ACCA appoints Harbinson global president

ACCA has confirmed the appointment of Northern Ireland’s director of safer communities Anthony Harbinson as its new global president.

He was elected ACCA President for 2014/15 at ACCA’s annual general meeting on 18 September and now represents 170,000 members and 436,000 students in 180 countries around the world. He is responsible for the resourcing, policy and legislative framework for reducing offending, policing and community safety in Northern Ireland.

Prior to his role as director of safer communities, he was director of justice delivery, where he was responsible for the leadership and management of all central services functions and oversight of the Forensic Service Agency, the State Pathologist Department and oversight and direction of the Compensation Agency.

Harbinson joined the civil service after spending nearly 15 years working in the Northern Ireland Health Service, during which time he held a number of senior roles including director of finance, IT and contracting at Mater Hospital HSS Trust, director of finance/deputy chief executive and eastern multifund and director of finance, HR and estates in the Eastern/Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.

He said: “I am delighted to have been elected to serve as ACCA president, it is a great honour and I look forward to representing our members and students around the world.

“I will be focusing on two key themes in the year ahead. The first of these is the issues of ethics and the role of the accountant. Not only does our profession have a responsibility to behave ethically, but it also has a duty to ensure that the organisations for which finance professionals work have an ethical approach to business and operations.

“I also want to use my term of office to emphasise the importance of the public sector, the need for it to be effective and efficient and to have the proper financial expertise to achieve this in the short and long term.

In a separate development, the body confirmed collaboration with Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Greece (SOEL), after signing a strategic partnership agreement at a ceremony held in Athens.

The new agreement builds on the joint examination scheme ACCA and SOEL have cooperated together on over the last five years, through which nearly 2000 students are studying to become professional accountants. The collaboration will also involve jointly offering existing ACCA products and services, such as the Foundation in Accountancy qualification and the development of new certificates and diplomas.