Registration and breakfast

Breakfast seminar (optional): Climate Change & Sustainability

Session details to be announced

with Auditel

Main registration with refreshments 

Welcome and opening remarks

Michael Izza, Chief Executive, ICAEW

Keynote address: The road to COP 27

As we look towards COP27, hear from Executive Director at the Climate Champions team to learn how governments and organisations around the world are delivering on the ambitions set out in the Glasgow Climate Pact and the expectations of this year’s conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Frances Way, Executive Director, Climate Champions

Choose your breakout stream

Breakout 1: Great Hall

Business resilience: How to weather the storm

As the climate continues to change we are becoming more susceptible to extreme weather and altering seasons. Hear from previous FFTF winner Britvic to learn how they transformed their organisation to ensure a resilient and sustainable business using their Healthier People Healthier Planet approach. Gather practical insights from UN Race to Resilience signatory Perkins&Will and how they have identified risks in order to embed resilience into their organisation.

Benefits of attending:

• Be inspired by a story of putting vision into action
• Gain practical insights to embed resilience into your business

Dr Asif Din, Sustainability Director, Perkin&Will
Sarah Webster, Director of Sustainable Business, Britvic

Breakout 2: Auditorium

The catalyst for change: Net Zero and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) reporting

This panel discussion will explore the importance of developing an environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy for your organisation and how to report your activities under the newest climate and ESG frameworks. Hear from our expert panel on the newest sustainability standards from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), as well as the key risks and opportunities coming through your supply chain.

Benefits of attending:

• Bridge the gap between standard setting and practical application
• Demystify ESG and what this means for your organisation
• Learn about sustainability risks and opportunities for businesses
• Discover how net zero can be a catalyst for change

Chair: Rosie Dunscombe, Technical Lead, Climate Change, ICAEW 

Speakers:
Laura Clavey, Senior Technical Manager, Task Force on Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)
Lois Guthrie, Senior Technical Advisor, IFRS Foundation

Coffee break and exhibitor viewing

Breakout 1: Great Hall

Choosing the right sustainability path for your business

There are so many sustainability opportunities for businesses to explore as well as organisations and commitments you can sign up to as part of your sustainability journey, but what is right for your business? Join this interactive workshop to discover how to apply the UN Sustainable Development Goals in your organisation, what becoming a B Corp involves and how to score your board on climate change with Chapter Zero.

Benefits of attending:

• Come away with practical tips to take back to your business
• ind out from the experts what sustainability means in your business context
• Interact and share knowledge with other members across business

Jessica Lobo, Global Goals Programme Manager, UN Global Compact

Breakout 2: Auditorium

How to align ESG reporting with Financial Reporting

Session details to be announced

with One Stream

The Energy Crisis: Accelerating decarbonisation

In the context of the energy crisis, is now the best time to decarbonise? Join this panel discussion to learn more about the factors that have contributed to the energy supply issues across Europe and what the strategic benefits may be to businesses to begin or accelerate their decarbonisation plans.

Benefits of attending:

• Discover how the energy crisis is affecting business
• Learn about the benefits of going net zero
• Find out how decarbonising can lead to competitive advantage

Chair: Richard Spencer, Director, Sustainability, ICAEW

Panellists to be announced

Lunch break, networking and exhibitor viewing

Explore your mindset - achieve your potential

This engaging training is designed to introduce the theories of mindset and grit. It will demonstrate how the beliefs we hold and our deepest passions have a significant and broad impact on how we navigate our lives, both personally and professionally.

• Appreciate the difference between a fixed and growth mindset
• Discover how ‘gritty’ individuals are and how this can impact on their lives
• Identify techniques to develop and help maintain a growth mindset

Isabelle Campbell FCA, Commercial Finance Director, The Financial Times; Consultant, trainer and coach

Choose your breakout stream

Breakout 1: Great Hall

The future of work - skills, retention and recruitment

Business growth is contingent on employing a motivated and reliable workforce with the right skills, but what if these skills are hard to find? The recruitment landscape has changed considerably with organisations regularly reporting challenges in hiring and retaining staff. In this panel debate, those on the frontline of these challenges will share insight and advice on the future of work and how best to attract and retain the best talent.

Chair: Simon Gray, Head of Business, ICAEW

Panellists:
Matthew Gregson, Executive Director, Employee Benefits & Wellbeing, Howden

Steve Howes, Regional Director, Michael Page 

Ginny Bradwell, Executive Director, Intuition First

Breakout 2:

Becoming conscious of unconscious bias

Unconscious bias. The bias we are unaware of, which influences our brain when it makes quick judgments and assessments about people and situations. Its impact on perpetuating inequalities has been experienced in organisations for many years with thousands of hours of training directed at minimising this impact.

If you are serious about becoming a more diverse, inclusive organisation this interactive session can help you start your journey of change.

The session will provide guidance on identifying common bias and steps that can be taken towards longer term positive changes, which could be the start of conscious action towards greater inclusivity.

Speaker: Marge Lowhar, Director, Tranzition

Breakout 1: Great Hall

Public sector procurement – why it makes business sense

This session will address the business sense/business case from both the Public Services and the Supply Chain sides, considering the value for money of the £300bn spent annually in the UK by Public Services on goods and services.

It will consider recent developments in procurement/commercial approaches that aim to use Public Services’ buying power to leverage action by the supply chain around social value, local economic growth, inclusion of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), net zero, tackling modern slavery, promoting diversity, etc.

The panellists will consider a range of commercial (and financing) models that go beyond simple commodity/transactional contracts and why they make VFM sense.

Finance professionals have a key role to play here, whether from Public Services, the Private Sector or the Voluntary Sector and whether working in large multinational organisations or local SMEs.

Chair: Alison Ring OBE FCA, Director, Public Sector and Taxation, ICAEW

Panellists:
Mark Williams FCA, Advisor, CIPFA
Martin Traynor OBE, Small Business Crown Representative, Cabinet Office

Breakout 2: 

Skills and agility - finance teams fit for the future

Make capability building your number 1 priority. The skills development required in your finance team now may look different as a consequence of the pandemic, staff shortages, Brexit and ever changing technology. Consider how you can build curiosity within your finance team and empower them to develop their capabilities through the ICAEW BFP, ACA and Academy opportunities, which will support an agile finance function, fit for the future.

Speakers to be confirmed

Coffee break and exhibitor viewing

Session details to be announced

with Coupa

Closing keynote address: Subtle impact: The effects of your culture on your performance

This session is an interactive introduction to the effects of culture on decision making in business. If you're not actively managing your culture, you can be certain it's managing you.

• Understand the powerful effect of corporate culture on decision making
• Emotional contagion: Why looking cool is as important as feeling cool
• T3i: A basic cognitive tool to mitigate some of the common pitfalls in collaborative performance

Dr Anthony Lawrenson, Director, Salus Intelligence

Closing remarks

Networking drinks reception with food

Registration and breakfast

Breakfast seminar (optional): Capital Allowances

Session details to be announced

with Catax

Main registration with refreshments 

Welcome and opening remarks

Keynote address: The Big Economic Debate

In this lively, topical debate, you will hear from some highly influential economists and have the opportunity to pose your questions to the expert speakers.

Chair: Iain Wright, Managing Director, Reputation & Influence, ICAEW

Panellists:
Kitty Ussher, Chief Economist, Institute of Directors
Suren Thiru, Director of Economies, ICAEW

Further panellists to be announced

Do you understand if your company’s value chains (supply chains) are enhancing or destroying value?

Against the background of widespread disruption to supply or value chains, ongoing geopolitical tensions, climate change and increased related regulation, this session will explore how to navigate these challenges and how enhanced technology and data solutions can help manage these risks and improve business performance.

• New approaches to risk management to minimize the impact of business disruptions
• Complying with the increasing regulatory requirements in respect of your value chain - the responsibility (and liability) of directors in relation to supply chain due diligence
• Cyber, reputational, and disruption dangers in your value chain, what investors and end customers are increasingly expecting you to have done
• The role of audit & risk committees and the finance/audit teams in managing supply chain risks

Peter van Veen, Director, Corporate Governance, ICAEW
Nick Wildgoose, Supplien

Coffee break, networking and exhibitor viewing

What does levelling up mean for chartered accountants?

The Prime Minister has called the levelling up agenda the most pressing domestic priority of his government. Decades-long disparities between and within regions have led to massive differences in productivity, wages, health outcomes and well-being across the United Kingdom. But does the chartered accountant have a role to play in the levelling up agenda? Highly-skilled, well-paid chartered accountants based in cities and regions outside of prosperous areas can have a tangible impact. Crucially, many chartered accountants are trusted business advisers, a role which enables companies to start and scale up, improve their productivity and ultimately increase their prosperity and that of their local areas, providing more and better jobs. However, is the whole levelling up agenda simply a slogan looking for substance, without the suitable funding or changes to the way government operates needed to make a difference?

Join Iain Wright and an expert panel to debate the levelling up agenda, what is needed to make it a success and how chartered accountants can do even more to improve opportunities and prosperity for more local and regional economies.

Chair: Iain Wright, Managing Director, Reputation & Influence, ICAEW 

Panellists to be announced

Choose your breakout stream

Breakout 1: Auditorium

Excel Tips and Tricks live!

Join John and Ian as they present a live and interactive session based on the ICAEW's popular 'Excel Tips and Tricks' series (previously 'Tip of the Week'). The session will cover a range of must-use Microsoft Excel functionality and showcase simple solutions to help your ESG reporting and improve the accessibility of your spreadsheets. Bring along your laptop or tablet.

Benefits

• Learn how to make the most of built-in Microsoft Excel functionality to improve the quality and efficiency of your work in Excel
• Understand how to review and improve the accessibility of your spreadsheets
• Opportunity to ask questions to Excel experts

Ian Pay, Head of Data Analytics & Tech, ICAEW
John Tennent, Co-founder, Corporate Edge

Breakout 2: Rooms 1.4 & 1.5

Ethics in Business - why should we care?

This lively 40 minute session will give attendees a greater awareness of the impact of ethical issues on their business, and explore approaches to dealing with them.

The session will include short presentations and a topical question and answer session with a panel who have practical experience of dealing with ethical dilemmas from the perspective of both smaller and larger business.

Chair: Malcolm Bacchus, Vice President Elect of the ICAEW and chair of the Ethics Standards Committee

Speakers: Dominic Hall, Group Head of Ethical Business Conduct, BAE Systems; Derek Blair, ICAEW Council Chair

Lunch break, networking and exhibitor viewing

Why tackling cyber crime makes good business sense

Session details to be announced

Speakers:
Alan Bryce, Business Fraud Campaign Manager, Fraud Advisory Panel
Eric Alter, Senior Vice President; Risk and Cyber Engagement Leader; UK corporate, Marsh

Further speakers to be announced

Choose your breakout stream

Breakout 1: Great Hall

Technology, trends and the Future of Finance

The future of finance is changing. Technology is revolutionising the way finance operates. Our teams need new skills and capabilities to transform how we work. This interactive session led by former Microsoft Finance Director Oliver Deacon will help delegates understand the change that’s coming, assess where their teams are at now, understand the path forward and the actionable next steps.

Oliver Deacon, Executive Leadership Coach
Mike Clark, VP Finance Strategy & Transformation, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners 

Breakout 2: Auditorium

How to promote growth and sustainability through the UK business tax system

This session will look at the various reforms to the UK tax system currently being considered to help businesses to grow, invest and reduce their carbon footprint. These include capital allowances, R&D tax reliefs and investor reliefs such as EIS and VCT. Also, brainstorm other ideas in this area to inform ICAEW’s representations to the Chancellor in advance of this year’s Autumn Budget.

Richard Jones, Technical Manager, Business Tax, ICAEW

Coffee break and exhibitor viewing

Managing change in the workplace

Having strategies to manage your emotional response to change will empower you to face periods of transition with a sense of calm and control. Join us and learn how to reduce the negative impact of change on your wellbeing and harness the potential benefits it can bring.

• Reflect on your personal experiences of change
• Explore your emotional reactions to change
• Learn how change has impacted you
• Learn strategies to help you manage change

Isabelle Campbell FCA, Commercial Finance Director, The Financial Times; Consultant, trainer and coach

Closing remarks

Drinks reception in One Moorgate Place Club

Malcolm Bacchus, Vice President-elect, ICAEW

Malcolm is chair of ICAEW's Ethics Standards Committee and a member of its Technical Strategy Board and has been an elected member of ICAEW's governing Council since 2005. Malcolm qualified with Thornton Baker, now Grant Thornton and after a spell in practice moved into industry and has been finance director of a number of private and public companies, principally on AIM, in a wide range of companies including property, childcare, investment, telecommunications and public relations. He now works as a consultant, lecturer and interim finance director.

Ginny Bradwell, Education Director, First Intuition Limited

Ginny is the Education Director at First Intuition Limited after qualifying in audit 25 years ago. First Intuition provide training programmes for school leavers and graduates to become qualified accountants both within or outside apprenticeships. She has over 20 years of experience in delivering professional education and sits on the ICAEW assessment committee. Ginny has also worked in industry including 2 years in a board role in a professional football club.

Alan Bryce, Business Fraud Campaign Manager, Fraud Advisory Panel

Alan is a counter fraud specialist with over 30 years’ experience. As Business Fraud Campaign Manager at the anti-fraud charity Fraud Advisory Panel, he works with small businesses and stakeholder groups to increase sector resilience to fraud.

Alan was previously Head of Counter Fraud at both the Charity Commission and the Audit Commission. He has an MSc in Counter Fraud & Counter Corruption and is a non-executive director of the Tenancy Fraud Forum. Alan is a former auditor and police officer.

Isabelle Campbell FCA, Commercial Finance Director, The Financial Times; Consultant, trainer and coach

Isabelle is a consultant, trainer and coach. Having obtained her ACA with a Big 4 firm, Isabelle has worked in demanding finance roles for more than 10 years and understands the impact of both work and personal challenges on health, happiness and balance.

Isabelle is an accredited coach and is passionate about helping others achieve work/life balance, build resilience and increase inner peace. With her fervent interest in positive psychology, mindfulness and the power of mindset, Isabelle puts wellbeing strategies into use as a proud mother of 2 boys. Isabelle works alongside clients and delegates to impart what she has learned with energy and enthusiasm.

Mike Clark, VP Finance Strategy & Transformation, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

Mike started his career in sales before training as a Chartered Accountant. He has spent the last 22 years in the FMCG/CPG sector, in a number of senior finance roles, initially for Kerry Foods and then spending 10 years with The Tetley Group / Tata Global Beverages including as Group Financial Controller and CFO for Tetley USA.

Mike joined Coca-Cola Enterprises in 2011 as Commercial Finance Director. In 2014 he took on the role of VP Finance Strategic Initiatives leading the finance function’s major change initiatives and strategic direction, transforming the local decision support finance teams through the setting up a successful reporting ‘Centre of Expertise’ in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Oliver Deacon ACA, Leadership Coach

Oliver is a former Finance Director at Microsoft, an ICAEW member and a PCC Executive Coach through the ICF. He brings a refreshing and inspiring perspective to modern finance. His last team at Microsoft cut 2 days from their month end reporting work by using Power BI.  He relocated back to the UK from Seattle in September 2019.

Dr Asif Din, Sustainability Director, Perkins&Will

Asif is Sustainability Director at Perkins&Will and has a PhD in Life Cycle design of buildings from Cass School of Art and Design at LMU with over 20 years of experience in net zero operational carbon design. He has raised the profile of carbon proficiency in design projects which includes a costed Zero Carbon Report at the end of concept design for all architectural projects. He has been advocating the use of circularity in design and as part of interiors and hospitality provides a Life Cycle Analysis for all projects and a roadmap to achieving full circularity by 2030. He has also been involved in expanding the environmental remit within designs as part of the 'Living Design' initiative utilising a multivalent approach rather than singular metrics. He leads on ISO 14001 in the office which includes operations as well as projects and as part of the Race to Zero initiative also has signed Perkins&Will UK to Race to Resilience.

Rosie Dunscombe, Technical Lead, Climate Change, ICAEW

Rosie has more than 17 years’ experience as a Chartered Accountant and subsequently an environmental economist. She is the lead author of the Capitals Coalition’s Biodiversity Guidance, which brought together business, policy and conservation stakeholders to develop guidance on why and how biodiversity can be better integrated into core business decisions.

Simon Gray, Head of Business, ICAEW

Simon is a chartered accountant and ICAEW member who qualified with KPMG in Nottingham. He joined ICAEW as Head of Business in December 2021. His background is in the recruitment, careers, membership and inward investment sectors. Simon has started and run his own businesses and served as a Non-Executive Director.

Matthew Gregson, Executive Director, Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing

As Executive Director Matthew leads all aspects of Howden's service proposition to corporate clients. He has over 18 years’ experience in employee benefits, including 15 ½ years at Thomsons Online Benefits, where he helped create their market leading flexible benefits proposition in the UK. Matthew has helped many large and complex clients introduce transformational change to their benefits programme, launching flexible benefits, wellbeing and global initiatives, for which many of those clients won awards.

Dominic Hall, Group Head of Ethical Business Conduct, BAE Systems

Dominic is responsible for BAE Systems' Business Ethics Programme across the UK and International businesses. He has deep experience in implementing and operating all aspects of ethics and compliance governance frameworks. Dominic previously held similar leadership roles in Ethics and Compliance at Coca-Cola Enterprises and at BG Group, an oil and gas major. He is also a qualified auditor, and held audit and consulting roles at KPMG for seven years. Dominic has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Philosophy from St. Andrews University.

Richard Jones, Technical Manager, Business Tax, ICAEW

Richard joined ICAEW’s Tax Faculty in 2020. He coordinates the work of the faculty on business tax and compliance & investigations matters and manages the technical committees related to these areas. He makes regular contributions to ICAEW’s tax publications, including TAXline and Newswire and is a regular presenter of webinars and events.

Dr. Anthony Lawrenson, Director, Salus Intelligence

Having completed a career in the Royal Air Force as a pilot and flying instructor, Anthony Lawrenson is currently a Boeing 777 Captain with a major European operator. Over the last two decades he has designed and delivered courses in human factors, organisational culture, legal command and leadership training. He is a founder and a director of Volant Autonomy, a tech start-up specialising in risk analytics for manned and unmanned aviation.

Jessica Lobo, Global Goals Programme Manager, UN Global Compact Network UK

Jessica joined the UN Global Compact Network UK in March 2020 and leads a growing team and a programme of activity to engage business, government, and stakeholders across the UK on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the Global Goals Programme Manager, Jessica focuses on advocating the Goals, cultivating working groups with members of the Network, and hosting forums, webinars, and workshops to enable practical action, share knowledge across sectors, and inspire business ambition to deliver the SDGs.

Marge Lowhar, Director, Trazition

Marge Lowhar is an experienced organisation development consultant, executive coach and facilitator specialising in Organisational Learning and Personal Effectiveness.

Marge has spent the past 30 years working internationally supporting leaders and individuals to implement change and creating and facilitating enjoyable learning experiences. She is particularly interested in issues of trust and communication, leadership, culture change, understanding and managing the impact of implicit bias and talent management.

Marge is constantly seeking out the psychological angle to behaviours and willing to look for alternative approaches even when none seems to be looking for her. She believes that courage, compassion, humility, fun and a sense of thankfulness are important elements to a contented life.

Steve Howes is a Regional Director for Michael Page and has responsibility for teams who specialise in recruiting Senior Finance roles based across Southern England. With 17 years’ experience in the industry, Steve has extensive knowledge of the challenges encountered by businesses of all sizes and sectors as they look to retain and secure talent in a tight labour market.

Ian Pay, Head of Data Analytics and Tech, ICAEW

Ian has recently joined ICAEW as Head of Data Analytics and Tech, looking at the role that analytics and technology solutions play in the profession. Prior to this, Ian worked for over 10 years at PwC in data analytics, specialising in external audit and data acquisition and developing robust and automated ETL (extract, transform and load) processes.

Alison Ring FCA OBE, Director, Public Sector and Taxation, ICAEW

Alison joined ICAEW in 2020 as the Director of the Public Sector team, which supports members working in and with the public sector to deliver public priorities and sustainable public finances. She is also the Director of ICAEW’s Tax team. Alison previously worked in practice for several years and for HMRC, ending her career there as the Commissioners’ Advisory Accountant.

John Tennent, Co-founder, Corporate Edge

John specialises in strategic financial planning, business modelling and investment appraisal. He started his career as a chartered accountant with Deloitte and went on to become the financial controller of a US bank before joining a consultancy as Client Director. He co-founded Corporate Edge in 1996. John helped set up ICAEW’s Excel Community and is the author of the Economist Guide to Business Modelling.

Martin Traynor OBE, Small Business Crown Representative

Based at the Cabinet Office in London, Martin works with government departments to help make procurement policies, practises and procedures simpler for SMEs to navigate. He also works with SMEs to encourage them to think about pitching for both central government contracts and other opportunities across the wider public sector.

Kitty Ussher, Chief Economist, Institute of Directors (IoD)

Kitty joined the IoD as Chief Economist in 2021. She is a UK macroeconomist and public policy research professional and was most recently Chief Economic Advisor at the cross-party think-tank Demos. A former MP for Burnley, her government experience includes serving as Economic Secretary to the Treasury during the early phase of the financial crisis (2007-08) and as a junior minister at the Department for Work and Pensions (2008-09).

Peter van Veen, Director, Corporate Governance and Stewardship, ICAEW

Peter is the Director of Corporate Governance and Stewardship at ICAEW. Prior to this, he was the Chief Compliance Officer for multinational enterprises headquartered in the Netherlands, France and Japan. Peter spent over six years at Transparency International UK (TI-UK), where he set up the Business Integrity Programme.

Frances Way, Executive Director, Climate Champions

Frances joined the Climate Champions on secondment from CDP where she is Chief Strategy Officer. CDP is an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to measure and reduce their environmental impacts. Prior to CDP, she worked in the private finance sector, primarily at Dresdner Kleinwort’s Global Equities Division. Frances sits on the board of EIRIS Foundation and holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College.

Sarah Webster, Director of Sustainable Business, Britvic

Sarah is responsible at Britvic plc for setting the sustainable business framework, Healthier People Healthier Planet. This includes setting global minimum standards of execution, governance oversight and supporting the ESG committee together with communicating and engaging with internal and external stakeholders to generate a transparent understanding of Britvic plc’s progress and challenges.

With over 20 years FMCG experience, including 18 years with Diageo, Sarah's cross functional career spans sustainable business, investor relations, finance, M&A, marketing and innovation.Sarah has a degree in Business Studies from Oxford Brookes University, is a Chartered Management Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser.

Nick Wildgoose FCA FCIPS, Independent Supply Chain Risk Consultant and Director, Procurement Advantage

Nick is a qualified accountant, supply chain and risk professional and has held a variety of global financial, procurement and commercial positions in several industry sectors, working for companies such as PWC, Linde Group, The Virgin Group, Zurich Insurance Group and DHL Resilience360.

Mark Williams CPFA FCA, Advisor, CIPFA

Mark recently joined CIPFA as an advisor/trainer. Mark’s background is as a public services auditor, advisory and consultant. He set and led the Government finance and accounting team for one of the Big4, and in parallel was the sponsoring partner for their public services learning programme, leading on property/infrastructure for a consultancy.

Iain Wright, Managing Director, Reputation and Influence, ICAEW

Iain Wright joined ICAEW as Director of Corporate and Regional Engagement in June 2018. Iain trained as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte & Touche and worked for the firm until 2003.