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Chris Good CA’s candour about his recovery from a mental health crisis offers a signal lesson for the profession, says President Clive Bellingham CA
Training day
Making your business an ATO has valuable advantages for all – including firms in the UK’s far-flung corners, says Alison Cornwell CA
Pictured here is my employer’s ATO [authorised training office] certificate. As of October, I am an official ICAS authorised officer and Vue International has been approved to take on ICAS students as trainees, starting in spring 2025.
In my previous columns, I’ve charted the process towards Vue becoming an ATO, which I’m happy to say has been very straightforward. The final hurdle entailed being interviewed by the education department at ICAS, which included an independent panellist who wrote a report for submission to the qualifications board. Following that report, I received this certificate.
There is no cost involved – until you bring a trainee into your company. As a CA you will know the high quality of the students who join ICAS, and appreciate that the skills they learn with us are transferable across any business and sector. This is especially true following the full rollout of the new syllabus with its increased focus on sustainability and data analytics.
But there’s another aspect to becoming an ATO, which recently came to light while I was visiting members around the country. Guernsey and Jersey are two relatively small islands but with a passionate and motivated community of CAs. They want to encourage their young adult population to stay on the islands, as Channel Islanders who want to go to university have to leave for the mainland.
So the question being put to me and CEO Bruce Cartwright CA when we visited was: how can we create jobs that are inspiring and fulfilling and will encourage ambitious young people to stay on the island? What if we could offer somebody an MBA-level qualification?
“If this has a positive impact in stemming the youth drain from Guernsey and Jersey, perhaps it could also work for islands such as the Orkneys, Shetland or Skye”
Well, that is what the CA is, and some believe being able to get that qualification under their belt would be all the motivation many of their smart school leavers would need to remain.
That also means encouraging more practitioners and companies to take on CA students, which means explaining to those companies what they need to do to become an ATO. Doing so could prove a real boost to the island.
And it’s possible to do this right now. Today, a school leaver could join an ATO firm and undertake their CA training. If this has a positive impact in stemming the youth drain from Guernsey and Jersey, perhaps it could also work for islands such as the Orkneys, Shetland or Skye.
Talking tech
Over the course of the past month I’ve also been meeting with senior figures at the biggest accounting firms, leaders in industry, small practitioners and newly qualified CAs. If there’s one consistent topic of conversation across all those groups then it is AI.
That ranges from big firms spending heavily on the tech, to smaller practices concerned they don’t have the resources to follow suit, and younger members apprehensive that it might hinder their career prospects before they’ve even got properly going.
This is why recent events that ICAS has held, specifically Beyond the Numbers and the CA Summit, have been absolutely critical. They are making sense of what is a complex subject with implications for all our working members.
Another common thread across all the events I’ve attended recently is the importance of networking, something which a chatbot cannot do, no matter how well it’s “trained”.
This is a point I emphasised at a recent event for newly qualified CAs – that the evening was about networking. I said: “I’m going to talk to everybody in the room tonight before I leave. That’s my objective. And it would be great if each of you could meet five new people this evening.”
It was wonderful to see everyone making new connections. Often, it’s only as you get older and look back on your career that you realise the importance of networking. When we think about the challenges coming down the road, being part of a network like ICAS has arguably never been more vital.
Find out how your firm can become an ATO
linkedin.com/in/alison-cornwell-ca
Training day
Making your business an ATO has valuable advantages for all – including firms in the UK’s far-flung corners, says Alison Cornwell CA
Pictured here is my employer’s ATO [authorised training office] certificate. As of October, I am an official ICAS authorised officer and Vue International has been approved to take on ICAS students as trainees, starting in spring 2025.
In my previous columns, I’ve charted the process towards Vue becoming an ATO, which I’m happy to say has been very straightforward. The final hurdle entailed being interviewed by the education department at ICAS, which included an independent panellist who wrote a report for submission to the qualifications board. Following that report, I received this certificate.
There is no cost involved – until you bring a trainee into your company. As a CA you will know the high quality of the students who join ICAS, and appreciate that the skills they learn with us are transferable across any business and sector. This is especially true following the full rollout of the new syllabus with its increased focus on sustainability and data analytics.
But there’s another aspect to becoming an ATO, which recently came to light while I was visiting members around the country. Guernsey and Jersey are two relatively small islands but with a passionate and motivated community of CAs. They want to encourage their young adult population to stay on the islands, as Channel Islanders who want to go to university have to leave for the mainland.
So the question being put to me and CEO Bruce Cartwright CA when we visited was: how can we create jobs that are inspiring and fulfilling and will encourage ambitious young people to stay on the island? What if we could offer somebody an MBA-level qualification?
“If this has a positive impact in stemming the youth drain from Guernsey and Jersey, perhaps it could also work for islands such as the Orkneys, Shetland or Skye”
Well, that is what the CA is, and some believe being able to get that qualification under their belt would be all the motivation many of their smart school leavers would need to remain.
That also means encouraging more practitioners and companies to take on CA students, which means explaining to those companies what they need to do to become an ATO. Doing so could prove a real boost to the island.
And it’s possible to do this right now. Today, a school leaver could join an ATO firm and undertake their CA training. If this has a positive impact in stemming the youth drain from Guernsey and Jersey, perhaps it could also work for islands such as the Orkneys, Shetland or Skye.
Talking tech
Over the course of the past month I’ve also been meeting with senior figures at the biggest accounting firms, leaders in industry, small practitioners and newly qualified CAs. If there’s one consistent topic of conversation across all those groups then it is AI.
That ranges from big firms spending heavily on the tech, to smaller practices concerned they don’t have the resources to follow suit, and younger members apprehensive that it might hinder their career prospects before they’ve even got properly going.
This is why recent events that ICAS has held, specifically Beyond the Numbers and the CA Summit, have been absolutely critical. They are making sense of what is a complex subject with implications for all our working members.
Another common thread across all the events I’ve attended recently is the importance of networking, something which a chatbot cannot do, no matter how well it’s “trained”.
This is a point I emphasised at a recent event for newly qualified CAs – that the evening was about networking. I said: “I’m going to talk to everybody in the room tonight before I leave. That’s my objective. And it would be great if each of you could meet five new people this evening.”
It was wonderful to see everyone making new connections. Often, it’s only as you get older and look back on your career that you realise the importance of networking. When we think about the challenges coming down the road, being part of a network like ICAS has arguably never been more vital.
Find out how your firm can become an ATO
linkedin.com/in/alison-cornwell-ca
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