Annual reception speaker announced

Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, will be the keynote speaker at the Corporate Finance Faculty’s Annual Reception this year. The networking event of the year for those working in corporate finance advisory is being held at The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn on Thursday 9 November 2023.

Griffith is a Conservative MP, who has represented the constituency of Arundel and South Downs in West Sussex since the 2019 election. As Economic Secretary to the Treasury he is currently working with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HM Treasury on the Edinburgh Reforms – the government’s plan to repeal and replace hundreds of pages of EU retained laws governing financial services. The ambition is to establish a smarter regulatory framework for the UK that is agile, less costly and more responsive to emerging trends in financial markets globally. 

His speech will cover a long career in and out of politics. Originally from Kent, he studied law at the University of Nottingham. After graduating, he joined PwC’s corporate finance team and trained as an ACA. In his nearly four years at PwC he became corporate finance manager, before joining Rothschild. In 1999 he joined Sky as an executive, working as an analyst. He became a board director and CFO in 2008, and then COO in 2016. Between 2014 and 2019 he was NED and acting chairman of Just Eat.

In his four years as an MP, Griffith has been a member of the committee overseeing the Financial Services and Markets Bill and the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill, as well as serving on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee – all of which will be of interest to our members. 

He might also talk about his desire to actually see the lights go out. He co-founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies, which aims to find ways to reduce light pollution, and until he was appointed minister, he co- chaired the group with the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees of Ludlow.

As always, there will be a champagne reception and ICAEW’s prestigious Corporate Development Award will be presented to the listed company that has most successfully deployed M&A to enhance shareholder value over the previous year.

The Annual Reception is free to Corporate Finance Faculty members, who can book their complimentary ticket online at events.icaew.com

New-look board

The Corporate Finance Faculty board, under new chair BGF’s Alistair Brew, met for the first time last month. Brew welcomed the new additions to the board:

• Jo Davenport, corporate finance partner, BDO;
• Giles Distin, partner, Addleshaw Goddard;
• John Flint, CEO, UK Infrastructure Bank;
• Nicola Longfield, UK head of transaction services, KPMG;
• Tandeep Minhas, corporate finance partner, Taylor Wessing;
• James Pincus, corporate finance partner, PwC;
• Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank; and
• Keely Woodley, head of UK corporate finance, Grant Thornton. 

John Flint provided members with an update on the latest trends in infrastructure investment in the UK. Andrea Cook, ICAEW director of CPD and events planning, and Ioannis Mantzaris, assistant director, qualifications customer engagement at The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, outlined the changes to the syllabus of the Diploma in Corporate Finance. Changes to CPD, the latest trends in the M&A market, and initiatives for growing and extending the reach of the faculty were discussed. 

Middle East event

The faculty’s Middle East panel is hosting a panel discussion at the Capital Club in Dubai on 10 October, covering M&A trends, investment in emerging tech and the use of tech in corporate finance. The panellists are:

• Zubin Chiba, partner and head of corporate finance, PwC Middle East; 
• Suhail Mirza, Al Tamimi corporate partner; 
• Kushal Shah, corporate VC managing director at e& capital; and
• Khaled Talhouni, managing partner at Nuwa Capital.

Members can book their free place at events.icaew.com

ICAEW appoints external chair

Peter Wyman CBE has joined ICAEW as the first externally appointed chair of its board. He trained as an ACA with what is now PwC, and spent 42 years with the firm in its various incarnations, becoming a partner and a member of the Big Four firm’s global executive. He will serve for an initial three-year term.

Since leaving PwC in 2010, he has held a portfolio of non-executive appointments spanning the private, public and third sectors, and is currently chair of NHS Blood and Transplant, and an independent non-executive director of Pay.UK. He was a member of the ICAEW council from 1991 to 2009 and ICAEW president between 2002 and 2003. In the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was awarded the CBE for services to the accountancy profession.

With a view to modernisation, a key recommendation of the comprehensive review of ICAEW’s governance, in 2020, was that it appoint an independent chair. Previously the board was chaired by the ICAEW president, who had been elected from council members each year. Wyman will oversee the implementation of further governance reforms, which will include changes to the board make-up. 

Julia Penny, who was ICAEW president until June 2023 (when Mark Rhys took over the role), chaired the recruitment panel and said the aim now is to create “an ICAEW that is stronger and more agile, and better able to serve the public interest and support its members”.

Ethical standards

The FRC is consulting on revisions to its Ethical Standard to “further enhance and clarify the principles of integrity, objectivity and independence auditors must abide by”. For corporate financiers, the most relevant areas will be when they take on a role of reporting accountant.

The consultation follows on from the FRC’s commitment in its 2022 paper on audit market reform to revise the Ethical Standard. The purpose of the revision is to:

• accommodate changes to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Code of Ethics, (which includes a significant expansion of the Code’s definition of a Public Interest Entity;
• respond to issues identified through audit inspection and enforcement cases;
• provide greater clarity in respect of specific prohibitions and requirements;
• allow the FRC to consult on whether to withdraw the Other Entities of Public Interest category, introduced in 2019.

The consultation runs until 31 October 2023. ICAEW collated feedback from members by the end of September and this month will submit comments on behalf of members.

The faculty would like feedback on what the changes might mean for corporate finance and reporting accountant engagements. Please contact katerina.joannou@icaew.com by 16 October 2023.

Diploma in Corporate Finance examinations

Changes to the exam format for the Diploma in Corporate Finance have been agreed by ICAEW and CISI, and come into effect after summer 2024. 

The Level 6 Corporate Finance Techniques and Theory (CFTT) exam will no longer be taken after next summer, and will be replaced by three exams:

• Financial Reporting and Financial Statement Analysis;
• Source of Finance, Capital Investments and Valuations; and
• Mergers & Acquisitions and Market Regulations.

The four-hour open book exam based on a case study – Corporate Finance Strategy and Advice – will remain part of the curriculum. The diploma is particularly appropriate for holders of the CISI Certificate in Corporate Finance or ICAEW ACA qualification. Anyone interested in taking the exams for the diploma can find more details on the CISI website.

Diary dates

Earn-outs in Deals guideline: launch event

18 October 2023, 08:30-10:30

Chartered Accountants’ Hall

Held in the Great Hall, this is a free event for members, who can book their place here. 

Cyber Security in Corporate Finance guideline: launch event

5 December 2023, 08:30-11:00

Chartered Accountants’ Hall

This will be a free event for members, held in the Great Hall. Booking details will follow.

The Corporate Finance Faculty’s AGM

24 May 2024, 12:30-14:00

Chartered Accountants’ Hall

Members are welcome to attend for lunch and to hear a review of the previous year and the outlook for the coming year. Booking details will follow.