ACCA reform measures just a 'gimmick'
ACCA's new measures to improve its accountability and transparency are nothing more than a 'gimmick' says longstanding critic Prem Sikka
ACCA’s new
governance structure has not improved its accountability or transparency,
according to a longstanding critic.
ACCA member and University of Essex professor of accounting Prem Sikka said
the institute’s measures, which include independent lay appointees to oversee
its governance, were ‘nothing more than a gimmick’.
‘The [lay appointees] are handpicked and not independent, so they don’t
increase the accountability of ACCA’s officers,’ said Sikka.
But Peter Large, ACCA’s executive director for governance, said the new
structure followed best practice.
‘Placing oversight of regulation and discipline at arm’s length from the
governance of ACCA’s other activities helps to reassure stakeholders that ACCA’s
arrangements are operated impartially, with integrity and in the public
interest,’ Large said.