Annual Report 2000 / 2001

Well, in our country,’ said Alice, still panting a little, ‘you’d generally get to somewhere else - if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing.’ ‘A slow sort of country!’ said the Queen. ‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!’

My first year as the Association’s President started at a sprint and we are moving flat out. At our planning weekend in January members of Council, the executive team and committee representatives discussed how we need to reflect the competing demands on the time of our members and the continuing success of the Association.This required change in the way we operate, how we interact with and represent our members, the products and services we offer and our ability to benefit from the experience of senior members of the profession. The constructive debate led to a report and recommendations on the Association’s governance and management structure.This has been accepted and the resulting amendments to our Articles proposed to members.

The new structure concentrates on the three key operating areas of the Association: membership services (including lobbying and representation), commercial services and education. Decision making will be accelerated by operating committees more effectively, reducing the size of Council and restricting the number of officer positions to three, namely President, Deputy President and Vice President.The Director General’s role will be changed to that of Chief Executive responsible for the implementation of policies established by Council and for all operating matters in the running of the Association.

An Appointments and Remuneration Committee will make recommendations on candidates for the presidential positions and the appointment of the Chief Executive, and an Advisory Board will provide valuable external support for the development of the Association. The Association’s future is vitally dependent on the voluntary input of members.To enable a greater number of members to be directly involved, members will increasingly be asked to contribute to working groups consisting of members and executives focusing on specific tasks or topics.

A further new development has been the proposal of Corporate Membership. In the past, many treasurers were invited to join the Association by virtue of their experience.This route is no longer available and we have no desire to re-open it.We do, however, wish to be representative and inclusive of senior corporate treasurers. Corporate Membership will help us to do this by allowing up to two representatives from major corporates, without becoming members or using any designatory letters, to be involved in the work of the Association and benefit from our services.

Whilst all these changes have been taking place, commercial activities have not been neglected and a surplus of £377,000 has been achieved.This reflects the continued hard work of our office team, the dedicated contribution of members and the support of our sponsors and advertisers. The surplus enables us to invest in developing the technical support and services to members and students and to increase our reserves, which have steadily been built to a level which would enable us to withstand an economic downturn in the immediate future. It also allowed us to freeze the membership fees for 2001/02 at the 2000/01 rates.

Though out of breath, I have enjoyed my first year as President and look forward to the implementation of the planned changes. My thanks go to David Creed and his team at the Association offices who support us so well. Thanks also to Mike Northeast who finishes his term of office at the end of this calendar year and, under our new governance regime, will be our last Chairman. I have very much enjoyed working with them all and can only hope that we will make good progress next year as we continue to run forward.

Anthony Stern
President