Letters - ICAEW fights for dominance in accountancy arena.

(Re: ‘Misleading’ OFT report under fire)

The key finding, surely, in terms of the parameters of the OFT enquiry, is that growth in membership is not being restricted by any of the professional bodies.

Moreover the level of influence the profession exerts with government and industry depends as much on the quality and effectiveness of our representations as sheer volume of numbers.

Certainly the profession faces serious competition for the best graduates.

While there is no room for complacency, the majority of the evidence in the OFT’s report attests to the continuing dominance of the accountancy firms, led largely in the UK by ICAEW members.

Our own figures show that 71% of all entrants to the professional stage of the qualification have first or upper second class honours degrees and a majority of FTSE-100 finance directors hold our qualification.

John Collier, secretary general, ICAEW.