ICAEW president named chair of CCAB

President of chartered accountancy body ICAEW, Julia Penny, has been named as chair of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) for 2022-2024.

In her new role as chair, Penny will lead the group which represents ICAEW, ACCA, CIPFA, ICAS and the Chartered Accountants Ireland, the main UK accountancy bodies. The five bodies have a combined membership of 282,000 in the UK and Republic of Ireland, and 408,000 chartered accountants worldwide. 

She takes over the role of chair from Paul Henry, Chartered Accountants Ireland, director at property consultancy Osborne King.

Penny qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant in 1989 and now specialises in providing technical and training services on audit, financial reporting and anti-money laundering, having worked for a wide range of businesses. 

She became involved with the Thames Valley Society of Chartered Accountants early in her career, serving as treasurer and then society president in 2001/2. She later became chair of the ICAEW Technical Advisory and then Ethics Advisory Committees and was a member of both the Technical Strategy and Financial Reporting Faculty Boards. She has been an ICAEW board member since 2017 and is the ICAEW’s fourth female president. 

Commenting on her appointment, Penny said: “I look forward to becoming chair at CCAB and working with our member bodies as we continue to support sustainable growth in the British economy at a critical time for business. 

“Many companies face unprecedented challenges, in terms of the conditions they trade and operate in, particularly as they continue to leave the most disruptive impacts of the pandemic behind them. As accountants, we’ll work to support them during this demanding and testing time.”

She added: “Restoring trust in the profession is a high priority for the profession as a whole and as this work continues, we will play our part in driving forward the agenda, as the collective accountancy voice.

“Finally, I am passionate about driving forward the transition to net zero and making the accountancy profession a more inclusive and diverse industry in which to work. In my new role as chair of CCAB, I have an excellent opportunity to pursue these goals further, both of which I believe are critical not only to the continued development of accountancy, but also to the future evolution of the economy as a whole.”