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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 JULY 2017 Events 41 William Spiteri Bailey was elected President of the Malta Institute of Accountants (MIA) following the Institute's Annual General Meet- ing (AGM) held on 13 July 2017. Spiteri Bailey is taking over from outgoing President, Franco Azzo- pardi, who served his two-year term as the Institute's President between July 2015 and 2017. The AGM elected a new Council for the Institute. Franco Azzopar- di, Etienne Borg Cardona, Simon Flynn, Maria Micallef, Noel Mizzi, William Spiteri Bailey and Franz R. Wirth were elected for the term 2017 – 2019. These joined the oth- er seven Council Members elected at the 2016 AGM: Fabio Axisa, Christopher Balzan, David Deli- cata, Jonathan Dingli, Anthony Doublet, Ivan Grixti and Stephen Paris. At the first meeting of the new Council, William Spiteri Bailey was elected as President, Fabio Axisa as Vice-president, David Delicata as Secretary and Noel Mizzi as Treasurer. During his address at the AGM, Azzopardi spoke about the work undertaken by the Institute dur- ing his term. "My mission state- ment for my term as President was to heighten our Member-centric- ity, our communication channels and our brand equity. I believe the Council, the Executive and myself have scored high on all three." Since last year's annual general meeting, the Institute continued growing its membership rate by a steady growth of 10%, now around the 3,000 figure. He mentioned the challenging time faced by the country, by the profession and by the Institute following reports by the media. "As President of the Institute and on behalf of all you, I felt a strong sense of responsibility and obligation to act with speed and thrust to defend our name. I have pledged my energy to defend the Institute, your Institute, my Insti- tute, against all this negativity, to restore our reputation to where it belongs." Azzopardi mentioned the work undertaken in relation to the Insti- tute's communication, both with Members and the public at large. "Communication with members continue to be an important ele- ment of our operations. We have invested a lot in social media with the primary aim of reaching out to the general public and height- ening awareness of the value our members can bring to them in all aspects of their finance." He highlighted the work done by the Institute in relation to brand- ing. The Biennial conference and the New Members Ceremony were given a twist from previous years. The latter alone was attend- ed by an audience of around 900 people to welcome the 222 newly admitted Members who joined the Institute. An event held ear- lier this year, saw 19 former MIA Presidents being elected as Fellow Honorary Members in recogni- tion of their valuable contribution towards the Institute and its his- tory. He also mentioned the MIA history book which is soon going to print. Azzopardi closed his speech by stating: "I can tell you it was an exciting 10 years of working on Council, especially knowing that somehow, I cemented some build- ing blocks in the structure of this magnificent Institute." Following his first Council meeting, Spiteri Bailey, as newly elected President, thanked the outgoing President for his hard work and the Council Members for electing him. "My objectives for this two year term include: bringing the Insti- tute closer to its members and increasing the involvement of the younger members in existing and newly set sub-committees. The latter will serve the twofold objective of having committees made up of young accountants for young accountants and to subse- quently obtain the right skills and competencies to become future Council members," he said. "I also intend to ensure contin- ued involvement of the retiring generation of members in the Institute. I will be working hard to meet with and understand the needs of the different sectors of accountants within the Institute and assist the members in under- standing and embracing the new digital era." He continued by outlining his intentions of exploring the pos- sibility of rebranding the Insti- tute's name and terminology, and changing the term 'Accountant' to 'Professional Accountant'. Spiteri Bailey closed off by stat- ing that he will work closer with other professional accounting bodies, such as Accountancy Europe and IFAC (International Federation of Accountants) for the benefits of members of our Institute. Changeover of President for the Malta Institute of Accountants following the annual general meeting (From left) Incoming President, William Spiteri Bailey and Outgoing President, Franco Azzopardi The MIA Council for the term 2017 - 2018