Catherine Hardinge: supporting smaller organisations

Catherine Hardinge, FCA, Compliance Partner, Price Bailey LLP, has been volunteering for 18 years, ever since she heard that ICAEW was looking for practitioners in small and medium-sized organisations to join the Audit and Assurance Faculty Practitioner Services Committee in 2008. It peaked her curiosity and she’s been volunteering ever since. 

Hardinge has been instrumental in contributing feedback and industry expertise for ICAEW’s technical releases, serving on boards, committees and working groups, alongside being a speaker panel member at ICAEW events and conferences.

If proof was needed that Hardinge genuinely enjoys and values her profession, this would be it.

She’s dedicated a significant proportion of her spare time over the years to the sector, not just because she wants to help shape proposals and technical standards and make a contribution to the sector she loves, but because she’s wanted to ensure that SMEs and small and medium-sized practices – her particular area of interest – are adequately represented.

“Auditing standards tend to be written for large complex entities,” says Hardinge. “So performing audits of SMEs which incorporate these standards is really challenging. I think it’s really important that the views of small and medium-sized firms are heard.”

Her involvement in promoting the Less Complex Entities (LCE) standard was a particular standout point, especially as the FRC has not yet agreed to its use in the UK. Hardinge has worked hard to raise its profile.

So what’s her advice for practitioners considering volunteering? “Don’t hesitate,” she says. “Everyone has something to contribute. Find your particular passion and where you think you’d like to make a difference and give it a go.”

Richard Stokes: building ICAEW presence in Australia

Richard Stokes fell into volunteering almost by accident. Shortly after moving to Australia in 1984, he discovered there was very little ICAEW presence in the region. Stokes contacted ICAEW in London and it invited him to head up the Sydney City Group several years later, as part of a longer-term initiative to set up regional ICAEW groups across the world.

Under Stokes’ leadership, membership and engagement snowballed. It’s now one of the largest active ICAEW member groups outside the UK, holding 12-15 events a year.

In this time, Stokes has supported and mentored numerous ICAEW members relocating to Australia and developed strong connections with members of other international accounting bodies. He has also organised hundreds of professional development events and social activities and crucially, maintained a strong link between the Australian region and the UK.

Finding the time to volunteer, alongside his day job as a finance professional has never been an issue. “If you enjoy something, you’ll find the time to do it,” he explains.

He’s gained a huge amount of joy and satisfaction from seeing the career development and personal growth from members he’s mentored over the years, particularly those who have gone on to take more senior roles, settle and start families.

He says: “I’ve certainly got more out of volunteering than I ever imagined. Everyone is a winner: yourself, the institute and the people you meet.”

Ian Davies: changing fortunes for generations of students

Ian Davies, MBA FCA, has been volunteering at the ICAEW for 48 years. In that time, he’s taken on a variety of roles, including:

• National Student President,
• European representative for ICAEW students,
• Technical Advisory Committee member,
• Southern Society President,
• Council member, and
• Board member.

In his career, he has been an audit partner in large firms in the UK and further afield, chairman of numerous private, public listed and charity boards and helped raise the profile of the profession through media contributions and seminars throughout that time.

“Seeking to make a lasting contribution as a volunteer has always been my main motivation,” he said.

As President of ACASS (the National Association of Student Societies), Davies successfully lobbied the ICAEW Council to mandate a living salary (the Basic Minimum Registrable Salary) for all ICAEW students in 1979. It remains one of his proudest achievements.

Until then, up to one-third of trainee articled clerks were not being paid a living wage, or were paying a premium to train with a firm for four or five years. 

He says: “People still tell me to this day: ‘if it wasn’t for you, I would not have been able to afford to train, so I’d never have qualified’.”

Davies  has contributed a significant amount of social and professional value through his volunteering efforts. What’s his advice for practitioners who may be undecided about volunteering?

He says: “I’d say that you’d be surprised how much you will learn by osmosis from working with people outside your own direct experience.”

Evie Bowyer: giving back in London

Evie Bowyer, FCA, has spent most of her career in education and training, primarily for UK professional accountancy examinations. It was through this experience that she was co-opted onto the London Society of Chartered Accountants (LSCA) Education and Training Committee, her first foray into volunteering.

“I felt that I could bring some of my experience to bear to the ongoing improvement of the ICAEW syllabus and examination system,” she explains. 

That was in the 1980s and Bowyer has been volunteering ever since.  Serving as an ICAEW Council member for two decades, a member of the Members and Commercial Board and as chairman of the LSCA in addition to other voluntary roles.

Bowyer says her motivation to volunteer has always been to “give back to the profession that gave me a qualification, that enabled me to have a very successful career”.

She adds: “I have always taken a keen interest in our students and have been involved with Chartered Accountant Student Society of London since the 1980s, including currently being one of their honorary vice presidents.”

Bowyer’s proudest moments were becoming the second female chairman of the LSCA in its 125 year history and being elected to the ICAEW council in 2000.

Bowyer has managed all of this alongside her professional roles, working as a trainer and lecturer with financial training organisations and delivering IFRS-approved training materials across Eastern and Central Europe. 

“Timewise, my main clients backed me in my volunteering roles because it gave them an opportunity to contribute on certain topics,” she explains. “But volunteering became much easier with the advent of video calls.”

And her advice for would-be volunteers? “Don’t take on too much too soon,” she says. “Choose the areas you are really passionate about and plan your time to ensure a good work/family life balance.”