Say it loud

With a new year and new CEO in place, President Karen Scholes CA says ICAS should speak proudly of its achievements

 

Anew year often represents a new start, and this is especially true of ICAS in 2026. On 1 January, Gail Boag began her tenure as our new CEO. She succeeds Bruce Cartwright CA, who oversaw a period of extraordinary change and modernisation during his eight years at the helm.

I strongly recommend that members read Gail’s first column as CEO where she sets out her priorities, which include embracing new technology to fuel our continued growth, but doing so with ethics front and centre – as is the ICAS way.

The pace of change is only going to accelerate, something which is most evident with the growing influence of AI. For those of us in practice, there are basic tasks we would have traditionally given to trainees which can now be done in a matter of seconds using AI tools.

Across the profession we need to think quickly about how we upskill trainees. The tech available to us is perhaps the most striking difference between us and our predecessor CAs, some of whom I met before Christmas in Glasgow at one of our Gold Club lunches.

“ICAS has long played a significant role in informing and shaping the public sector – but that is rarely understood across the wider membership”

Gold Club membership is awarded for being a CA for 50 years. What came shining through that day was not only the pride our members take in being CAs, but also how much they care about the profession itself. I was asked a number of questions about what we’re doing at ICAS to make ourselves future-fit, especially around AI and sustainability, but also how we represent members’ interests beyond our profession.

What I concluded is that we’re doing the right things, but also that sometimes we need to shout about that a bit more. I receive emails from members on all sorts of topics. One of many that stood out recently came from a CA involved in public sector accounting, who wrote that he believes ICAS has long played a significant role in informing and shaping the public sector – but how that is not necessarily understood across the wider membership.

So I thought this would be a good opportunity to hand over to Sarah Chisnall, our Director of Public Affairs, to briefly explain what we do in this area and to highlight a special event for members taking place on 3 February.

A big part of what we do in public affairs, policy and communications is making sure the voices of our members are heard where it counts. The policy landscape moves quickly, and decisions being made today, on everything from audit reform and public finances to tax and sustainability, will shape the environment our members work in tomorrow. Our job is to make sure the expertise from across our community reaches the people shaping those decisions. 

That advocacy takes many different forms. Some days it’s responding to government consultations or parliamentary inquiries; on others it’s sitting down with ministers, civil servants, regulators or influential thinkers to share insight and challenge assumptions. We offer commentary when major announcements land, contribute analysis when the news cycle calls for it, and bring forward thought leadership that helps set the agenda rather than simply react to it. 

A lot of this work happens in the rooms where conversations flow more freely. We take part in receptions, panel discussions and roundtables, and we host our own gatherings too – from small dinners with parliamentarians, to tables at key events in the political and business calendars. These moments matter. They help build relationships, open doors and inject our members’ perspectives into the wider dialogue. 

With that in mind, I’m especially pleased that on 3 February we are hosting a Scottish parliamentary reception at Holyrood. It’s a fantastic opportunity for members and stakeholders to meet politicians from across the spectrum, connect with the people who help shape policy, and spend time with fellow professionals discussing the future of our economy and public services. I hope many of you will join us.

In December I also attended an event for members in practice on the subject of cybersecurity. It is an issue we tackle in depth within this issue. As our report emphasises, accountancy practices and CFOs rank among the most obvious targets because they handle so much sensitive financial data.

Cybersecurity is one of those areas where we can see both the benefits and dangers of AI. For example, a CA may use ChatGPT to help with basic tasks, but it would be wrong to assume it is safe from hackers. And it is most definitely not somewhere to input sensitive data. Before using AI, CAs should look at investing in a proprietary version of the software – for instance, at ICAS we license a bespoke version of CoPilot.

That was one of many key messages to come from the day. For anyone who is still unsure what measures a company should take to mitigate the threat of a cyber-attack, ICAS has a page on useful resources at the link below.

Access more ICAS cybersecurity resources