Iain McLaren takes ICAS president role

IAIN MCLAREN has been named presdient of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland today.

McLaren is the former senior partner of KPMG Scotland and is chairman of Investors Capital Trust, and senior independent director and chair of Cairn Energy's audit committee.

He is also a board member and chair of the audit committee of Scottish Enterprise, and non-execs at Edinburgh Dragon Trust and Econfin Water & Power Resources Trust.

The chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, Sir David Tweedie is in line to take the vice-president role at ICAS in 2012.

Alan Thomson, the chairman of Hays, steps down as president but will remain a member of the institute.

McLaren (pictured) said: "It is an important time for the accountancy profession to demonstrate what it can contribute to society. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved, most obviously through the provision of more useful financial reporting.

"The profession is in the midst of a no-holds-barred debate focussed on the role of audit and corporate reporting. ICAS believes this public dialogue is healthy and that it should result in more of the detailed work of the auditor being reported to shareholders, demonstrating the full value of the audit process and correcting some of the misconceptions of the auditor's role."