Accountant in pledge to tackle the ‘black hole’ in help for small companies

Wilma Teviotdale has just completed a term of office as president of the West Yorkshire Society of the ICAEW, which is one of the largest in the UK with more than 5,500 members. She said she felt the position of council member was “a natural next step”.

The ICAEW supports 140,000 chartered accountants across the globe through its qualifications and professional development programme and by taking on the role of policing the quality and integrity of the profession. “Having completed my term as president, I didn’t feel that I had finished with the tasks that needed to be done,” said Ms Teviotdale.

“The role of council member is very much a constituency role where as well as representing views we are also able to help the council to determine key strategies – deciding how are we going to do things, are they working and how do they compare nationally and internationally.” One of the recent initiatives that the ICAEW has introduced in the UK was a business advice service and it has been actively promoting chartered accountants as business advisers to SMEs.

But Ms Teviotdale said that although the ICAEW has been encouraging a ‘bottom-up’ approach, a review of how chartered accountants achieve their connections with small businesses is needed.

She said: “There is definitely a black hole in terms of support for SMEs, but, although accountants are very willing to take on the role of business advisers, it’s very difficult to engage with the SMEs. And I’m sure that West Yorkshire isn’t alone in establishing this engagement.

“One of things I want to take forward is find out what is happening in the other regions and to use the regional directors and regional executives as our intelligence to find something that will support this bottom-up approach and encourage SMEs to come to us.”

Ms Teviotdale said that her involvement in the ICAEW as president has resulted in the University of Huddersfield gaining more links with businesses, not just accountancy firms. “Being able to invite them into the university, through a series of initiatives and events, is an excellent way of showcasing what we do and how we and our resources can be of benefit to them, which is what the CBI (business lobbying organisation, the Confederation of British Industry) means when it talks about employers engaging with education.”