Numbers that count

Accountants contribute enormously to the economy, wherever they work. CEO Bruce Cartwright CA heralds the new ICAS syllabus, which will mean CAs continue to add value long into the future

I am, by profession, an accountant. And we accountants love numbers. So you will forgive me, I trust, for starting this column with a number: 98 billion. That’s the contribution, in pounds, that our profession made to the UK and Irish economies in 2022.

Here are some more numbers for you. That year, the profession also supported 911,800 jobs in the UK and Ireland and generated £11.4bn in tax revenues. Its total GDP contribution across those territories, according to Oxford Economics, grew by 39% between 2017 and 2022.

I’m fortunate in my job that I get to meet so many CAs in different positions. These are people creating great value for both their organisations and their national economies.

“Admission is the point where you become a CA, a member of ICAS, part of a body that spans the globe”

But there is also a story that goes on behind the numbers. Most of the CAs I know do voluntary work in their own time. They help because they recognise they’re in a privileged position. They’ve developed a skillset and knowledge not everybody has and are more than willing to share.

We also export talent and expertise. Around 3,000 of our 23,000-plus members work abroad. It has been said many times before, but still bears repeating, that the CA qualification is a passport for business. This is a point I stress every time I speak to the annual admission ceremony, which this year takes place on 13 April.

Point of entry

In the days when I qualified, a new CA would receive a certificate in the post and go to the nearest pub to celebrate. Years later we decided it was right to recognise the occasion with an event, which has since evolved into the admission ceremony of today. Not graduation – admission. The distinction is important: admission is the point where you become a CA, a member of ICAS, part of a professional body with obligations and responsibilities. A body that spans the globe.

Across ICAS – from CAs, new and old, to Council members; from the ICAS Foundation to the office bearers – the admission ceremony is probably the most eagerly anticipated occasion in the calendar. It’s also an energising event for qualified CAs and confirmation of the quality and talent coming up behind us.

As is highlighted in this issue, the path from student to becoming a CA is changing profoundly with the introduction of our brand-new syllabus. Does this mean the bar will be moving up or down in terms of the competency required to achieve the qualification? No. Will the breadth of knowledge change over time? Yes, because the syllabus must track the business competencies expected of our profession.

To give one example, look at how corporate governance and reporting have evolved – you need to know far more than you did in the past. But what we are doing with the new syllabus and student experience is transformational, and, as you’ll discover, is also relevant to many qualified CAs. The syllabus has some electives in it, something ICAS Director of Learning Gail Boag explains in more detail here. But the biggest change is the flexibility in delivery and timeline, with more choice for students in how they study, in person or online, and more opportunities to begin training without first going to university.

You may have a school leaver, who says, “I’m adapting to this new world. And I would just like to do this one bit at a time.” Others can fast-track and do it differently. It’s much more focused on when and how the individual and the employer want the student to learn.

That flexibility allows us to bring the student on what is hopefully a better experience. It’s important that new members arrive with a positive experience rather than perhaps the relief of passing and a desire to “get on with life”. We want ICAS to be very much part of that working life – professional support from us to the member, professional support from the member for their professional body.

Make no mistake, the journey is not easy but that reflects the importance of the competencies to be gained. But we do want to be as supportive as we possibly can. We want to ensure that we play our part in the journey, recognising that our student members are balancing their learning time with a full-time job and wider family responsibilities.