Just as to improve we must change, it follows that to strive for perfection we must change constantly. - Winston Churchill
Gibbs & Co are proud of their standing as a firm authorised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) to provide services to businesses and the public.
The ACCA was formed in 1904, to provide an alternative route for talented individuals to qualify as accountants. It is one of the largest UK accountancy bodies in terms of its members, however, unlike the original one, around half of our members live and work outside the UK. True, many other professional bodies have been established since, but they primarily existed for accountants in particular disciplines or related areas of commerce. Only the two original bodies have existed throughout, to primarily serve individuals and business men and women in the world of finance and taxation.
Ultimately in seeking professional services you are selecting the individual you prefer to work with. However, selecting an ACCA firm comes with a number of assurances which has led to their continuing success over the decades. Any ACCA qualified accountant must have proven themselves over the long-term in some of the toughest and most competitive exams in the world. They then have to demonstrate that they have the necessary experience to serve you. In addition they are also required to undertake additional training each year to maintain their knowledge base and skill set. In applying for a practicing certificate annually a member firm signs up to the Association’s rule book requiring them to abide by a code of conduct that protects all individuals they come in to contact with, before, during and long after any assignment has finished. Nothing is left to chance to ensure that you have complete peace of mind at all times.
Our founder Stephen Gibbs was invited to join the local ACCA member network panel in 2004 and jumped at the opportunity to shape policy locally and nationally. He went on to be selected as their President both in 2007/08 and 2008/09. In March 2008 one of his earliest duties was to present Watt Nicoll an acclaimed motivational coach to the ACCA Northern Business Lecture.
Stephen pictured with Watt Nicholl at the lecture, photo courtesy of the ACCA
Later as Sheffield's President and as a trustee of the local ACCA Student's Prize fund he was doubly involved in their 2009 dinner dance, welcoming and entertaining guests with a short after dinner speech, and in recognising the success of our students' outstanding performance in the Association's exams along with the ACCA President. Stephen presents Lauren with the ACCA Student's PrizeLauren receiving her award, she had the highest marks in the world in one of her exam papers. A video clip of Lauren inspiring fellow students with her successes is available on the ACCA web-site. Pictured with Lauren Lockwood and Richard Aitken-Davies at Baldwins Omega, photo courtesy of the ACCA.
Other duties included participating in a number of the ACCA's Strategy Conferences, events staged with a view to seeking members' views from across the network of panels and shaping the ACCA's policy for the future.
"It is tremendously empowering to have been selected to be part of such a dynamic process, throughout what has been a highly challenging and successful time for the ACCA." - Stephen Gibbs
The panel also serves local members to lay on a lecture programme of the highest standard, his work in this area afforded him the honour of introducing a wide range of specialised professionals to members and to enabled him to get to know them far better than would have been possible otherwise.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a habit" Aristotle