The 2008/09 Leinster Society committee comprises twelve elected members representing a mix of Chartered Accountants from industry and practice. Additionally, the monthly meetings are attended by our Secretary and two DCASS representatives. The profiles and duties of the committee members are set out below:
- Julie Herlihy, past chairman
- David Connolly, chairman
- Paul Kennedy, vice chairman
- Olive Prior, treasurer
- Gavan Walsh, seminars and communications
- Frank Gannon, chairman of PAA 2009
- Gemma Doyle, PAA sub-committee
- Stephen O'Donnell, editor of Account
- Deirdre Cowler, education and colleges,
- Johnny McElhinney, charity ball sub-committee
- Orla Fisher, CAVA
- Laurence Flavin, Secretary
- Kate Van Der Merwe, DCASS
- Anne Marie Sexton, DCASS
The four objectives of the committee are:
- To provide educational, professional and social opportunities to members across the province
- To enable our members to engage in charitable activities.
- To assist the ICAI in promoting the Chartered Accountant brand.
- To represent members to the ICAI
It is pleasing to see that we have made a lot of progress in meeting the first two objectives in recent years. Our high profile business lunches, seminars and Health and Wellbeing evenings provide great networking and educational opportunities for our members at economic prices. Events such as our highly popular spring ball and Christmas lunch, sell out regularly and raise significant amounts for charity, in line with our second objective. We also run two golf events annually and have started catering for our more athletic members by developing a “Business Challenge” where members take part in the annual Great Run, for charity.
Other successes include our annual Published Accounts Awards, the premier forum for recognition of excellence in financial reporting on this island. The prestigious award ceremony for 2008, kindly sponsored by the Irish Stock Exchange, was held on 20 November 2008 in the Four Seasons Hotel.
As part of our continued efforts to encourage third level students to recognize the Chartered Accountant brand, we sponsor annual competitions for business students in DCU, UCD and the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown and Athlone. We propose to extend the number of colleges with which we are involved.
In order to meet our fourth objective, the Chairman attends the ICAI Council meetings throughout the year as the Leinster Society representative. Additionally, the Vice Chairman, attends the ICAI Member Services meetings. This allows us to partake in the discussions about issues that relate to our members, to suggest changes, to learn about future developments and to raise any concerns.
In light of the current economy, we will continue to seek appropriate sponsorship for our events in order to ensure the events stay cost-effective.
Feedback from you
We welcome your views in respect of any issues that you believe should be raised at Council meetings and your ideas about new events, seminars or venues. Additionally, if you would like to get involved in any of the activities, are interested in sponsoring our events, donating prizes or working with us to run an event in your locality, we would be delighted to hear from you.