In 1993 the ACCA chief executive barely earned £63,000. By 1999, her salary stood at £161,932. Anthea Rose is likely to retire in December 2000. She will be entitled to a pension equivalent to her final leaving salary.

The comparative salaries of the chief executives for other Uk based accountancy bodies are as follows:

ICAEW            £138,000
CIPFA             £100,000-£109,000
CIMA              £  80,000-£89,000
ICAI                £  72,540

It should be noted that ACCA members have no chance to vote on the  chief executive's remuneration.

Some 'insiders' claim that the ACCA chief executive's salary is linked to performance. It all depends on how one wishes to measure performance.

Whilst in recent years, ACCA has been turning out a small financial surplus, in earlier years it reported a deficit. ICAEW made a surplus of £6.3 million in 1999. Accountancy magazine also made a profit. ACCA's magazine needed a subsidy of £860,000 from members. It is highly censored and provides nor real news to members. The ICAEW has a world class library for its members, ACCA has failed to provide any library facilities for its members.

Since 1993, ACCA has lost its deputy and Vice-President in controversial circumstances. It also lost its representation on IFAC. ACCA has been criticised on numerous occasions in Parliament and has been unable to secure recognition for its qualifications in US, Canada, Australia and South Africa. ACCA has little impact on the policies of the UK government. The government has raised the small company audit threshold to £1 million and will soon rise to £4.8 million. As a result, hardly any ACCA member will be in a position to conduct audits. Yet ACCA has agreed to foot 28% of the total UK cost of regulating auditors. ACCA also lost money on publishing and a hostile takeover bid of CIMA and CIPFA.

Isn't it time that ACCA members directly appointed the chief executive and fixed his/her salary.