Global Advocacy Update - January - March 2022 - CIMA
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Global Advocacy Update January - March 2022
Overview As the combined voice of the Association, we speak out on the matters that are important to our members and the profession. We represent our members’ interests and build trust and influence with policy advisers and government departments. Our submissions and insights are shaped and informed by engagement with our membership, business and other stakeholders. Driving The first quarter of 2022 has seen a number of global geo-political and Global economic events impacting on business, our members and the services provided by the accountancy profession. Advocacy The Russian military invasion of Ukraine, continued supply chain pressures, rising inflation, and in some geographies ongoing Omicron Covid-19 waves and lockdowns, have dominated the priorities for policymakers and business. Consequently, we have focused our advocacy efforts on governments’ current priorities and driving policy change in our core regions.
In numbers
In Q1 have:-
• continued to build on the success of our thought leadership on tackling
productivity, securing engagement at the highest levels of government.
• increased our engagement in the UK and the EU, along with other key
stakeholders.
• delivered key policy wins for the Association.
Driving
Global
21 External Advocacy
stakeholder 4 Policy wins
meetings
6 Letters of 2 Roundtable/
engagement Events
1 Thought
Leadership 3 Blogs/Articles
Report 2 Consultations
6 Media Hits
Public Policy Engagement
Driving
Jan Feb Mar Global
• Tulip Siddiq MP, • Helen Whately MP, • Levelling up
Department
Advocacy
Shadow Economic Exchequer
Secretary to the • Productivity Institute
Secretary to the • Institute for
Treasury Treasury
• John Howell MP, Government
• Kwasi Kwarteng • Accountancy Europe
MP, BEIS Chair of APPG on
Secretary of State Accounting for • BEIS Department
Growth • Financial Reporting
• Richard Fuller MP Council.
• Ministry of Higher
Education,
MalaysiaLetters
The Association continues to call on Government to put in place measures to
drive long term economic recovery from the global pandemic. We are
advocating for policies that will rebuild confidence, create jobs and allow
businesses to look ahead with a degree of certainty. Driving
We are also engaged with the EU on the development of corporate governance Global
and sustainability reporting.
Advocacy
Key Correspondence with:
• Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP Secretary of State for Business Energy and
Industrial Strategy (correspondence on two separate matters, including our
productivity report);
• Helen Whately MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury;
• Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government
Efficiency;
• Andrew Griffith MP, Parliamentary Secretary (Minister for Policy and Head
of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit); and
• EU Commission.Events
Chairs’ Forum
23 February 2022
The Chairs’ Forum is an independent, not-for-profit forum run by the Association Driving
that provides an opportunity for chairmen to share experiences, ideas and views to
improve corporate performance, boardroom experience, skills and knowledge. It
seeks to identify best practices in areas such as corporate governance; board
Global
performance evaluation; the recognition of shareholder and employee expectations;
and our responsibility to other stakeholders and wider society.
Advocacy
We were delighted to welcome Tim Fitzpatrick, Senior Non-Executive Director at
Oxbury Bank plc, as our guest speaker at the long awaited return to in-person
gatherings of the Chairs’ Forum.
Discussing fintech, the conversation covered a range of board level considerations,
including;
• People
• Funding
• Growth Tim Fitzpatrick
• RiskReports/Bitesize Briefings UK Spring Statement – Response In our submission to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP, ahead of his Spring Statement on 23 March 2022, we focused on pressing for support for our members and the wider UK economy, by encouraging initiatives which would build resilience and better manage future risk. We identified three critical areas in which the Government should focus on increasing resilience: SMEs and the wider Business Environment (including UK Supply Chains), Skills and Productivity, and public finances. In particular, we put forward support for SMEs and the introduction of a Growth Accelerator Scheme for SMEs. We continue to receive feedback that there would be significant value in the scheme being reintroduced. We also called for an expansion of the range of investible opportunities in UK SMEs. Creating more opportunities to invest and provider capital to SMEs will help businesses in this critical sector to expand and grow. The SME sector can boost jobs and wealth in the regions where they are operating/headquartered. We built on some of the recommendations already present in our Productivity Report and continue to call for the government to have a clear and holistic strategy to improve productivity. Investing in skills (and improving workforce reskilling) will be an important ingredient for securing increased productivity and building resilience in the future UK labour market. Finally, during the last two years one of the key messages, we have heard from our members is the need to create simplification, particularly in the tax system. We have called for the merging of NI, income tax and the new health and social care levy. Please click HERE to read our full submission.
Advocacy Related Media and Press Activity*
Finance 2022: Putting management into accounting
Advisers to play “key role” in tackling poor UK growth
Driving
Global
Navigating the Ukraine conflict
Advocacy
UK fiscal plans match Association advocacy initiatives
Coverage on the Oriental Daily after CIMA’s letter
(Hong Kong)
Spring Statement response
*UK press and media unless otherwise statedPublic Consultations
Response to the EU Call for Evidence Driving
- Corporate Governance and Audit
Supervision Global
Advocacy
Hong Kong Budget 2022-23Policy wins
Spring Statement
On the 23rd of February, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivered his Spring Statement speech
to the House of Commons. This was an eagerly awaited statement, considering the current difficult political and
economic situation. Driving
Association Wins:
Global
• Resilience – The focus in the speech on resilience in public finances and how that can help mitigate risks that occur is in line with the
messaging of our Spring Statement submission that focussed on risks.
Advocacy
• Productivity – In his speech the Chancellor focussed on productivity and increasing innovation in the private sector to help create
more economic growth. In the productivity passages he compared UK productivity with the US, France and Germany. We raised
some ideas in our submission on how productivity could be improved and how a focus on it would increase economic growth. In our
recent productivity report we talked extensively about the productivity gap between the US, France and Germany and the UK. This
shows some of our messages are being picked up.
• Skills – There was also a focus in the statement on improving skills and how that will help improve productivity. This is in line with the
messaging on skills not only in this Spring Statement submission, but in previous submissions and thought leadership pieces.
• Tax Certainty – In our submission we called for more tax certainty for businesses so they can better prepare business and
investment decisions. We said that the UK tax plan should be outlined for the next two years. The Chancellor announced a 12-page
tax plan which sets out a three-part plan to strengthen the UK economy during the remainder of this Parliament.
• Tax Simplification – In our submission we called for some tax simplification around margining income tax and NI together. While that
did not happen the Chancellor has raised the NI threshold in line with the income tax threshold. The Spring Statement also talks
about simplifying the tax system.Policy win
Levelling Up White Paper
The Levelling Up White Paper is the catalyst for delivering a long-term programme of change to unlock the potential of people and
places in every part of the UK. Please find below our wins:
What we called for Our win
More R&D spending out the Greater South-East Investment up by 40% outside of London and South-East and will account for 55% of
Greater investment in broadband and a recognition of its role as
public R&D expenditure.
Large majority of the country to gain access to 5G broadband
Driving
green infrastructure.
An increased focus on improving literacy and numeracy rates
Global
Illiteracy and innumeracy in primary school leavers effectively eliminated - government’s
education efforts to be focused on the most disadvantaged parts of the country
The U.K. Government and Devolved Governments need to
Advocacy
Devolution of greater powers to local and regional government as part of levelling up
devolve education and skills policy to the regions and Mayoral through the County Deals, Trailblazer devolution deals and offer for every part of England
systems within them. that wants it to have London-style powers.
In our productivity paper we focused on the low productivity of the On Productivity the Government commits to increasing it and closing the gap between
North and Midlands relative to the Greater South-East the best and worst performers
The government should look to create skills clusters across the The White Paper announces 3 new Innovation Accelerators, major place-based centres
country of innovation, centred on Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and Glasgow-City
Region.
Build skills clusters The White Paper proposes that Local Skills Improvement Plans will be rolled out with
funding across England
Further devolution on skills and education policy A new devolution framework
Local employers and training providers to be working with The UK Government will bring greater alignment to the delivery of employment and skills
colleges and schools in their areas to ensure local employers get interventions in new Pathfinder areas
the local talent they need.Policy win
Hong Kong Budget 22-23
On February 23, 2022, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan
announced the Hong Kong 2022-23 Budget (2022-23 Budget) that
includes spending plans worth over HK$170 billion to boost the
Driving
economy and maintain public confidence. Several points that we
mentioned in our letter to Paul Chan were picked up in his speech. Global
In our letter we asked to enhance the policy to support SMEs for
easy Access to R&D tax incentives. Chan’s speech focused largely
Advocacy
on R&D, for example, to help universities realise their R&D
outcomes, the Hong Kong Government will double the amount of
subsidy to $16 million.
Moreover, our call for increased upskilling was picked up and put
into force with the increase of the Continuing Education Fund (CEF)
from $20,000 to $25,000, meaning that citizens in Hong Kong will
have more budget to spend on their own upskilling.
Finally, we highlighted how upskilling in STEM related jobs is vital.
The HKSAR Government has launched a number of
schemes such as the STEM Internship Scheme and the Research
Talent Hub to provide incentives or subsidies for graduates to
pursue a career in I&T.Policy win
UK and New Zealand sign comprehensive trade deal
Under the new deal, UK professionals, such as lawyers and auditors, will be
able to benefit from unprecedented new commitments that will allow UK service Driving
suppliers to deliver contracts. It will be easier for senior managers, executives
and specialists to move on intra-company transfers. Global
During our conversations with the Department for International Trade we have
Advocacy
stressed the importance of deals that help the accountancy and wider
professional services sector and the importance of mobility for the profession
and Management Accountants. This deal helps achieve this aim, and we will
continue to advocate for the ongoing recognition of our professional
qualifications in all markets.Thank you © 2019 Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. All rights reserved. This presentation’s images are subject to copyright protection and used under license from third parties. Do not use images from this presentation in other presentations or documents without first consulting with Legal. The use of copyrighted images outside the licensed scope constitutes copyright infringement and subjects the user to monetary damages and other penalties. © 2018 Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. All rights reserved.
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