Paul has been appointed as lay chair of the ICAEW Regulatory Board (IRB) with effect from the beginning of August for a three-year term.
Paul has previously chaired ICAEW’s Conduct Committee and has held positions on other ICAEW regulatory and disciplinary committees. He has a background in private equity investment and venture capital and has worked extensively with chartered accountants throughout his career.
ICAEW has also announced that Catherine Boyd and Kaysen Pyndiah have been appointed as new IRB members. Catherine, formerly chair of the Insolvency Licensing Committee, and Kaysen, a former member of the Practice Assurance Committee, also commenced their roles on 1 August.
The IRB is responsible for oversight of ICAEW’s regulatory and disciplinary work to ensure that it is acting in the public interest and strengthening trust in the profession.
The Board has parity of lay and chartered accountant members, and was established in 2014 to enhance the distinction between ICAEW’s representative and regulatory roles following an independent review of its regulatory governance.
Paul Brooks, incoming IRB chair, said:
"I’m delighted to have been appointed Chair of the IRB. Acting in the public interest is crucial to protecting the reputation of ICAEW Chartered Accountants, and with a commitment to maintaining the highest regulatory and professional standards, the IRB will be key to ensuring this happens.”
Peter Wyman, Chair of the ICAEW Board, said:
“I congratulate Paul on his appointment and look forward to working with him and the new IRB members.
“Chartered accountants play a key role in strengthening trust and acting in the public interest, and I’m confident that – under Paul’s leadership – the IRB will continue to fulfil its responsibilities as an oversight regulator.”
Read more information about the IRB.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Contact: ICAEW media office media.office@icaew.com, tom.mackintosh@icaew.com or 07866 853 841
Paul Brooks biography
Until his appointment to the IRB, Paul was the chair of ICAEW’s Conduct Committee and, before that, he chaired the Tribunals Committee. Previously, he was a member of the Investment Business Committee.
Paul chairs the Disciplinary and Interim Orders Tribunal of the Intellectual Property Regulation Board; is the Convener of Adjudication Panels at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries; and is a lay member of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ Adjudication Panel.
His ambition is that his long experience of working with chartered accountants, coupled with his considerable understanding of professional regulation, will bring significant value to the work of the IRB.
Catherine Boyd biography
Catherine has had lengthy involvement in professional regulation and is committed to ensuring that regulatory processes are robust, transparent, promote the public interest and fair. She currently chairs tribunals for Social Work England and previously chaired tribunals for several other regulators. Catherine is also a magistrate.
Catherine has extensive experience of governance, public interest and ethical issues including as a lay member of the Research Ethics Committee for Manchester Metropolitan University and previously served on the Department of Health’s Independent Investigations Governance Committee. She was also on the Independent Ethics Committee for Greater Manchester Police and chair of the boards of a large independent school and a charity. Catherine is a former chair of the ICAEW’s Insolvency Licensing Committee.
Kaysen Pyndiah biography
Kaysen is a ICAEW Chartered Accountant with a career of over 30 years in both accountancy practice and investment banking. He has worked in a variety of senior roles in a Big Four firm of accountants, in which he has had international experience. He has also spent 11 years working as Head of Finance in Investment Banking for three different banks, where he has had significant exposure to various banking products. Presently, Kaysen runs his own accountancy practice, providing accountancy, tax and advisory services to small and medium-size clients.
Kaysen has been a member of the Practice Assurance Committee for six years.
ICAEW’s role as an improvement regulator
Our role as an improvement regulator is to strengthen confidence and trust in those regulated by ICAEW. We do this by enabling, evaluating and enforcing the standards expected by the profession, oversight regulators and government. ICAEW’s regulatory and disciplinary roles are separated from ICAEW’s other activities through internal governance so that we can monitor, support or take steps to ensure change if standards are not met. These roles are carried out by the Professional Standards Department and overseen by the independent ICAEW Regulatory Board (IRB).
Our role is to:
- authorise firms and individuals to undertake work regulated by law: audit, local audit, investment business, insolvency and probate;
- support professional standards in general accountancy practice through our Practice Assurance scheme;
- provide robust anti-money laundering supervision and monitoring;
- monitor registered firms and individuals to ensure they operate in accordance with laws, regulations and expected professional standards;
- investigate complaints and hold ICAEW Chartered Accountants and students, ICAEW-supervised firms and regulated and affiliated individuals to account where they fall short of standards;
- respond and comment on proposed changes to the law and regulation; and
- educate through guidance and advice to help ICAEW’s regulated community comply with laws, regulations and expected professional standards.