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MT 9 July 2017

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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 JULY 2017 II Business & Finance You are soon at the end of your term as President of the Malta Institute of Accountants. Can you give us a round-up of how the Institute delivered its vision to lead, train, support and promote its members? The past year was an eventful one. It was also tough on us since while we were working hard on height- ening the brand equity of the Institute, this year also dragged us in the media with negative spins. The word 'Accountant' was attached with adjectives which we do not want in any way associated with our profession. As President of the Institute and on behalf of all the members, I felt a strong sense of responsibility and obligation to act in defense of our name. I pledged my energy to defend the Institute against that negativ- ity, to restore our reputation to where it belongs. That said, lest this negative publicity being of a certain significance, the Institute continued to be the voice and the icon of professional accountants, and the envy of other professions. What is the overarching mission of the Institute? The ethos of the Institute is 'integ- rity and expertise' and our tag line promises 'Supporting Account- ants, Promoting the Profession, and Serving the Public Interest'. We as professionals strive to transmit confidence to investors and the society, with the highest reputation possible. That is what we are obsessed about and I think that this is a critical and essential thread that keeps the whole fabric of our society in place. If accountants had to lose this quality, then the whole system supporting people's savings will buckle and stumble. The role of the Institute is to promote and ensure that its members remain gatekeepers of the highest caliber thus bringing credibility, sustain- ability and confidence among the populace in general whether they are investing or saving for their survival, their wealth, or that of their dependents. Can you run us through the highlights of your term as President of the Institute? One item that was on my bucket list was to bring back into our closer circles, all the esteemed past Presidents who wrote the 52 years history of the Institute. On 16 May 2017 a total of 19 Presi- dents were elected as Fellow Hon- orary Members of the Institute in recognition of their valuable contribution towards the Institute and the profession during their respective terms. It is thanks to all of them that we have been able to form and develop generations of accountants, working in the many branches of the profession, and expanding our Institute from its humble beginnings to become the largest professional body on the island. Our Institute's biography of its first 50 years is soon going to print. It is a vivid collage of memoires, pictures, extracts of old minutes of Council meetings from our archives, and much more. My plea to all our members is that they should follow these past pres- idents' example in upholding the highest standards for which they have always striven. That is where the challenge lies. We should never trade our values, profession- al scepticism and ethical behav- iour for anything. We don't need to. By maintaining our integrity, we can achieve our professional and financial goals and enjoy the satisfaction of having made it by following the path of rectitude. Since last year's annual general meeting, the Institute continued growing its membership base by a steady growth of 10% with the total number of members nearing 3,000. This growth over the years is a confirmation of the members' appreciation of the Institute's commitment to deliver value to its members. I n October 2016, the Institute held its New Members' Ceremony to welcome the 222 members who joined the Institute in the previous 12 months. This year the ceremony set new higher stand- ards with the aim of making this investiture of new membership a most memorable event for newly qualified accountants, their rela- tives, the tutors and the profes- sional bodies providing the route to membership. The investiture ceremony was given a different twist from previous years with the presence of representatives of the ACCA, University of Malta and ICAEW. Awards were presented to students who got the best over- all performance through the three respective routes. For members to appreciate the work of the Institute since its foundation, we invited Joseph Tabone, the second President of the Institute who served in 1966 and between 1982 and 1985 to deliver a short speech, which was a very emotional one, echoing the genesis of the Institute to the audience of around 500 members and relatives. During this suc- cessful event, we also introduced the 'Kevin Mahoney Award for Altruism' to commemorate the late Council member, Kevin Mahoney, a true gentleman and altruistic person. Throughout the past year we continued supporting our Mem- bers through the organisation of topical Continued Professional Education (CPE) events in the form of workshops, seminars and conferences, amounting to a total of 129 hours. The Biennial conference held last November was also given a different twist following feedback received from participants. It is part of the MIA's strategic focus to forge alliances with con- stituted bodies and organisations that would possibly heighten the respect of a broader audience of the business community towards the Institute and our members. As such, the Institute collabo- rated with the Malta Financial Services Authority, Malta Enter- prise, FinanceMalta, Chamber of Commerce, Malta Employers Association and ACCA. Besides CPE, the technical team was kept busy providing other support measures to its Members from involvement in working groups and committees to issu- ance of technical releases and guidance notes. During the period under re- view, the technical department published two sets of techni- cal releases. Practice support to Members was further sup- plemented by the new monthly Technical E News. One cannot not mention the quarterly journal, the Account- ant, with a distribution of around 6,000 copies amongst members, students and other stakehold- ers both locally and abroad. To accommodate the needs of the on the go accountant, the journal is also available online through its portal and mobile apps. We have invested a lot in social media with the primary aim of reaching out to the general public and heightening awareness of the value our members can bring to them in all aspects of their finances. Communication with the public at large was also ensured by increasing the presence in local media. During the past year a lot of work was undertaken in relation to the new membership management system which will be replacing the current website and its inte- grated backend system. Overall, I look back on this year with pride. We remain the voice of the Accountant. We retain the highest respect. We are built and geared up to endure many future generations working for the greater good of our country and its populace. Franco Azzopardi is nearing the end of his term as President of the Malta Institute of Accountants. MaltaToday spoke to him about the Institute's ethos and the highlights of his term as President. Transmitting confidence to investors and the society Franco Azzopardi: "The role of the Institute is to promote and ensure that its members remain gatekeepers of the highest caliber"

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