I see that the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) and the ICAEW have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), on 25th October 2010, designed to establish closer working relations between the two bodies.
Gerald Russell, ICAEW President, is quoted by dailymirror.lk:
"ICAEW and the ICASL have developed a close working relationship over the years and as a result of this agreement, we look forward to welcoming ICASL members to ICAEW.
Removing barriers for professional accountants across markets, through agreements such as this, is an important part of our international strategy.
ICAEW is keen to work in partnership with accountancy bodies across the world to enhance the profession globally."
Global ambitions are all well and good. However, care needs to be paid by the ICAEW to ensure:
1 That any inter institute membership, if it occurs, will be structured in such a way as to ensure that the brand value of the ICAEW qualification will not be diluted.
2 That, given the recession and high cost of subscriptions, UK members' subscriptions are not frittered away on global ambitions that have little relevance to the UK membership.
