President’s Review of January 2007 – May 2008

15th May 2008

Thames Valley Society of Chartered Accountants
President’s Review of January 2007 – May 2008

Normally our formal financial year would span two presidencies however as I have been your president for two years I thought I would report on the eighteen months since my last report. Our strategies have been nurtured from infancy leading to a higher level of support for members than ever before.

Chartered Accountants in Business

Our CAB group goes from strength to strength, with quarterly meetings with various topics, again we have held some successful soft skills events, hosted by one of our members, Joy Ainley. More recently another of our volunteers, David Harmes put on a successful evening event (“Putting the Numbers Front Seat”). Our next CAB event has just moved from the planning board to the flyer, we are taking over the Oxford Union in June when we have four star speakers for and against the proposition “This House believes Corporate Responsibility will not survive the downturn”, you should find a flyer in the pack, my thanks to Michael Cooper for his efforts in putting this together.

Practice Support Groups

We now have four practice support groups with Newbury successfully joining Oxford, Reading and Thames Valley East, new members are always welcome. During the year, together with the group chairmen I attended two of the three Practice Advisory Group forums where the new group wanted input from the general practitioner, should any of you want to see what Moorgate Place has to offer for the practitioner I highly recommend these events.

Job Club

The job club has not met for some time, with the current “Credit Crunch” we might find it valuable to resurrect it..

Technical Advisory Committee

The TAC is kept busy with monthly meetings reviewing Institute pronouncements.

Continuing Professional development (CPD)

As can be seen in the Treasurer’s report the SESCA managed CPD programme runs from strength to strength, with over a 1,000 course seats in each year.

Annual Dinner

We held a successful annual dinner at the Ashmolean Museum and the Randolph Hotel, where the Randolph surpassed itself with the quality of the local Thames Valley sourced produce.

Annual Conference

The annual conference, held in Stokenchurch, again ran in two streams with delegates mixing between practice and business focused lectures.

New Members Dinner

This year the New Members Dinner will be amalgamated with the Annual Dinner at the Crowne Plaza in Marlow.