ICAEW council cuts plotted after seat crunch

The ICAEW is looking at plans to slash its 100 strong council, after meetings in which some members had to sit on the steps because there were no seats.

The council met yesterday to give its views on the plans, with proposals set to be brought forward, possibly for a vote in the middle of 2009.

There are more council members than there are seats in the council chamber, and there are feelings that the number of people makes it very hard for all members to put their views across in debates.
‘Some people feel that a council of over 100 people is getting a bit unwieldy.

‘If everyone were to say their halfpennyworth, every single item would last several hours.’ one council member told Accountancy Age.

A working group has been set up to look at the issue, which was due to get views from the council on the plans yesterday.

Any plans are likely to be voted on by members at a special general meeting, possibly to coincide with the institute’s AGM, meaning the crucial vote would be either in June of next year or, if it drags, in June of 2010.

One issue for the institute is that any cuts would be most likely to come from the district members ­ around three quarters of the members represent the local districts, with each district having two members and some more than that.

Given the institute wants to be more international, there could also be further pressure on numbers too.

A spokesman for the ICAEW said that he was not expecting anything radical from the discussions and added that the council being larger than the room designed to contain it was ‘natural for a body that represents 133,000 people’.