Inspiration and much more at The Practitioner Conference

As a first-time delegate at this year’s LSCA’s The Practitioner Conference, Bonnie Mitchell was looking for advice on setting up as a sole practitioner, but she came away from Cambridge with so much more. And she hopes to return to next year's conference from 21 to 23 March 2019.

May 2018

I attended the London Society of Chartered Accountants (LSCA) The Practitioner Conference, held in Robinson College, Cambridge, for the first time this year in March 2018. I was at the time setting up as a sole practitioner and was looking for a forum to discuss all those start up issues, as well as some more current ones like Making Tax Digital, the role of social media, the cloud and the future of the chartered accountant in tomorrow’s world.

Please save the date for next year's conference: 21 to 23 March 2019

The title ‘Trusted adviser in a digital age’ got my attention from the outset, together with topical agenda items like ‘Reengineering your practice for a digital age’. I’ll admit there were some items I wasn’t as sure about the relevance to me, such as ‘10 tenets of estate planning’, but knowing the quality that the ICAEW delivers I thought I’d trust in that.

All I can say is that from the moment I started to speak to the first delegates I realised that, newbie or experienced practitioners, we were all having the same concerns. I realised that I’d been following Mark Lee’s sound advice on various social media channels for some months, and it was a delight to meet him and hear him chair.

Also, it was inspirational to hearing Bob Trunchion masterfully deliver his 10 tenets of estate planning and realise how far reaching being a trusted adviser really is.

I also heard good comments from other delegates:

• Susan Kumar, from Kumar & Co said: “Fantastic way to stay ahead of CPD, industry trends, compliance and all issues facing small practices. First class champion lecturers and practical small discussion groups. Great way to network with friendly practitioners. Excellent venue and food.”
• Rachel Davis, from Just Audit said: “I attended the Cambridge conference for the first time this year and found it to be an all-round excellent event. There was a wide range of technical topics covered exceptionally well by top speakers along with useful discussion group time where delegates got the opportunity to share current issues and solutions (which was far more useful than I had anticipated). As a residential conference it was also perfect for networking with fellow practitioners and it supplemented perfectly other more local and half day courses, conferences and updates which I attend.”

Not only did I know that the conference was exactly what I needed to ready me for my next chapter as a sole practitioner, but more importantly, it reminded me of why it’s so great to be an ACA. I loved every minute and will be returning next year.

Bonnie Mitchell, Chouls & Co

Next year's conference will be from 21 to 23 March 2019. Bookings will be opened in autumn 2018.
Contact Amy Read for information.

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