The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) has
revealed leadership changes at its annual general meeting recently.
Glenn Allison, the managing director of construction company
Stewart Milne Group, succeeds Deloitte UK technical partner Isobel
Sharp as the institute’s new president.

He is supported by senior vice-president Douglas Nisbet, a partner
at Ernst & Young UK and junior vice president Alan Thomson, a
non-executive director of several companies and former group
finance director of engineering company Smiths Group.

Allison, who will take on the role for a year, commented: “As a CA
running a substantial business, I am acutely aware the role of
accountants can be sometimes dismissed as ‘just dealing with the
numbers’. It is important that the wider business community and the
public realise many CAs are business leaders – responsible for
setting and achieving the strategic goals of leading
organisations.

“CAs, whether in industry or the profession, are at the heart of a
professional business community, advising and often running the
organisations that create a wealthier society. Strengthening that
community through constantly developing the skills of CAs is a key
aim of the institute.”

Allison will have a healthy platform to build on at the institute.
In ICAS’s recent annual review, student numbers are at an all-time
high with 3,500 and the professional body recorded a surplus of
more than £1 million in the past year. Highlights under the tenure
of past president Sharp include the launch ICAS’s first class
outside the UK in Luxembourg and the institute’s ‘Principles not
Rules ‘campaign.