Incoming Chief Executive's report

In this report:

I’ve been in my role for only a couple of months, starting on the last day of the financial year covered by this annual report, so I’m not going to lay claim to our achievements over the past year. Rather, I thought I’d outline some initial observations and some thoughts for the coming year.

A focus on members

I’m really excited about my new role as the Institute’s chief executive– it builds on my career to date in the heart of the profession. The profession has been my career and now my career is the profession. That’s great! I’m keen to apply to my new role my experience and what I’ve learned as a practitioner, volunteer and one of the governors of the Institute.

In my first few months I’ve focused strongly on getting around our membership – the life blood of the Institute – and going to branches, member functions, boards and committees. This has allowed me to get a feel for the lie of the land, meet members and other stakeholders, and introduce myself. I have a full diary of such activities through another month or so, and my challenge moving forward will be maintaining this level of involvement and connection with our membership – but it’s something I’m committed to doing. I’m very conscious that the Institute exists because of its members.

My own background has been firmly imbued with a strong understanding of our public interest obligations – this is also at the heart of our Institute, and is a key factor that sets us apart from other member bodies. How I achieve the balance between member and public interest will be a challenge, but I don’t see these two dimensions of the Institute as being mutually exclusive.

Environmental threats and opportunities

While we’ve never had the luxury of being fully in control of our own destiny, I feel there are a range of factors in our environment that make the world a tougher place than it has been – or at least a place where we’re going to have to be more fleet of foot than in the past. I’m thinking about factors like:

globalisation of the profession
international standards in accounting and auditing
more focus on ethics
regulatory oversight of the profession
competition between the various accounting bodies – now moving beyond national borders to an international field of competition
changing demographics that increase competition for the best students entering professions and business
increasing complexity of business regulation
feeling the influence of politics entering into government policy-setting
maintaining influence and reputation
sustainability
the impact of technology.

All of these environmental factors can be threats and opportunities for us – how we can get our heads around them, maintain momentum and lead the pack are all thoughts going through my mind as I settle into my role as chief executive.

Strategic planning

It’s vital that the membership has the opportunity to actively debate these issues and provide input into the Institute’s strategic positioning. This is a key finding coming out of our "Fit for the Future" review. Whatever comes out of the review in terms of governance structures, we’ve already gained because we now know we need to be better at connecting with our members, particularly in terms of strategy development and in reporting back on progress against strategic objectives. By doing this, the Institute will get a better outcome and you will get a better sense of value for money for your membership dollars.

It’s a great time to come into the Institute as chief executive: this is the start of our next 100 years and the issues we need to deal with make it exciting times to be in the profession; I’ve inherited a very capable team of staff in the Institute.

One plea I would make to you, our members, is get involved with the Institute. Get involved in its branches, special interest groups, national boards and committees. Help us deal with the opportunities that lie in front of us.

I look forward to reporting our progress in a year’s time.

Terry McLaughlin
Chief Executive

» print this page