ICAEW is committed to using members’ knowledge to shape policy, regulation and accountancy practice to support the resilience of the UK and the profession. Spokespeople and subject matter experts from ICAEW regularly meet politicians, parliamentary select committees, regulators and other bodies to impart important insights.

ICAEW’s manifesto, published in February, provides a comprehensive list of actions we believe the next government must take to renew the UK economy, across seven themes: productivity, skills, sustainability, innovation, resilience, trust and trade.

Ahead of the surprise announcement of a July general election, and afterwards, ICAEW teams have been sharing our recommendations with the aim of informing forthcoming debates and party manifestos.

Improving productivity

On 17 April, ICAEW held a roundtable with Enterprise Forum where the guest speaker was John Penrose MP, Chair of the Conservative Policy Forum. A range of organisations participated in the event and discussed the policy priorities important for businesses, including access to finance, trade and improved HMRC service standards. Penrose trailed the Regulation White Paper which was published on 16 May and followed the recent Smarter Regulation consultations to which ICAEW responded.

A week after the roundtable, ICAEW CEO, Alan Vallance and Managing Director, Reputation & Influence, Iain Wright met Jonathan Reynolds MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade. They discussed ICAEW’s recommendations to make it easier to start, run and grow a business, as well as the latest Business Confidence Monitor findings. Reynolds confirmed that priority legislation for the Labour Party would be bills on industrial strategy and employee rights.

Ahead of the Finance Act (No.2) 2024 receiving Royal Assent on 24 May, detailed briefings written by the ICAEW Tax Faculty were shared with MPs and the Public Bills Committee. Financial Secretary to the Treasury Nigel Huddleston acknowledged ICAEW support at the committee and Shadow Economic Secretary, Tulip Siddiq, referenced the faculty’s warnings on tax system complexity and the retroactive application of rules.

Securing key skills

ICAEW’s manifesto is clear that for the UK economy to thrive, organisations must be able to access a skilled workforce and workers must be able to access the workplace.

To this end, Iain Wright, attended the Professional and Business Services Council meeting at Mansion House in April. The Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kemi Badenoch MP, joined the event to discuss inclusion in the workplace, where she emphasised the need for cognitive diversity and measurable outcomes on inclusion.

ICAEW’s manifesto also stresses the importance of new routes to gain key ‘soft skills’ as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly competent in technical knowledge. ICAEW has been working with one of the world’s top experts on judgement Professor Sir Andrew Likierman to create a new, free elearning course to help professionals make better judgments which launched in May.

The course aims to equip ICAEW members to make better judgments under pressure and give them support when the way ahead is unclear.

Enabling innovation

Ensuring a workforce that is able to grasp the opportunities offered by AI, is also part of ICAEW’s vision for a resilient UK.

Through the Professional Business Service Council working groups, ICAEW worked with Department for Business and Trade, other professional bodies and firms to promote the government’s Flexible AI Upskilling Fund pilot scheme. The fund will support small and medium-sized enterprises in the professional and business services sector by match-funding AI skills training for employees.

Alan Vallance, and Head of Technology, Esther Mallowah, were able to discuss AI’s impact on accounting and wider society with the Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy, Saqib Bhatti MP in April. The discussion covered skills, assurance of large language models and challenges around deepfakes.

Vallance shared the ICAEW’s work in updating the ACA, including coverage of tech, and the minister outlined the steps being taken to address deepfakes, including requiring technology companies to identify them and act where they cause harm.

Then in May, ICAEW representatives were able to hear from the Shadow Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle MP at a Labour Business Breakfast event hosted in Chartered Accountants Hall.

Building trust and strengthening governance

ICAEW remains committed to the case for audit reform and in March Iain Wright spoke directly to parliamentarians about the issues. Speaking as an expert witness at a Business and Trade Committee evidence session on delivering audit reform, Wright reiterated ICAEW’s view that the most pressing element of proposed audit and corporate governance reform remains the establishment of the new regulator.

At his meeting with ICAEW in April, Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds MP, confirmed that audit and corporate governance legislation would be one of three Bills promoted by his department if elected.

Alongside audit and corporate governance reform, ICAEW’s manifesto is clear that securing investors’ trust is reliant on tackling economic crime. On 22 May, ICAEW Economic Crime Manager, Mike Miller, gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on the effectiveness of Russian Financial Sanctions.

Miller told MPs that while Russian sanctions had been successful in removing Kremlin-linked money from London, in the longer term, sanctions have been less effective in reducing Russia's ability to wage war.

He noted that ICAEW had seen saw a lot of divestment from clients among chartered accountancy firms with many taking an “overtly risk-averse approach due to the legislation being originally difficult to interpret”.

Leading on sustainability standards

A major new ICAEW report reflects on the lessons to be learned from the creation of accounting standards and how they can shape the development of sustainability reporting standards.

Shaping sustainability standard setting is directed at those involved in global standard-setting and those with an interest in the success of sustainability reporting. The report was informed by a series of interviews with standard-setters, policymakers, academics and other stakeholders, as well as a roundtable event. It identifies 10 core areas of focus for standard setting and outlines a series of recommendations.

Spread the word

As ICAEW continues its efforts to disseminate the profession’s insights with those that can influence future policies, CEO Alan Vallance has urged members to also share the manifesto with local MPs and political party representatives.

“We hope that by bringing our thoughts together we can help to inform the forthcoming debates and party manifestos,” he said. “Ultimately, we look forward to seeing the detailed policies the political parties would implement in government to achieve the economic resilience and renewal our members are calling for.”