Roger Bryant, for many years one of the best known lecturers in the UK on technical developments in accountancy and auditing, was elected President of the Huddersfield & District Society of Chartered Accountants for 2011-12 at the Society’s AGM held at the University of Huddersfield on Wednesday 4 May 2011. He took over from Edward Lee, Finance Director & Company Secretary at John Edward Crowther (Holdings) plc.
Roger says: “I am delighted to have been appointed President of the Society, most especially because it will give me an opportunity to renew friendships with many former colleagues and students from my days lecturing in Huddersfield, Yorkshire and beyond. This year several new members have joined the committee, giving us an opportunity to provide a first class programme of events for the Chartered Accountants of Huddersfield and the surrounding districts.”
Born in Beckenham, Kent, Roger was educated at the London Nautical School, followed by Bristol Polytechnic (now the West of England University) where he followed a London University External Degree, and Sheffield Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University) where he studied a CNAA Masters course.
He and his wife live locally and he is a Governor of Greenhead College, Huddersfield.
From 1970 Roger worked in the City as an accountant (Cooper Brothers) and later as a credit analyst (Williams and Glyns – part of RBS). He came to Huddersfield in 1978 to lecture at the Polytechnic, eventually becoming Dean of the School of Accountancy, Law and Management Studies. He left in 1992 to pursue his lecturing career and has now retired from that but remains a technical consultant to many firms of accountants around the country.
Roger is joined by Julie Hale as Vice President. Julie, who was born in Halifax, is a Sheffield University graduate in Economics and Business Studies and qualified as a chartered accountant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell (now KPMG), in Birmingham in 1983.
The majority of her career since qualifying has been spent in the financial services industry in Yorkshire having held senior positions with National & Provincial and Yorkshire Building Societies and YorkSHARE. She then became Finance Director of Broker Network Holdings plc in Harrogate, a network of general insurance brokers, which floated on AIM in 2004.
She was winner of the Yorkshire FD of the Year Award for a plc in September 2007. Following the successful sale of Broker Network in 2008, Julie established her own consultancy practice, Julie Hale Consultancy Limited, servicing a variety of clients both regionally and nationally. She sings with the Huddersfield Choral Society and runs with Stadium Runners.
Roger Bryant, new President, Huddersfield Society of Chartered Accountants, with new Vice President Julie Hale
He says: “My ambition for my year as President of the Society is to highlight some of the great things that York has to offer that even people who live here might not be aware of and to promote the value of the ICAEW Chartered Accountant brand.”