossible. Many ICAEW office holders are ex District Society office holders. We try to hold the board to account.
Please do not forget it is the board that spends your money i.e. your subs.
Do we need 800+ staff?
Should we pay for faculties?
Should we monetise our ICAEW web site?
Our founder, the late Peter Mitchell, succeeded in setting up the ICAEW practice committee. A business committee followed. I was fortunate to be elected the first Chair, I was followed by Peter Hollis and Nigel Hughes both SPA members. For me this led me to be the first chair of the Members Board and a seat on the ICAEW Main Board often challenging the centre and standing up fo the small practice. I would like to finish the job on both governance (discussions have gone on for years) and District Societies so please vote carefully and quickly.
You know what I have done to help you throughout the pandemic. Engagement with SPA is at an all time high and thank you for your support. It has made it all worthwhile. London ICAEW members please give me your support so I can take up your concerns at council. Apologies to those of you not in London or with a different professional body.
By the way we (all candidates) are not allowed to know (GDPR is the excuse) who our constituents are? In my opinion we (all candidates) have a legitimate interest as a candidate. It is no wonder that the numbers voting are low. You should receive an email from ICAEW on Monday. Previously there have been two codes to use. Competition is fierce. Please vote for all our 3 SPA members.
