On Friday 22 July, the Institute held its annual Members’ social event. Members were invited to attend for a casual afternoon barbeque at the Marsa Sports Club. The event also held to honour the memory of the founding father of accountants Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli. This was the second time that the annual social event was held in a casual afternoon barbeque format. The cost of the event was borne by the Institute thus allowing participation which was restricted to MIA Members to be free of charge. Over one hundred Members attended the event, which was deemed to be a success as derived from the positive feedback received by the Institute.

 

The Institute recently distributed a suite of ten videos on business advisory that have been developed by IFAC’s SMP Committee. The videos have not yet been published for the general public and were offered exclusively to MIA members so that they have the opportunity to see it first. The MIA believes that the videos answer important questions about the SMP business advisory service offering:
 

• What areas of business advisory offer the most potential for growth.

• What is the key to an SMP’s success in business advisory.

• How are business advisory services to clients marketed and positioned.

• What is the biggest challenge SMPs face in building their advisory practice.

• How can SMPs develop the capacity to provide high-quality business advice.
 

To access the videos, members are invited to access the MIA website.

 

The Malta Institute of Accountants’ Small and Medium Sized Practices (SMP) Advisory committee held its Third SMP Forum on 24 April. SMPs received an update on the actions taken since the last SMP Form, an understanding of the European Commission’s legislative proposals on Audit Policy and Accounting and were presented with the SMP Committee’s position on these proposals. SMPs had the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about the SMP Committee’s position at separate breakout sessions. 
 

The Institute’s President, Anthony Doublet opened the Forum by noting that since the 2011 Forum, the MIA had engaged extensively with SMPs, through its technical department and the SMP Committee, in discussing the impact of the EC’s proposals, which led to the SMP Committee’s draft position paper on these proposals. Mr Doublet noted that the inherent limitations of the Institute’s current IT systems precluded the MIA from addressing the main concern expressed at the 2011 SMP Forum that the Institute should communicate with the SMP community through a Members’ forum. However the MIA’s secretariat was intently working on a new IT management system and web portal that would enable the Institute to greatly enhance the benefits offered to Members.
 

William Spiteri Bailey, chair of the MIA SMP Advisory Committee, spoke about the take up of the initiatives that were launched at the 2011 SMP Forum, namely the ACCA Helpdesk and the Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme (‘PIIS’). He encouraged SMPs to better utilise the service because the number of queries to the ACCA Helpdesk totalled 66 (mostly related to accounting matters) and came from the larger audit firms. The take up of the PIIS was encouraging and the practitioners taking up this Scheme are in fact enjoying a reduction in premiums. He encouraged more SMPs such that they could enjoy lower premiums. Mr Spiteri Bailey also spoke about the actions which the Institute has embarked upon following the 2011 SMP Forum, including the launch of the ICAEW faculties for practitioners, the dissemination of the Good Practice Checklist for Small Business and the draft SMP Committee’s position paper.
 

Mr Mark Abela, MIA Technical Director, then presented the European Commission’s Legislative Proposals on Accounting and Audit Policy. Mr Abela was followed by Mr Paul Giglio and Mr David J. Pace who outlined the SMP Committee’s view on the Audit Policy and Accounting Proposals respectively.
 

The presentation was followed by two breakout sessions, with feedback from both sessions given to the whole audience after the end of the break-outs. Comments were mostly made on the Audit Policy proposals. This feedback was discussed by the SMP Committee which amended its position paper and presented it to the MIA Council. 

 

The Malta Institute of Accountants held its Annual General Meeting at the Tower Training Centre on 27 June 2012. Some 308 members of the Institute whose membership now numbers 1,950 attended the meeting.
 

The following were elected Members of the Council for the two year period 2012/2013 and 2013/2014:
 

     Mr. Fabio Axisa

     Mr. Anthony Doublet

     Mr. Hilary Galea-Lauri

     Mr. Frederick Mifsud Bonnici

     Mr. Stephen Paris

     Mr. Bernard Scicluna

     Mr. Franz R. Wirth

 

Mr. Mario P. Galea, a long standing Member of Council, had decided to step down and did not stand for election. The elected Members join the following persons elected at the previous year’s Annual General Meeting:
 

     Mr. Franco Azzopardi 

     Mr. Etienne Borg Cardona

     Mr. Simon Flynn

     Mr. Kevin Mahoney

     Ms. Maria Micallef

     Mr. William Spiteri Bailey

     Mr. Anthony Zarb

 

At a subsequent meeting of the Council Mr. Anthony Doublet was elected President, Ms. Maria Micallef - Vice-president, Mr. Franco Azzopardi - Hon. Secretary and Mr. William Spiteri Bailey – Hon. Treasurer.

 

This year the Malta Institute of Accountants will be holding its seventh biennial conference on Thursday the 15th and Friday the 16th of November.
 

Most MIA conferences held in the past were somewhat reactive to forces within the Profession but beyond its control. Particularly the conferences held during the first half of the last decade: 
 

• Shaping our Profession (2000)

• Global Development in the Accountancy Profession: an International and local perspective (2002)

• Strengthening Public Confidence (2004)
 

As the Accountancy Profession had almost completely recovered from the scandals which characterised the earlier half of the decade, the 2006 conference “Serving the public interest – Business, Investors, Government and other Stakeholders” discussed how the Profession is committed to serving the public interest and hence building an investment climate of trust. In 2008 the conference entitled “Shaping tomorrow’s Accountant… Today” debated how the Profession, then in a position to harness the lessons learnt in the recent past, was looking forward from a position of strength to a future of better serving the public interest. The 2010 conference, “The Accountant: evolving World evolving Role”, debated how the evolution of the accountant’s role and how it should evolve for the accountant and the services he or she provides, to remain relevant. 
 

The 2012 conference will continue building on the 2010 conference and will discuss the need for the profession’s rebranding in the light of the regulatory upheavals that the profession is being subjected to, by examining the local and global trends affecting Members in their daily work, enlist opinions on how these trends will impact Members and future Members in the years ahead, and on how the profession could meet the challenges and leverage opportunities. The Institute will also seek to harness the insights of Members, business leaders, regulators and thought leaders on its continuing evolution and that of the profession and will serve to review the Institute’s raison d’être, it’s objectives, governance and its value propositions to its Members to ensure it remains relevant in this fast changing world. 

 

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and the MIA have recently signed a new agreement extending the existing Joint Examination Scheme (JES) to incorporate ACCA’s Foundations in Accountancy suite of entry-level awards. This agreement signals the continuation of a successful history of partnership working between the two accountancy bodies.
 

Roger Acton, director-Europe at ACCA, joined MIA’s president, Anthony Doublet to sign the FIA Joint Examination Scheme (JES) and renew the ACCA Qualification Professional Level JES. The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education & Employment, Dr. James Calleja in representation of the Minister the Hon. Dolores Christina was also present at the signing event, signalling the Ministry’s support of this development for the local profession.
 

Roger Acton said: “Working with other bodies is a vital part of ACCA’s strategy and also encompasses one of our core values, that of innovation. Through working with other organisations and people, we can come up with and discuss fresh ideas to keep the accountancy profession advanced. By working together, we can ensure both bodies are training and developing accountants for the future.”
 

Anthony Doublet concluded: “I am delighted to be extending this partnership which leads to both ACCA and MIA qualifications; allowing students to complete the examination requirements for membership of both ACCA and the MIA. This offers many opportunities for members and supports lifelong career and development needs.”
 

This new agreement will take effect from 24 September and any new students registering to study FIA after this date will do so under the JES. The first exam session will be held in December 2012. Existing ACCA FIA students in Malta will all be notified directly by ACCA, however any questions can be directed to ACCA and MIA.