Inside ICAS: February update from the Office Bearer team
An update from the ICAS Office Bearer Team on what’s been happening at ICAS over the past month.
President Catherine Burnet CA, Deputy President Bruce Pritchard CA and Vice President Indy Hothi CA bring you a monthly round-up of ICAS news.
Catherine Burnet CA, ICAS President
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my year as President of ICAS and the opportunities it has provided me to help oversee the effective management and direction of the Institute’s affairs. If you are interested in getting involved with ICAS a great way to do this is through a role on Council. There are currently two Electoral Area seat vacancies and one open seat vacancy. If you would like to consider standing for election to these Council seats the nomination period closes on Friday 15 March."
Bruce Pritchard CA, ICAS Deputy President
“For the latest instalment of the CA Agenda Podcast which was released earlier this month, I appeared as guest host and turned the tables on regular host Indy Hothi CA. I interviewed Indy about his humanitarian work, his year as Vice President and keeping active during lockdown. Listen to the episode on icas.com to find out more about Indy’s passion for social and humanitarian causes and where his fascinating career has taken him.”
Indy Hothi CA, ICAS Vice President
“I’m really pleased about the ongoing training partnership commitment which was agreed in February between ICAS and EY. It means the continuation of the great collaboration we have built over many years of teaching EY trainees. As one of the global leaders in accountancy, business and finance, I’m delighted that ICAS will continue developing the next generation of talented CAs who contribute to EY’s success.”
Other news and updates
Our webinar series continues to prove popular with an audience of 117 delegates from around the world joining our recent ICAS Insights webinar on The business of food and drink. It brought together leading CAs for a thought-provoking conversation on the future of the industry and the impact that Brexit, climate change and COVID-19 will have. Almost 200 attendees joined our February Ask ICAS webinar on Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax. In case you missed them, you can watch these webinars and more on the Webinar Hub.
February saw the launch of our paper which delves into the tapestry of reform which might recalibrate the corporate ecosystem. The paper explores how various recommendations from the BEIS consultation reviews might be combined to deliver reform of UK Public Interest Entity companies (PIEs).
We responded to five government consultations in February, including the FRC Discussion Paper on the Future of Corporate Reporting and to IAASB's consultation on fraud and going concern in the audit of financial statements.
ICAS attended a meeting of the Scottish Government COVID Business Forum and was asked by the Scottish Government to review and provide technical and user comment on the grant application process for coronavirus business support grants. We also kept our guidance on Coronavirus Business Support updated to take account of emerging government support announcements.
The Scottish Government is continuing to gather views on its proposals to reform Scottish charity law via a public survey. The ICAS Charities Panel has responded to its online Scottish charity law survey.
Following Member feedback, ICAS wrote to HMRC seeking clarity on SEISS grant counts. Confirmation has been received that guidance on this matter will be issued. COVID-19 has given rise to issues around whether certain benefits are taxable and discussions between ICAS and HMRC around these issues have continued in February.
