AIA
NEWS CONSULTATION
AIA AGM 2020 The AIA held its 88th AGM on 2 September 2020. The AGM was held as a virtual event, and members were given the opportunity to use online voting, to protect our members and staff and in line with revised requirements of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. All the resolutions of the AGM were passed and the following members were re-elected to Council: Venetia Carpenter, Michael Chow, Mohd Noh Jidin, Koon Sang Jong and Maggie Timoney, who reflect the AIA’s global strengths as members from the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. 2018-2019 was the first year of delivering the AIA strategy that takes the organisation through to 2024, with developments that will support the AIA through a period of many fundamental changes. From the very first signs of Covid-19, AIA implemented contingency plans with two defined priorities: protecting employee health and safety; and doing everything it could to ensure business continuity. AIA President Les Bradley said: “Despite the crisis and through the exceptional efforts of our employees and partners, AIA has persisted in consolidating its strategy and is committed to securing its long-term viability by fast-tracking new initiatives and services for students and members. We continue to use our expertise, technical ingenuity and global network to help our members and businesses recover from the impact of Covid-19.” Full details including the President’s full statement, voting results and AGM recording at: www.aiaworldwide.com. AIAWORLDWIDE.COM | ISSUE 113
AIA calls for greater legal protection for accountants and tax agents AIA has called for greater legal protection for the professional titles “accountant” and “tax agent” in its response to the HMRC consultation “Raising standards in the tax advice market: call for evidence”. The consultation seeks to explore ways to raise standards and increase transparency in the tax advice market. AIA has campaigned to highlight the benefits of using qualified accountants and tax agents, who are trained to a high standard in both ethical and professional conduct; and throughout the response has provided clarity and guidance on how AIA works to uphold standards of tax advice issued by its members in practice. Within the scope of the consultation there is a wider public interest argument in place for expansion of the role of professional bodies within the remit of improving “good agents” and how they can add value. AIA argues that the government should work to promote the effectiveness of good agents by recognising that additional safeguards and public interest concerns are met by consumers undertaking the services of a regulated individual to conduct their tax affairs, with proper recourse to advice if things go wrong and an independent complaints system. All the options set out within the consultation require careful consideration against the public interest – ensuring a continuation of the availability of tax advice to members of the public, whilst recognising the benefits of greater scrutiny over the competence of tax agents to bear
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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
down on bad behaviour and agents. It must be recognised that any option that increases the burden and cost of regulation may result in tax agents leaving the regulated sector and acting with a lower level of scrutiny which would not result in a net benefit position. Read the full response on the AIA website, www.aiaworldwide.com, under “Consultations”.
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