Did you know that ACCA uses a proxy voting system which is unlawful for trade unions.

The unelected leadership uses this system to "appoint" Council mmebers. There is no real election.

The delegated proxy system is a legacy from the days when the Association was first registered as a company limited by guarantee. No reform has taken place for 80 years. Such a system is not used (except under very exceptional circumstances e.g. when someone is disabled) for local, regional or national elections.

The eladership used to its privileges defends the system by arguing that  “it is right for members to be able to ask someone whom they trust and who knows the candidates to vote on their behalf”. Amazingly, people vote in national, regional and local elections on the basis of policies rather than personalities.

In practice, the proxy votes are cast by the ACCA leadership (not directly elected by members through contested elections). One might ask numerous questions about whether the President can ever get to know each of the candidates personally. Or is it that s/he only gets to know some of the candidates who are considered to be worthy beneficiaries of the favours granted by President?

The proxy form actually used by the Association is different from that contained in its Rulebook. Contrary to the specimen form produced in the Rulebook , the leadership  pre-prints its name on the  proxy form.  So what is the point of the membership approving a form which the leadership ignores? The blatant "rigging" of the electoral processes  has enabled Officeholders to cast  around 20-25% of the total votes and routinely “appoint” the Council.

The inevitable outcome, in the words of a former ACCA Council member (Anthony Thomas), is that the ACCA “[election system is a] self perpetuating oligarchy ....... a small section determines the outcome”, and that “ACCA does not hold elections; it simply makes appointments” (cited in Accountancy Age, 15 May 1997, page 4; Accountancy, June 1997, page 13).

The nepotism and patronage means that reforming voices are silenced. Alerted by the misuse of delegated proxy votes, it is noticeable that a number of overseas members have refused to go along with the electoral system for the newly created (in 1997) International Assembly. Here Association’s  members use a form of proportional representation. There is no delegation of votes and no proxy forms for any member to fill. Thus contrary to the ACCA officialdom’s assertions, members from more than 120 countries are quite capable of  voting directly for the candidates on the basis of their policies.

There is no moral justification for using the delegated proxy voting system.