Good foot forward (COPY) (COPY)
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
Actions, not words
New President, Alison Cornwell CA, is putting ICAS’ 2030 strategy into practice – starting with her own employer
Anew ICAS president typically uses their first column to set out their objectives and ambitions for the year ahead. So I’m going to maintain that tradition, while also including something which hasn’t been done before, but that I hope will inspire other CAs and companies to follow suit.
But first things first: I feel honoured to become President and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to give back to an organisation which has enabled me to pursue a fascinating and rewarding career. I am proud of our heritage, as summed up perfectly by our motto “quaere verum” (“seek the truth”) and our tagline “ethical leadership since 1854”.
The CA qualification is the gold standard, delivering way beyond its core syllabus. It creates the business leaders of tomorrow. I enjoy the wonderful diversity of our membership and I value the emphasis on behaving with integrity and with the highest ethical standards at heart.
When I became a CA in 1990, having trained in Glasgow with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC), I moved to London to join its corporate finance practice, where I enjoyed fantastic exposure to M&A and corporate recovery transactions, management buyouts, privatisations, flotations and more.
That experience, coupled with having the letters CA after my name, enabled me to pursue a career in the film industry, including almost a decade with the Walt Disney Company where my colleagues and I drove the significant expansion of its film and TV distribution operations across the globe.
The long Vue
From there I wanted to do something truly entrepreneurial, so I became the Group CFO at three successive private equity-backed businesses in television broadcasting (Sparrowhawk Media Group), film distribution and production financing (Alliance Films) and most recently in film exhibition (Vue International).
I joined Vue in 2014. We expanded across Europe through numerous successful acquisitions and new site openings and delivered record-breaking results from 100 million admissions in the period leading up to the pandemic. When that struck we were mandated to close all our cinemas; even when we were permitted to reopen we had to contend with severe operating restrictions and a temporary reduction in new film releases.
Then there was the US actors’ strike, which stopped the production of Hollywood films for six months. And yet, even in the face of multiple challenges, Vue is in very good shape because of the action we took as a team.
During that time, I was able to fall back on my CA training. That helps you think about the practicalities of a situation, to focus on what you and others need to do or communicate and how to formulate a robust but flexible plan.
Furthermore, I firmly believe in ICAS, both in what it does and what it represents. This includes our new strategy, ICAS 2030, which I will be supporting through actions, not just words.
“Factor in the sustainability agenda, and the chance to contribute – literally – to the future of life on earth, and our profession suddenly becomes very exciting to a very wide audience”
When I joined the ICAS Council six years ago, I was astonished to learn that 72% of our annual intake of students came from the Big Four and only 4% trained in industry. ICAS 2030 has redefined learning to deliver a new CA syllabus, improved student experience and flexible delivery model. This is making it easier for both professional accountancy firms and businesses in other sectors to train CAs in a way that suits their needs.
Consequently, I have started the process for Vue to become an authorised training office, after which we will hire a student to start their CA trainee journey with us in industry. And during my presidential term, I will be charting our progress through these monthly columns. I hope this will provide a better understanding of the process because I am certain that many businesses could benefit from having a CA as a trainee.
Another key area of focus for me is sustainability reporting. Before too long, if you look at a company’s annual report and accounts, you’ll see more pages covering environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters than those covering the traditional financials.
This is a critical area for our members, whether they’re in industry and preparing annual reports and accounts, or in practice and performing an audit.
I was one of the panellists at our recent sustainability summit, which you can read more about here. One of my takeaways from the event is that there are numerous resources out there to help you get to grips with sustainability reporting and a great many people willing to give their time to help you, because they feel so passionately about this issue and want to share their knowledge.
Moreover, you can add value to your business by engaging with your customers on sustainability matters. It’s a great tool to motivate employees and improve staff retention. Again, this comes down to actions, not just words – but those actions will help to distinguish you and your business from the crowd.
I also believe sustainability reporting will be pivotal to attracting the next generation of CAs. Some people aren’t excited by the traditional aspects of accounting. But factor in the sustainability agenda, and the chance to contribute – literally – to the future of life on earth, and our profession suddenly becomes very exciting to a very wide audience.
Learn more about the new ICAS 2030 strategy
linkedin.com/in/alison-cornwell-ca
Actions,
not words
New President, Alison Cornwell CA, is putting ICAS’ 2030 strategy into practice – starting with her own employer
Anew ICAS president typically uses their first column to set out their objectives and ambitions for the year ahead. So I’m going to maintain that tradition, while also including something which hasn’t been done before, but that I hope will inspire other CAs and companies to follow suit.
But first things first: I feel honoured to become President and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to give back to an organisation which has enabled me to pursue a fascinating and rewarding career. I am proud of our heritage, as summed up perfectly by our motto “quaere verum” (“seek the truth”) and our tagline “ethical leadership since 1854”.
The CA qualification is the gold standard, delivering way beyond its core syllabus. It creates the business leaders of tomorrow. I enjoy the wonderful diversity of our membership and I value the emphasis on behaving with integrity and with the highest ethical standards at heart.
When I became a CA in 1990, having trained in Glasgow with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC), I moved to London to join its corporate finance practice, where I enjoyed fantastic exposure to M&A and corporate recovery transactions, management buyouts, privatisations, flotations and more.
That experience, coupled with having the letters CA after my name, enabled me to pursue a career in the film industry, including almost a decade with the Walt Disney Company where my colleagues and I drove the significant expansion of its film and TV distribution operations across the globe.
The long Vue
From there I wanted to do something truly entrepreneurial, so I became the Group CFO at three successive private equity-backed businesses in television broadcasting (Sparrowhawk Media Group), film distribution and production financing (Alliance Films) and most recently in film exhibition (Vue International).
I joined Vue in 2014. We expanded across Europe through numerous successful acquisitions and new site openings and delivered record-breaking results from 100 million admissions in the period leading up to the pandemic. When that struck we were mandated to close all our cinemas; even when we were permitted to reopen we had to contend with severe operating restrictions and a temporary reduction in new film releases.
Then there was the US actors’ strike, which stopped the production of Hollywood films for six months. And yet, even in the face of multiple challenges, Vue is in very good shape because of the action we took as a team.
During that time, I was able to fall back on my CA training. That helps you think about the practicalities of a situation, to focus on what you and others need to do or communicate and how to formulate a robust but flexible plan.
Furthermore, I firmly believe in ICAS, both in what it does and what it represents. This includes our new strategy, ICAS 2030, which I will be supporting through actions, not just words.
“Factor in the sustainability agenda, and the chance to contribute – literally – to the future of life on earth, and our profession suddenly becomes very exciting to a very wide audience”
When I joined the ICAS Council six years ago, I was astonished to learn that 72% of our annual intake of students came from the Big Four and only 4% trained in industry. ICAS 2030 has redefined learning to deliver a new CA syllabus, improved student experience and flexible delivery model. This is making it easier for both professional accountancy firms and businesses in other sectors to train CAs in a way that suits their needs.
Consequently, I have started the process for Vue to become an authorised training office, after which we will hire a student to start their CA trainee journey with us in industry. And during my presidential term, I will be charting our progress through these monthly columns. I hope this will provide a better understanding of the process because I am certain that many businesses could benefit from having a CA as a trainee.
Another key area of focus for me is sustainability reporting. Before too long, if you look at a company’s annual report and accounts, you’ll see more pages covering environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters than those covering the traditional financials.
This is a critical area for our members, whether they’re in industry and preparing annual reports and accounts, or in practice and performing an audit.
I was one of the panellists at our recent sustainability summit, which you can read more about here. One of my takeaways from the event is that there are numerous resources out there to help you get to grips with sustainability reporting and a great many people willing to give their time to help you, because they feel so passionately about this issue and want to share their knowledge.
Moreover, you can add value to your business by engaging with your customers on sustainability matters. It’s a great tool to motivate employees and improve staff retention. Again, this comes down to actions, not just words – but those actions will help to distinguish you and your business from the crowd.
I also believe sustainability reporting will be pivotal to attracting the next generation of CAs. Some people aren’t excited by the traditional aspects of accounting. But factor in the sustainability agenda, and the chance to contribute – literally – to the future of life on earth, and our profession suddenly becomes very exciting to a very wide audience.
Learn more about the new ICAS 2030 strategy
linkedin.com/in/alison-cornwell-ca
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