Our approach to strategic planning in the ACT focuses on an off-site day each Autumn at which Council, the committee chairs and the ACT management team get together to debate and confirm the issues that will be central to the next formal plan (which is presented to Council in the early part of each year). I am now starting to think about the wide set of issues that should be on the agenda for our off-site day and each of our business committees will be helping the ACT team assess these issues. As always I am keen to receive comment or indeed just strongly held views from members and others interested in the well-being of the ACT.
Our existing strategy documents focus very much on our involvement with qualifications and our international role; there is absolutely no doubt that these two issues will continue to be central in the next round of strategic thinking. Indeed they are to a large extent inter-related, in that we see the international context and opportunity for our qualifications as a key part of assuring the future strength of the ACT.
In this connection I am delighted to be able to say that in early July we signed a cooperation agreement with the International Association of CFOs and Corporate Treasurers (China). Under this agreement we have committed to work together to identify ways in which not just our qualifications but also the wider experience and resources of the ACT can be shared with the existing strong treasury profession in Hong Kong and the growing finance community in Mainland China. There is great support for the IACCT (China) in Hong Kong and the ACT does of course already have a number of members in senior roles within financial management in that area. Our Certificate in International Cash Management (Cert ICM) already operates successfully in Asia Pacific based on Hong Kong and our candidates from there have an excellent track record of examination success.
Most of you will probably already be aware that the JPMorgan Asset Management Global Cash Management Survey has entered its eighth year (seven of which have been with the involvement of the ACT). As always I would encourage people to contribute to the survey, which is of course run on an entirely confidential basis and has become something of an industry standard because of the continuity in the survey and its results. This year JPMorgan has doubled its contribution to the International Red Cross for each completed survey – and the £10 donation made for each response can do real good in many parts of the world.
The results of the ACT/Mercer survey on Pension Financial Risk are now available and can be found on our website. What is interesting from a first look at the summary comments on the survey is that whilst on the funding and liability side predictable changes are occurring, there is less evidence that the pension schemes of the companies surveyed are making significant changes in their approach to investment risk. I suspect that this will receive even more focus over the next months and the ACT will follow and contribute to the debate as appropriate.
