|
December 2003 News, Merry Christmas to all our Students
ICSA
At the time of writing we have yet to see all the exam
papers. Judging by your emails, Corporate Secretaryship has caused you
problems but the others appear OK. More news on this when we have digested
the complete examinations. Meanwhile forget about your results and enjoy
Christmas.
COFA AND DOFA
Current studies are all progressing well. Our highlight
this month must be the Presentation of Certificates by the Governor of the
Central Bank to the first COFA Graduates in Belize.
Our thanks go to Mr Sydney Campbell, Rodwell Williams,
and all of you who helped to make the evening such a success.
Lots more news in January. Have a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year.
October 2003 News
First news this month must be congratulations to our World prize
winners.
Barbara Cheney was awarded the World Prize in the Strategic and
Operations Management paper, Hazel Oliver won the
prize for Business Law, Jo McKay was awarded the prize for
Professional Administration and Trina Hill
won the Ralph Bell
Prize for the best overall results of a pass finalist in the June 2003
examination diet.
And Belize made it onto the world map with two world prizes: Alina
Gonzalez obtained the world prize for the Introduction to Accounting
exam and Ruth Neal received the World Prize for the student
graduating with the highest marks. With over half of the starters graduated
in the first training programme and the rest to follow with one subject
left, Belize looks set to become the COFA powerhouse in the Caribbean.
Overall results were impressive and I want to congratulate both you the
students and our lecturers for such hard work. Well done.
I want to say a special thanks to Ian Thomas whose ACA results
were some of the best ever. He is still part of the team but his promotion
to the highest seat on the board coincided with the ending of the ACA so he
is taking time to organise and settle himself into that extra deep leather
chair that goes with the post!!
ICSA
Patterns of study are now recognisable as the new professional level
training programme continues. Those of you without degrees continue to show
your incredible discipline and powers of endurance as you work your way
through the foundation and pre-professional levels. The ICSA textbooks for
these papers, especially in law, are now seriously out of date and we await
news from ICSA about their upgrading.
The Strategic and Operations Management and Management Accounting papers
are rarely taken by graduates although a couple of you are doing the
management paper to help you at work.
The Corporate Law and Financial Accounting papers which have to be taken
by graduates with non-relevant degrees are being taken open book especially
when graduates realise you do not have to pass the exam to progress. But do
remember that a number of leading firms will require evidence that you pass
the examination before they will credit you with the status of an ICSA
graduate.
Many of you are taking the remaining professional level subjects one subject
every six months rather than two subjects at a time
(although you can take as many as you like!) Students outside the UK
are finding that in papers like Corporate Administration the compulsory text
is based on English law alone. However the examinations will be set on local
laws so you have the additional task of converting the text to your own
specific conditions. Do check with your local ICSA body to ensure you know
whether there is going to be a local requirement.
COFA/DOFA
Gibraltar has clocked up another first: congratulations to Tina Dop
who is the first student on the Rock to complete both COFA and DOFA. Tina is
going to be the first of many. In fact Gibraltar students are producing some
stunning results: 100% pass rate in OBE sets the highest standard for the
future! With a bevy of distinctions you have both COFA and DOFA graduates
this sitting. Well done to the Gibraltar team and Vivien Campbell for your hard work.
Students in Belize and Cyprus continue to produce wonderful results. In
Belize, the second cycle of COFA has started this September with OBE and the
work being produced is once again of a very high standard. DOFA will start
next year.
Sian Wood obtained Cyprus first distinction for her paper in COFA
Investments and the study cycle in Cyprus should see Cyprus producing its
first COFA graduates with the February exam next year.
Distance learning in both the Isle of Man and Channel Islands is also
growing as students discover an alternative way to learn that does not tie
them to a long series of evening commitments or isolated weekends with
fragmented support.
Offshore induction training
This is a new approach to preparing employees for work in the offshore
industry. It has now operated for a few months and we are seeing the
results, expected and unexpected. Expected results include learning the
foundations in the different fields of offshore work and establishing the
habit of learning new material as part of one’s job. Unexpected results are
the leaps in self-confidence as students realise their innate potential and
secondly the requirements that the training requires students to understand
and talk to other departments in the firm. We are still developing the
training but applause must go to Simon Crane and Jo Allen of
Bachmanns in Guernsey and Jane Hamilton of Campbell’s for their
original ideas and the conversion of those ideas into practical training.
Finally, good luck in your studies. It is one thing to start a course and
another to continue and pass an examination. So many of you are juggling
families, careers, and studying for exams with us. You are dealing with
illnesses from children’s measles to partner’s heart attacks. You are coping
with stress from difficult bosses to stress from difficult employees. You
worry about your children doing well at school and you look after ageing
parents…..And you wonder where the dog buried the latest instalment from
Campbell’s after it bit the postman. You pass and you sometimes fail but you
rarely give up. You are superb.
Alan
August 2003 News
ICSA
Bridging Programme to Professional Level One
It is interesting for us that ICSA’s renaming of the Bridging programme
as Professional Level One produced worried phone calls and emails to the
college. "Why have you stopped offering the Bridging subjects?" is the usual
question. We never stopped – we offer training for all the
ICSA public exams. This change of name without a cross-over period has just
caused problems: it invalidated and therefore wasted all advertising
literature posted by ICSA and ICSA suppliers and produced a lot of worried
students, especially graduates getting their "exemptions from Professional
Level" all mixed up. Call us and we will help even when you are still on an
old scheme – we are teaching Professional Administration for students in
Hong Kong who have yet one more "final" sitting this year.
Corporate Administration
I t is ironic that as the name International Qualifying Scheme is
promoted by ICSA the final book to be published – Corporate
Administration- turns out to be the most parochial text of all. Some of
the detail is astonishing in a text for international consumption: one
wonders if students studying employee rights need to learn things such as
"Form MATB1 is available from the 20th Week before a woman’s EWC…
A woman wishing to exercise her entitlements must notify her employer in or
by the 15th week before her EWC giving the employer the MATB1 if
the employer requires this." (Chapter 8 para 6.1). Those of you looking for
a UK state pension better take account of the fact that the "Years between
16 and 18 for persons at school or a full-time approved training course (but
not university) and were born after 5th April 1957" earn
"eligibility time" (Chapter 12 part 2.2).
And they will be delighted to read in the opening
paragraph to the taxation chapters that "Although the focus here is on the
detail of UK tax law and regulation, most other developed economies
will subject businesses to similar regimes." So that has put everybody in
their place.
Perhaps the reason for this detail is the fact that this book is the only
one in the Professional Programme without a single author. It appears there
are seven, three of whom are adapting material from their specialist ICSA
guides. Sadly, unlike the authors, you will have to learn it all by yourself,
but we have a single writer producing our
own distance learning study text.
Perhaps the most annoying thing about this textbook is that despite all
this detail it does not provide the material for some of the answers to the
questions in the pilot paper. Question (1)(b) defines the term "induction"
differently to the textbook (Chapter 10 part 5). Question 6 asks for a
report outlining the features of an "occupational pension scheme" for staff.
This itself is a problem as there are a number of occupational pension
schemes and we do not which one the examiner is referring to. However, the
suggested answer produces a "universal" list not found in the text. Perhaps
the only benefit of the text is in telling us that the "Pensions Schemes
Office" referred to in the suggested answer has been renamed! The syllabus
and text do not reinforce each other and the syllabus overview gives the
impression of having been written after reading the text.
Now, if you want the International Qualification you are going to have to
study this course (which should be renamed British Corporate
Administration): the discipline will probably do you good and you never
know when knowledge of the appropriate British maternity forms (MATB1) and
when to submit them, together with the completion of the UK self-assessment
Corporation tax form (CT600) will come in useful. It might help you to join
a developed economy,… in which case you will need form PTE(PLFT)(R) page
130!!!
ICSA Student Notice 2003–07-04: The Importance of Wider Reading
This notice on the ICSA web site should be read
very carefully. In the Company Secretarial Practice examination in June this
year question (1)(iii) asked for an explanation of Form X and Y in a
renounceable letter of allotment. On page 220 of the text there is a
renounceable letter but no mention of X and Y. In short it is close to
impossible to answer the question from the textbook – and if you have paid
£600 for the course somewhat irritating.
Now we have ICSA saying "The Chief Examiners and Review Panels are
required by the Institute to take an holistic view of each
Professional Programme examination paper to ensure that on balance the paper
can be passed on the basis of the study text alone. All topics featured
on the examination papers for Professional Part 1 and 2 are included in the
study texts, although some topics will include more detail than others.
Candidates fully conversant with the ICSA text should be able to achieve a
basic pass grade. However, candidates who have not fully prepared, or who
have not made appropriate use of other relevant sources of information, may
find the number of questions that they can comprehensively attempt
restricted. Candidates who restrict their studies to the study text alone
may not be in a position to fully answer each examination question and
may not be able to secure the marks given by Examiners for illustrating
answers with references to current industry topics and events."
So even if you know the complete textbook you may not be able to answer
all the questions.
Corporate Governance
On the 27th July 2003 the UK Financial Reporting Council
published the Combined Code on Corporate Governance.
The following is stated in the Preamble:
This Code supersedes and replaces the Combined Code issued by the
Hampel Committee on Corporate Governance in June 1998…
The Financial Services Authority has said that it will replace the
1998 Code that is annexed to the Listing Rules with the revised Code and
will seek to make consequential Rule changes. There will be consultation
on the necessary rule changes but not further consultation on the
Code provisions themselves.
It is intended that the new Code will apply for reporting years
beginning on or after 1st November 2003.
You will be taking your examination in December 2003 and therefore the
New Code will apply in practice. There is no statement yet from ICSA about
which Code to follow in your answers.
We will do the following with our distance learning:
We will call the Revised Code, the NEW CODE. References to the
Combined Code still operational will be called "Current Combined Code".
We will include a copy of the NEW CODE with our mailing.
After the first general booklet You will have two booklets with each
mailing:
"Part TWO: The Contemporary Code" which will reflect the law until
the end of October.
"Part TWO: The New Code" which will reflect the law from the
beginning of November.
We will organise your reading and questions so that you can compare
the two codes and apply the up to date rules in the December
examination.
COFA/DOFA
Well done to all of you sitting the examinations last month. The
examination papers had one or two unusual question but overall the response
is that they were fair.
In Gibraltar the Government continues to help develop the
training. Besides the introduction of sponsorship for successful students
qualification under the COFA/DOFA scheme is becoming essential for
practitioners.
IN Belize excitement is starting to build for many of you as you
await the final paper’s results. The chances are that you will produce the
largest single cohort of COFA graduates in the Caribbean ever – and at the
first attempt. We are in the process of planning your graduation ceremony
and for the next courses.
Cyprus is stirring and we are starting to receive a steady stream of
enquiries: watch this space, especially regarding training for professionals
in the Law of Trusts.
Finally to all our COFA/DOFA distance learning students. We know it was
hard but it will be worth it.
Campbell’s Foundation Certificate
Our pioneers in The Bachmann
Group, Guernsey are beginning to mould the certificate into the entry
qualification for the future. Congratulations to Jo and Jane for much hard
work in the organisation and development.
Finally a big thanks to all of you – the lecturers, the administrators
and our clients. Global recession has not dampened your enthusiasm and
professional skills. You continue to aim for the best and you are achieving
it.
June 2003 News
ICSA Qualifying Scheme
As we type this news you are all revising or sitting your examinations.
Good luck and we hope you do well.
The new syllabus system has been running for over a year now and we are
beginning to get a view of how it is settling down. This month ICSA renamed
the bridging programme as the Professional Programme Part One and the
Professional Programme as Professional Programme Part Two.
Professional Programme Part Two (previously known as Professional
Programme)
The three subjects currently offered, Corporate
Secretaryship, Corporate
Financial Management and
Corporate Governance have settled down smoothly
although students should note that there are second edition pilot papers in
CS and CG on the ICSA website. Regarding Corporate
Administration the text
book has yet to materialise but ICSA are insisting that there will be no
more Administration of Corporate
Affairs and we will be writing our course
based on the syllabus and commencing in July. Should this change we will
always have our ACA updated to include the June 2003 exam.
Professional Programme Part One (previously known as Bridging
Programme)
This part of the ICSA course is proving more problematic. Few
if any graduates are taking the Management Accounting and strategic
and operations management papers. The few
graduates who have taken these subjects were under the impression that they
were compulsory when in fact they are compulsory only for non graduates.
In my London revision class for Corporate
Law I had one non-graduate
who had to take the subject and pass sitting next to a graduate with a
degree in geography who had to take the subject but did not need to pass,
sitting next to a student who already had her ICSA certificate having an
economics degree, but whose employer insisted that she pass the
Corporate Law
exam. This distinction between graduates and non graduates is causing
friction. Only ICSA as far as we know offers students the chance to take an
exam stating that the outcome is irrelevant to your progress in the
qualification. This is a result of the open book option available only to
graduates which is proving popular amongst many students but less so with
employers. The ICSA graduation certificate makes no reference as to how you
studied and it would be wise if you want to prove that you have passed by
examination to retain your exam results slips.
It is also becoming clear that graduates with relevant degrees but little
or no accounting knowledge are suffering when they take the
Corporate Financial
Management course. If you are one of these students
you should seriously consider studying either our Introduction to
Accounting or Financial
Accounting module first.
For graduates it is still our advice that if you wish to progress in the
finance industry you should take and pass the four subjects of the
Professional Programme
Part Two plus
Corporate Law and
Financial Accounting
from the Professional Programme
Part One.
Pre-professional and Foundation
The key feature of these subjects is the text books which need updating
and we are informed that ICSA are aware of this problem. There are still
regular new enrolments for these subjects despite
the increases in fees and those of you taking the qualification by this
route are achieving excellent results.
General
There seems to have been a number of hiccups in the ICSA registration
processes for all subjects in the June 2003 exams. We have forwarded all
problems you send us to ICSA and to their credit all have been resolved
before this exam.
As we ourselves have found material posted to students sometimes goes
astray in the postal system, we would advise that you keep copies of all
application forms and use recorded delivery so that both you and ICSA have a
trail to follow if things go wrong.
COFA and DOFA
Barbados
Our current Barbadian students have suffered the most common problem for
all COFA students which is pressure of work at the office. As family and job
must come before qualifications we have mutually agreed to defer training to
the February exams next year. With all students we want you to get qualified
but not at the cost of family life or your health. The secret to success is
good planning and steady studying.
Belize
This coming July exam will be the culmination of two years hard dedicated
study for many of you when you sit your final examination. Some of you will
be finishing in February next year and we know there are new students
joining in September. Your study model has been adapted across the offshore
community and we look forward to you doing well. Jim will be coming out for
the revision in July and do keep submitting your assignments beforehand.
Channel Islands
Our COFA & DOFA distance learning courses continue to offer an
alternative to the evening classes currently available. Results from the
February 2003 examinations were good and we wish those of you currently
studying with us success in July.
Cyprus
Alan and Vivien returned from mid course training for Trusts and
Investments last weekend. Interest continues to grow and Cyprus should
produce it’s first COFA graduates early next year. Not only is progress
being made with the Green Line but also with the
professional offshore lines too!
Gibraltar
Vivien and her team in Gibraltar continue to set new standards in ICSA
training. The Government has shown tremendous support and interest in both
ICSA and our courses. Together we will not disappoint them. We have already
presented our first COFA certificates and look forward to regular ceremonies
in the future. Alan will be visiting the Rock this month.
Isle of Man
We know that ICSA provision in the island is undergoing strategic changes
but we are with you and have students studying COFA & DOFA distance
learning. Interest is rising and please contact Jane if you would like more
details.
And Finally
Good luck to all of you studying with us. We know how difficult it is but
we also know your calibre and with your commitment and our technique we can
get you through.
April/May 2003 News
ICSA news
For the first time we do not have a
complete set of results from ICSA for the November 02 exams so cannot
produce our usual statistical analysis. Thank you to everyone who emailed
their results to us. I have included a selection of your emails in our
'Thanks' page and have listed those students who
qualified on the November results page. Well done to you all especially to
our two World Prize winners Jacquie Gentles and Eve Austin. Flowers are on
their way to you.
Revision
classes are underway in London and the Channel Islands plus a
Corporate Law course in The Isle of Man. This followed Vivien's visit
to the Island to meet students and Training Managers to find out what course provision
is needed in the future.
COFA/DOFA
news
Evening
courses in Gibraltar are now underway, Jim has been out to Belize for the
Introduction to Accounts starter weekend, Vivien and Alan have been to
Cyprus for introductory courses and we have a growing number of distance
learning students in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
New
Induction courses
Together with
The Bachmann Group (Guernsey) we are developing an
entry level course aimed at new
recruits to the Finance Industry. Bachmann are using the units as part of
their induction process to give their students a basis from which to
progress onto formal qualifications, but the course can be adapted to meet
other needs. Call or email us for more details.
Lecturer
News
Congratulations to Jim and Kay on the birth of their daughter.
Congratulations to Alex, our Print room manager, on his engagement to Karen.
And
Finally Good Luck
to all students taking exams in June
March 2003 News
I knew there was a problem with the latest of our news pages when a
student called to ask if I had been seriously ill. "No illness at all –
simply lots of work. But what prompted the question?" "Because your news is
so out of date". Thanks Max and congratulations on qualifying last November.
Add to that, a call from the ICSA asking where the news had gone and I
realise that time had moved faster than I thought. I do apologise for the
absence of information and offer the excuse of more travelling and writing
as my plea in mitigation. Let me talk about the qualifications first and
then about some of our courses around the world.
Insolvency Practitioners Examinations
Although you only take three subjects with us, the results we have
received for Introduction to Accounting and Business Law are superb. Your
work rate is excellent. A special word of congratulations to Janice Doyle:
You thought you would never pass and you did!!
COFA/DOFA
Our experience is that interest in the qualification is continuing to
grow and we have expansion plans for further offshore centres.
ICSA
Although we do not have our full set of results from ICSA those of you
who have called in are doing well. Large numbers of you have qualified and
you have done it by passing examinations. This is the chosen route for those
seeking the top jobs in the profession.
The law of unintended consequences is producing some interesting results.
Those of you choosing to sit the exam open book at home
are telling me of people offering to specialise: they will do the
accountancy papers if you will do their law exams. As it is not a
requirement of the certificate to pass but merely to attempt the exam they
argue this is not cheating. The sit at home facility is only open to
graduates. It seemed unfair that graduates sitting the bridging programme
exams and failing should do a resit when those doing it open book and
failing (if that were possible) are allowed to move on. It now appears that
if a graduate takes the bridging programme exam and fails they can still
move on and qualify for their ICSA certificate.
My advice is to take the exams: that is what the leading employers want.
Barbados
Although we do not yet have a complete set of passes and fails we do know
that two of our students in Barbados have now qualified by passing all
seventeen subjects in examination. Congratulations to Judi-Ann Campbell and
Amril Gittens. They join Judith Murrell and Joyce Thomas who completed in
the last session. Well done to Cheryl on finding our new venue: the Dining
Club Jazz Restaurant and Conference Centre. We will now leave the rest of
the world to wonder at what goes on there when we are not teaching or
dining!
Belize
Our revision course for COFA investments became a competition between
ourselves and the massed bands of the Religious Synod taking place in the
Civic centre. Considering we were seriously out numbered we are very
grateful to Fidelia and Teresita for housing us in the Provident bank.
Feedback from the exam is that you found it reasonable. We are waiting for
results before beginning the Introduction to Accounting with Jim on the 5th
and 6th April. I shall be coming our early to get things ready
and meet members of the Belize Offshore Practitioners Association.
Channel Islands
Despite intense competition we still continue to provide ICSA training in
both Guernsey and Jersey. In fact we extended our revision courses with
Corporate Financial Management for the Winter 2002 examinations. We offer an
alternative to class based COFA/DOFA training and are developing inhouse
programmes for individual clients.
Cyprus
Interest in ICSA grows apace. Our first COFA students are doing well and
like Belize are waiting for results. We now want
you to accelerate by taking
more subjects in a single COFA sitting. There is
also a lot of interest in the ICSA professional
levels. Congratulations to Vivien and all the training partners finalising
the programmes. In one thing Cyprus surpasses all
our centres: the Classic Hotel. This hotel where
we both stay and train provides more food then any venue we have ever used.
You may not pass after attending one of our courses here but you always
leave with the feeling you are so full it doesn’t matter!
Gibraltar
I have bookmarked Gibraltar Panorama on my web pages to keep up with
developments on the Rock. Ever since the referendum you are hardly out of
the news. And that includes your ICSA studies. The Government has now
provided funding support for the programme and your training classes are
some of the most successful we run. In Gibraltar once you make a decision to
do something – voting, studying, passing examinations- you do it with a
passion. Congratulations to Vivien, Shanelle, David, Marilyn, Martin and
Margaret Borge.
Mauritius
When it comes to persistence and a drive to succeed there are those of
you in Mauritius who will get qualified no matter what the ICSA does to
fees, exam timetable changes, college providers starting and not finishing
courses, disinterest by governments, work, children, relatives, ICSA
textboooks with the wrong covers…. The list goes on and on. Principal leader
in this has to be Ruma who is now applying for her Fellowship who finally
achieved her dream of running an offshore centre. Closing following her is
Rajeshwar Mancoo - just a few more subjects and
you will have achieved your dream.
Top of page
|
