InVOICE July 2010

08/07/2010

InVOICE July 2010

From the Chief Executive

Phew! What a couple of months.

As another issue of InVoice is put to bed I am left to reflect on a very busy couple of months. Things are normally pretty frenetic here but just recently there has been so much going on that at times we have wanted to stop the clocks for a day or so to let us catch up.

Groundbreaking new exams

The ICB has taken the digital age full on. From April, all the Level I assessments went on-line and have been an outstanding success (more…).

And from these initial technological advances, we went on to see the successful delivery of our Level II and III manual examinations at more than 5,000 computer based testing centres right across the world (more….)

Seminars an outstanding success once again

This year’s regional seminar programme reached its climax in Southampton. The programme has been extensive with six more centres that last year: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Carlisle, Newcastle, Milton Keynes and Chelmsford.

Attendance has been increasing year on year and I am delighted that this year it was up more than twenty percent on 2009. Brighton once again takes the award as the most popular centre, followed closely by Oxford.

This year’s seminars have been supported by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and I would like to thank Steve Hardwick and Martin Churchill for their interesting and enlightening presentations that showed members what the SAR regime is all about and the types of crime that the regime is targeting. Many members were able to share their own experience of SARs and I am really pleased that SOCA has begun giving feedback to members about their individual SARs.

Overall, members seem to be doing very well and gain a lot from the opportunity to talk bookkeeping with their fellow members.

Global development

At the recent seminars I have stressed to members that, whilst the ICB having a presence in all corners of the world may appear to have no relevance to a member in, say, Manchester, our global growth reflects very positively on the ICB in all countries, including the UK.

With our global coverage we are able to talk to governments and business leaders with greater authority than if we were simply a parochial organisation rather than the biggest bookkeeping organisation in the world.

The world is calling out to the ICB. More countries than ever before want the ICB to establish standards and qualifications for their bookkeepers.

At the end of May I spent three days in Uzbekistan as a guest of the Uzbekistan government, where I held meetings in Tashkent and Samarkand.

This trip followed a meeting held in the UK between our Patron, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, and Ministers from Uzbekistan at which His Royal Highness was so enthusiastic about what we do that the Uzbekistan government asked us to visit their country to assist them in improving the bookkeeping and accounting skills of their SME sector.

The visit was kindly organised from this country by the Uzbekistan Ambassador in the UK, His Excellency Otabek Akbarov.

At the end of last month I visited Kosovo with Prince Michael and a small team of venture capitalists and high profile business leaders to look at how best to support this new and emerging country. This is the first time that I have been part of a Royal mission and it was very exciting.

I am today leaving to open our three-day Eastern European regional Forum of Bookkeepers, Accountants and Auditors in Kiev, Ukraine.

The Ukraine Forum is being organised by our local chief executive, Alena Khorikova, and her team, many of whom joined us at our international conference in London in November last year.

The Forum has attracted a venerable who’s who of leading finance professionals and a list of high ranking government and world renowned speakers, including such people as:

Sergey Tigipko, Vice Premier-Minister of Ukraine; Arnold Schilder, Chair International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board; our good friend David Damant, Chair Consultative Advisory Group of the IAASB; Michael Wells, Director International Financial Reporting Standards Education Initiative; Wayne Upton, Director of International Activities, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB); Vera Rychakovska, National Bank of Ukraine; Ivan Nesterenko, Chairman of the Chamber of Auditors of Ukraine; Dmitry Tevelev, Chairman of the Security Commission of the Government of Ukraine and several representatives of the World Bank.

I shall include a full report on the visits in the next issue on InVoice.

Holiday times

I know from talking to members recently that many of you work your bookkeeping around your family. As the summer holidays approach it would appear that some of you go into family mode and do little or no bookkeeping until the end of the summer. There are few professions that can be that flexible – particularly when the client thinks it is to their advantage, as they ‘don’t want to be bothered during the summer’.

You will be pleased to know that the ICB remains open for business and ready to serve all year round. Have a good holiday if you have the time to take one, and see you next month.

Garry Carter
Chief Executive

July 2010

InVOICE: the monthly E-newsletter for UK members of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers.

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InVOICE contains news articles, links and regular sections that we feel will be of interest. If there is anything that you would like to see, whether a regular feature or a one-off, please let us know. Email your ideas to invoice@bookkeepers.org.uk

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS- tell us what you do

The Financial Sector Skills Council (FSSC) has approached the ICB directly to request information about bookkeepers.......

Bookkeeper - a position of trust

In June 2010 the Institute was asked to attend Bristol Crown Court as “expert witness” at the trial of a bookkeeper charged with “Fraud by abuse of position”. We hasten to add that the bookkeeper was not a member of the ICB. Avon and Somerset Police contacted Patricia Marshall, Operations Director at the ICB, to give a professional opinion on the conduct of the bookkeeper....

SURVEY: Members' Meetings

Members are warmly invited to take part in our survey regarding the various types of membership events to help us tailor the calendar to your needs.

The ICB’s new online Level I assessment, that was only launched mid-April, has been an outstanding success and already more than five hundred people from six countries have passed. Entrants from the UK, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Singapore and South Africa have become the first to pass this groundbreaking...

We are very proud to provide here a list of the names of the outstanding candidates who have passed their Level I Certiicate in Basic Bookkeeping since the new online paper came into force...

"Not for the first time you’re showing other bodies (who shall remain nameless) the way it should be done!!! Once again I’m genuinely very impressed how hard you work to do your best for your members."

Jeff Grimston, Premiere Training

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH:

Angela Wilson Bookkeeping

Last month's newsletter featured an article about Google initiative, Get British Business Online, which is providing free websites and easy to use templates for start-ups in this country. The ICB has always recommended that Practice Licence holders set themselves up with some form of online presence. It seems that clients these days...

Upcoming Members' Events

Free Local Networking events continue to spring up, and we are very grateful to our Regional Facilitators for helping to organise the meetings in Horsham on Tuesday 13th July, Cheltenham on Wednesday 4th August, and Fareham on 9th September...

Hopefully many of you will have noticed the appearence of a colourful new graphic upon logging in to the website.

Clicking on the picture will give you some information about what you need to do to make sure you tick all the right boxes ready for M-Day on 30th September 2011.

Our M-Day graphic has been on the website...

FINANCE MATTERS

IPP Interpretation of the 22 June 2010 Budget

We are delighted to publish this comprehensive analysis of the recent budget from Diana Bruce, Policy Liaison Officer for the Institute of Payroll Professionals.

'As expected there was a goody bag of bad news! The increase in personal allowances, and the NICs changes were expected, but the NICs holiday for new employers is going to....'

Dates for Your Diary July 2010

Important tax deadlines to remember this month.....

STUDY CORNER

if there is anything you would particularly like to see covered in Study Corner, please email your suggestions

Overhead Recovery

Following on from last month's article on Activity Based Costing, ICB head of education, Dr Philip E Dunn, provides this instructive text about Overhead Recovery....

60 Second Excel Tricks

This is the latest in a new series of helpful hints, tips and shortcuts published in Study Corner to help you get the most from Excel. The series has been provided exclusively for the ICB by Excel with Business (EwB)...

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