District society costs revealed.

According to Don Heady, one of the petition organisers and a former president of the South Essex society, the campaigners hope to receive the required 1,180 signatures by the end of March. The news came as the institute’s council was given details of the actual costs of the district and regional reorganisation.

The council was due to be told yesterday that #828,000 had been spent on one-off costs for the project, while the ICAEW estimates it will save more than #150,000 on the annual running costs of district societies as a result of the changes.

At last month’s council meeting, members demanded that they should be told how much had so far been spent on the reorganisation and how much more it was due to cost.

Heady claimed there had been a lack of debate over the changes and that members were not aware of the full implications. ‘If there is a district society president who has fully read the documents, I’d like to meet him,’ he said.

The ICAEW’s website is at www.icaew.co.uk.