It all adds up to magic milestone

Jul 10 2007 by Evening Gazette

WELCOME to our comment column, in which leading figures from the business community in the region present a thought-provoking view on an issue affecting their company or organisation or the wider community. Today it’s the turn of Keith Proudfoot, regional director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

THREE weeks today, on July 31 at exactly 3pm, members of the Northern Society of Chartered Accountants (NSCA) will gather to celebrate a very special milestone - its 125th anniversary.

On July 31, 1882, the NSCA held its inaugural meeting in Newcastle. This was around the same time as the birth of steel production turned Middlesbrough into a boom town.

T Y Strachan, the Northern Society's first president, sounded a cautionary note in his address: “Our young men must not imagine that this is a nice easy profession, learnt without much trouble and securing to them a large income. No-one will make himself eminent in the profession without good and hard work.”

Apart from the obvious exclusion of women from the above statement, Mr Strachan’s words are as true today as they were in the late 19th century.

It is perhaps worth mentioning here that Pam Clarke has become the NSCA’s first female president in this special anniversary year.

Today our 3,000-plus members - including over 650 on Teesside - are part of the fabric of regional business, whether as chief executives or finance directors in some of the region’s largest and most successful companies, or as partners in accountancy practices, providing professional advice to firms of all sizes across a wide range of sectors.

From Tees to Tweed, chartered accountants are involved in key business decisions on a daily basis, helping to shape the region’s economic landscape - from start-ups to major capital investment projects and big corporate finance deals.

Inevitably, the business world has changed out of all recognition during the past 125 years and the regional economy is no longer dependent on heavy industry, as it was when I qualified in the late-1970s.

But the basic principles which guided the accountancy profession over a century ago are as valid now as they were in Victorian times.

We still share the same core values of integrity, a commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards and acting in the public interest.

There is currently a real feel-good factor about the North-east economy.

This positive mood has been reflected in recent surveys, including our own ICAEW/Orange UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM), in which the region was the most optimistic in the UK for the second quarter of 2007.

But encouraging an enterprise culture remains a top priority and almost 60 accountancy firms in the region have signed up to the ICAEW’s SME funding adviser scheme, to help improve access to professional financial advice for growing small businesses.

Our members are also championing the cause of North-east business through regular contact with local MPs. Among them are Rob Barrigan, Peter Olsen and David Arthur, who have established a dialogue with politicians William Hague (Richmond), Iain Wright (Hartlepool) and Dari Taylor (Stockton South) respectively through the ICAEW’s MP pairing scheme.

By adapting to the changing needs of industry and commerce, chartered accountants have remained at the heart of the region’s business community for well over a century.

Today’s global economy presents new challenges for us all and more than ever, people making business decisions need top quality financial information based on the highest technical and ethical standards.

Because of the particular work chartered accountants undertake, we will continue to ensure that people can do business with confidence - from Middlesbrough to Malaysia; Darlington to Dubai.