President’s Report to Members - February 2019

Dear Member

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快樂！ The year of the pig promises to be a prosperous and productive one.

It is a pleasure to write to you early in the year and to bring you up to date on the Institute. I would like to report to you on progress with our brand and name change as well as the Institute’s initiatives in thought leadership.

BRAND AND NAME CHANGE

Following member approval at the September 2018 Annual General Meeting to change the name of the Institute, a formal request was submitted to the Privy Council to seek Royal Assent to the changes. The Institute has been advised that the process can be a lengthy one as this change involves the granting of a Supplemental Charter. The first step - Notice of Petition was published in the London Gazette on 18 December 2018. We have been advised that, if forthcoming, Royal Assent could possibly be given in the second half of this year. I will keep you posted on progress.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

(a) Minute Taking

The Institute is fortunate to have an active Thought Leadership Committee (TLC) comprised of members from across many of our divisions. Late in 2018 the TLC released a new report – Minute taking practice: a comparative study and I highly recommend you take the time to read this. The TLC agreed that because minute taking is such a fundamental aspect of members’ work, it would be useful and interesting to conduct a comparative analysis of practice across ICSA divisions.

An initial survey was undertaken by our UKRIAT division and it was deemed important to identify to what degree other countries aligned with and – perhaps more interestingly – differed from practices set out in the initial UKRIAT division’s survey report. Australia, Canada, Hong Kong/China, New Zealand, Southern Africa and Zimbabwe conducted their own surveys developed from the initial survey results.

You can click here to access the full report on the Institute’s website.

(b) Across the Institute

A further enhancement to the Institute’s thought leadership presence is an enhancement on our website that now provides policy and thought leadership reports from a range of other divisions. We currently provide important reports from Australia, Canada, China/Hong Kong, Southern Africa and UKRIAT. You can click here to access the reports from all participating divisions to date.

We will continue to add to this member benefit so I urge you to visit the Institute’s website on a regular basis.

MARCH 2019 COUNCIL MEETING

The first Council meeting of this year will be held in Taipei, Taiwan. The role of company secretary is an emerging one in Taiwan and accordingly the China/Hong Kong division has had a number of meetings with regulators, the government and practitioners. In conjunction with the Council meeting a one-day conference has also been organised and so this will be an opportunity for the Institute to engage across a much wider scope in what is an important emerging market for our profession.

I look forward to updating you on the progress we make at our March meeting.