Partner Article

Midlands Accountants meet for 2015 Conference

Accountants from CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, in the Midlands met on Saturday 25 April for their biggest area conference of 2015 so far. It was also the first region-wide event over which the newly elected West Midlands CIMA Chairman, Paul Hooper–Keeley, presided as he jointly chaired the event with the East Midlands CIMA Chairman Andrew McGunnigle, who will also be a CIMA Council member from June this year.

The event, which was attended by 95 CIMA accountants and students, took place in Hinckley, Leicestershire. It was based on the topic: ‘Essential tools for management accountants’, and featured a number of highly prestigious speakers. The topic was inspired by one of the most popular Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) reports, of the same name to ensure it would be of great interest to members in the region. It was a perfect opportunity for CIMA members in the Midlands to come together to meet, network and learn professionally.

Andrew McGunnigle, FCMA, CGMA, CIMA Area Chairman - East Midlands and East Anglia Area said: “The conference was a fantastic day and the chance for management accountants and CIMA students from across the Midlands to meet together and not only strengthen and build professional skills but to get to know each other.

Paul Hooper-Keeley, FCMA, CGMA, CIMA Area Chairman – West Midlands Area added: ’We went away with a greater knowledge but we also had a lot of fun throughout the day.“

The conference was opened by world renowned motivational speaker, Rob Brown, who facilitated some networking to start the day and also gave the delegates a motivational talk encouraging them to “promote their brilliance”.

The remaining speakers gave professional and engaging talks. Amongst them was Dr Alasdair Macnab FCMA, CGMA, Director of Corporate Services at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. His talk was on his paper on public sector costing which was published at the World Congress of Accountants in Rome and chosen as Highly Commended by the Scientific Review Panel.

Other speakers included:

Robin Tidd, FCMA, CGMA, managing director of RTM Ltd , a CIMA council member since 2006 and a member of the CIMA UK Board who gave a presentation on KPIs; Louis Cooper, lead partner of Crowe Clark and Whitehill speaking on governance and strategic planning and Matt Humphrey, a consultant at Baker Tilley, talking about what makes for good risk management.

The day finished with a panel session giving those present a chance to discuss various issues that had arisen from the talks which provided some lively chat. It was a perfect opportunity for CIMA members in the Midlands to come together to meet, network and learn professionally.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by CIMA UK Regional News .