Philip has been a member of the IRB for over seven and a half years, becoming Vice-Chair in May 2017 and then taking over as Chair of the ICAEW Regulatory Board (IRB) in January 2022. “We are very grateful to Philip for his long and distinguished service on the Regulatory Board and for his personal contribution during that time to ICAEW’s standing as a regulator. We wish him well for the future”, said CEO Michael Izza.

He added, “ICAEW is currently modernising its wider governance and a first set of major structural and procedural reforms has recently been approved by our Council and is proceeding to implementation. In the context of these changes, we would like to see if there is an opportunity now to further reinforce the integrity and independence of the Regulatory Board’s work. The ICAEW’s Regulatory and Conduct Appointments Committee will then move ahead with the recruitment and appointment of a new Chair.”

The present Vice-Chair, Parjinder Basra, will act as Chair until the arrival of a successor to Philip.

The IRB is an independent board responsible for oversight of the regulatory and disciplinary work undertaken by ICAEW’s Professional Standards Department, to ensure it is carried out in the public interest. The Board, which has parity of lay and Chartered Accountant members, was established in 2015 following an independent review of ICAEW’s regulatory governance in 2014. 

These changes were put forward by ICAEW’s Governance Implementation Group (GIG) – a sub-group of the ICAEW Council – at a special Council meeting back in May.

The GIG was established by Council last February to build on the ideas set out by a working group (the Governance Working Group), which had conducted an extensive review during 2020/21. That review had been commissioned by Council in the light of the new 10-year strategy, and it had the aim of ensuring ICAEW governance is world class, so that it remains fit for the future as it heads towards its 150th anniversary in 2030.

The GIG, working closely with ICAEW staff, has already overseen the implementation of several measures approved by Council at the end of last year. These included the creation of a new Risk Committee, changing the reporting line of the Audit Committee from Council to the Board and, most significantly, the recruitment of a new independent Chair of Board.

The new independent Chair will stand apart from Council and will serve a three-year term.