The ICAEW Practice Committee Terms of Reference

The ICAEW Practice Committee (IPC) is accountable to the ICAEW Members and Commercial Board.

IPC is accountable to ICAEW Members and Commercial Board (IMCB).

IPC is a non-executive body of standing, authority and influence through which Members Engaged in Public Practice (as defined in the ICAEW regulations) can represent their views to ICAEW and vice versa. The primary objectives of IPC are to:

• contribute to the development and implementation of ICAEW strategy in so far as it relates to practice;
• identify and advise ICAEW of any current and emerging issues that impact members in practice, work with ICAEW to ensure that members in practice are kept informed of such issues and help ICAEW ensure that it addresses the issues in question;
• advise and provide feedback to ICAEW on current and future initiatives as well as the facilities, services and support (including practice management support) required from ICAEW by members in practice to help them run effective and efficient businesses providing excellent service to clients;
• alert ICAEW to any instances where services or activities provided by ICAEW fall short of the expectations of members in practice and work with the department to help address this;
• alert ICAEW to the need for technical releases, publications, conferences and courses of relevance to members in practice and provide feedback on their effectiveness;
• provide input into IMCB activities in order to represent and advance the views, needs or concerns of practitioners to Technical, Learning and Professional Development and Professional; Standards Directorates;
• consider the impact of all proposed regulatory changes affecting practitioners and advise relevant ICAEW committees accordingly;
• provide guidance on the agenda, content and arrangements for practitioner forums.

IPC comprises up to 20 members; a minimum of 3 will be existing Council members.

Where the Chair is not already a member of Council, the Chair (or, if the Chair is unable or unwilling to accept membership of Council, another member of IPC chosen by the Committee from among its members) shall be a member of Council ex officio.

IPC will also nominate one member from among its members (who may or may not be the Chair) to be a member of the IMCB ex officio.

Other than as provided for in these terms of reference, IPC will carry out its responsibilities within the framework of duties as outlined in the Governance Handbook. This includes such matters as working in support of ICAEW strategy and recognising the resource and public relations implications of its activities. It also includes procedural requirements for Committees (including such matters as the period of notice for meetings, adjournment, meeting in more than one place, presentation of reports, and ‘out of committee’ working).

The Committee will take account of inclusion and diversity in relation to its activities.

IPC will meet as and when needed, typically four in-person full-day meetings a year and four virtual 90 minute meetings a year.

A quorum shall be five members of the committee. In the absence of the Chair and the Vice-Chair those in attendance shall choose between themselves who shall chair the meeting.

IPC may establish ‘task and finish groups’ to deal with specific issues, subject to the approval of IMCB and an annual review of their continuing effectiveness.

IPC will, on a regular basis, invite practice members involved in other committees / forums across ICAEW (for example, regional groups, technology forums or specific diversity groups), to feed into IPC committee meetings so as to ensure these groups are represented on IPC. This will also enable a communications link from IPC out to those groups.