ACCA's chief executive Allen Blewitt has notified the institute that he will step down in a year's time and will not seek to extend his fixed five-year contract.

Blewitt, 57 - who joined ACCA as executive director of Asia Pacific in May 2003 – has told the organisation that he will be returning to Australia to devote more time to family and new professional activities.

ACCA chairman Brendan Murtagh described Blewitt's contribution to the development of the institute as 'immense'.

'We are grateful for his unstinting efforts, which give us the necessary time to start the process of finding a suitable replacement, safe in the knowledge that ACCA will remain focused on its strategy. It will be very much ‘business as usual’ in 2008.

'As a global body, ACCA will be looking throughout the world for its next CEO. More than half of our membership is based outside the UK and so whoever is eventually appointed will have to have considerable experience and knowledge of many economic markets where ACCA has established a presence in recent years. Allen has played a major role in that success and so the bar will be set high for his successor,' said Murtagh.

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