Once again, the ACCA has failed to provide a proper report of the proceedings at the annual general meeting, held on 4th May 2000.

The ACCA officials tape-recorded the meeting, but judging by the official account (Accounting and Business, Members Supplement, June 2000, pages 6-7), no member said anything. What is the point of tape recording the meetings, if the ACCA officials are not going to give a proper account?

The minutes also fail to comply with the law of meetings which requires that all directions given by the Chairperson (i.e. ACCA President) must be minuted. ACCA has always failed to do so.

For the benefit of the membership, we provide a brief synopsis of the meeting.
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The meeting opened with the President stating that those wishing to speak will be required to complete cards.  Also that the proposers of motions would be limited to 10 minutes to make their presentation and those wishing to speak will be restricted to 3 minutes.   It was also stated that it may not be possible for all those wishing to speak to be called e.g. those who had
submitted cards would be banned from speaking if there was in sufficient time as he wished to finish the meeting by 13.30 hours (DOES THE ACCA LEADERSHIP BELIEVE IN ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEBATE?).

The President then spoke for approximately 25 minutes starting with a history of the area of Lincoln's Inn Fields.  Audit relevance to the development of London.  He then went on to say we should be looking forward not back and stated that the Associations origins go back a century.

He then went on to cover the initiatives launched in the last year.

The tie up with Oxford Books University.
ACCA sponsored MBA.
The growth in membership and students with its distribution around the world.
54% of membership is UK based of which 28% is in Practice e.g. 10000 approximately.
WEB technology is central to the ACCA’s future.
ACCA is lead regulator in UK.
ACCA is the leader in training for smaller practices.
Launch ACCA DEMY,COM.WEB based training with CPD.

Thanks to 3 Council Members not re elected.

Comments raised by ACCA members on report and accounts.
 

• Basis on which accounts are prepared.  There are no statutory provisions relating to accounts of ACCA but they follow UK accounting standards.

• Information missing over liabilities in respect of on going litigation (e.g. lawsuit in India) but ACCA President said this to be subjudice and that counsel's opinion was that no liability would arise.

• President asked if he believed in transparency and if so:-

Why no open Council Meetings.
No debate in magazine on AGM & EGM Resolutions.

Other matters raised:
 

• International marketing costs of a failed campaign were £350,000. Who gave the authorisation?

Issues about the Council's Week-end bonding sessions that were costing members some £80,000 per annum.

• Accounting & Business subsidised to tune of £800,000 and considered to be of dubious quality and lack of strength.
• Contrary to the leadership's misleading statements on the AGM resolution, ACCA by-laws refer to overseas members (in support of reduced fee for non UK members).
• The possible involvement of PwC in recruiting Malaysian Staff. ACCA Malaysia do not have staff elected by members in Malaysia. A possible conflict of interest (no elected committee in Malaysia)?
• The question was raised about what the ACCA know about Islamic ethics.
• ACCA's claims of being 'global' were challenged by reminding that it is really a UK-based body.
• Why is geographical information kept confidential and was it not a fact that only 10 countries have more than 500 members.
• Council still fails to address members concern.

• At the end a ACCA member asked to speak under ANY OTHER BUSINESS and was told he could not. A heated argument then took place. ACCA President, John Brockwell insisted, that the member will not be allowed to speak. the member then threatened the ACCA with an EGM. At that point, a compromise was finally struck and the member was able to put his point.
• The member asked why as a professional body the ACCA did not have a library and why was it not open to the membership.  He also requested that this matter be minuted.  He also wanted the AGM to be opened up as members showcase so that those who travelled considerable distances could have more than just a couple of hours e.g. like many major plcs use AGM’s as a promotional exercise.

Comments on resolutions

It was suggested that the "ACCA's Code of Practice" almost follows Nazi Party rules and is possibly a breach of Human Rights Act.

Code of Practice is gagging order.

No non-white person elected to ACCA Council this year.

Request for information on budget and justification for increase in subscriptions.

Suggest should look for economies in IT and Offices.  The response was that most major companies do not provide this information.

Lowest votes for member elected elected to Council 1654
Those not elected:
R. Gardiner     1632
A. Thomas      1115
P. Sikka          1098
Candidate with the lowest number of votes      475