Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is a professional membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports chartered accountants and students around the world. As of December 2023, it has over 208,000 members and students in 146 countries. ICAEW was established by royal charter in 1880.[6]
Abbreviation
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Regulation and discipline[edit]
As an improvement regulator, ICAEW works to protect the public by making sure ICAEW Chartered Accountants, firms that are regulated by ICAEW and students studying with ICAEW maintain the highest standards of professional competency and conduct. An improvement regulator works to educate as well as monitor the quality of its firms and members’ work and enforce change (change can include restrictions, penalties, exclusion from membership or from working in a regulated area) when needed. To ensure impartiality, the regulatory and disciplinary roles of ICAEW are carried out by a separate department, the Professional Standards Department. All of this work is overseen by several layers of independent governance; an independent board, the (IRB) and regulatory and disciplinary committees (at least half of each board must be lay members (non-accountants)) and oversight bodies including the Financial Reporting Council and the Insolvency Service.
There are 26 UK Students’ societies, some of which have existed for over 100 years, as well as international student networks. Further information can be found here.
The work of the student societies is key to encouraging the active engagement of ACA students with ICAEW at a local level. More specifically, this is achieved by:
The student societies run a range of programmes and activity over the course of a year all of which complement the students’ ACA studies.
Events and activities are varied and typically cover revision sessions, career development seminars and a range of networking events such as annual dinners and quiz nights.
The ICAEW Student Council (ISC) is the representative body for student societies, bringing together representatives from each of the student societies to provide a voice and a feedback mechanism for the students.
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The institute is a member of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB), formed in 1974 by the major accountancy professional bodies in the UK and Ireland. The fragmented nature of the accountancy profession in the UK is in part due to the absence of any legal requirement for an accountant to be a member of one of the many Institutes, as the term accountant does not have legal protection. However, a person must belong to ICAEW, ICAS or CAI to hold themselves out as a chartered accountant in the UK (although there are other chartered bodies of British qualified accountants whose members are likewise authorised to conduct restricted work such as auditing).
The institute is also a founder member of Chartered Accountants Worldwide (CAW), an international network of accountancy bodies which represents over 1.8 million members and students in more than 190 countries.
ICAEW has two offices in the United Kingdom; at their headquarters, Chartered Accountants' Hall in Moorgate, London and in Central Milton Keynes at the Hub:MK complex. It also has offices in Belgium (Europe Region), China (Beijing, Shanghai), Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (Middle East, Africa and South East Asia Region).[7][8]
ICAEW has 25 local member networks and societies across the UK and the Crown Dependencies. These local networks and societies play a crucial role in supporting ICAEW members in their respective local areas providing:
Local networks help members connect, learn, and contribute to their local economies while upholding the reputation of the chartered accountant qualification.
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