Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy

Motions for the 2009 Annual General Meeting

On page 17 of the April issue of Spreadsheet reference is included to a motion which it is planned will be placed before the 2009 AGM on 23 June and which will be the subject of a postal vote (alongside all the other motions).

For completeness, the actual Motion is shown below, and is written in the rather lengthy way needed to delete the old clauses from and add the new clauses into the Byelaws. More readable, therefore, is the article below and the list of Frequently Asked Questions which we hope will clarify aspects of the change.

If members have any questions or comments about this Motion, they are invited to contact Barry Mathers, Council Secretary on 0207 543 5669 or email barry.mather@cipfa.org.uk

The Spreadsheet article is reproduced below –

Membership of CIPFA Council is currently only available to members who are under 65 on becoming a member of Council. This reflects the desire by Council to ensure that those who govern and lead the work of the Institute are ‘practitioners’, The Council remains firm in that belief, but recognises that being under 65 is no longer a meaningful and accurate representation of being a ‘practitioner’. Council is therefore proposing that age should no longer be a criterion for membership of CIPFA Council and that a new definition of when one is a ‘practitioner’ is needed. The criteria for candidates that Council is proposing are:

Members will have the opportunity to vote on the proposed new criteria at the 2009 Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM motion will also propose that, for simplicity, the calculation of the allocation of the 21 electable Council seats across the current four employment categories will be based upon the number of members paying full annual subscription in each category.

The proposed changes to the bye-laws will, if approved, replace the ‘rule of 65’.

Candidates’ written statements that they meet those criteria will be verified as far as is possible against Institute records. Uncertainties will be referred to the Elections Scrutiny Panel whose decision will be final.

The AGM Motion

That this meeting of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy hereby resolves that, subject to such amendments (whether by deletion, variation or addition) thereto as Her Majesty’s Honourable Privy Council may request or require:

  1. that at the end of Bye-law 1, add the following definition -
    "Scrutiny Panel" means a panel consisting of three Past Presidents no longer on the Council and operating in accordance with Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure agreed by the Council from time to time.

  2. that in Bye-Law 47, delete the words ‘Member of the Institute shall not be eligible for membership of the Council after he attains the age of sixty-five. A member of the Council who attains the age of sixty-five shall continue to be a member of the Council until the next Annual General Meeting.’ and substitute the words-
    ‘person shall not be eligible for membership of the Council unless:

    1. he is a Member of the Institute at the time he accepts his nomination for election to the Council; and

    2. he has been in paid employment for a minimum average of eighteen hours per week during the full calendar year falling immediately prior to his acceptance of such nomination or the full calendar year prior to that year (referred to in these Bye-laws as being “Economically Active”)’.

  3. Immediately following Bye-Law 47 as amended, add-
    47A  For the avoidance of doubt, the Past President shall be eligible to sit on the Council irrespective of whether he is Economically Active.

    47B  Upon accepting his nomination for election to the Council the candidate will confirm to the Secretary in writing that he is Economically Active. Such confirmation will be subject to verification and, in the event of any disagreement as to whether a candidate is Economically Active, the matter will be determined by the Scrutiny Panel whose decision shall be final and binding.

  4. In Bye-law 49(ii)-

    1. substitute the word ‘Members’ for the word ‘Persons’;
    2. delete ‘: SAVE and unless any such person shall have validly elected to pay a reduced annual subscription or life membership subscription.’
    3. add ‘Any Members who are not obliged (whether or not such obligation has been waived or reduced in accordance with Bye-law 31) to pay a full annual subscription (as determined’ before the words ‘in accordance with’; and
    4. delete the words ‘in which event if being over the age of sixty-four, shall not be so deemed and’.  

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Who is a ‘Member of the Institute’?
Those elected to membership under Bye-Laws 4, 5 or 6 (i.e. not Registered Students) and whose annual subscription is ‘current’. Subscription invoices are issued in November and are due for payment on 1 January. However, under the terms of Bye-Law 26, Council has determined that membership only ceases if the annual subscription is not paid in full by the end of June; membership is therefore ‘current’ until 30 June of the year in question.

The nomination and election process for Council seats takes place during February to May of each year. However, if the subscription payable by a member of the Institute Council remains fully or partly unpaid at the end of June, the member is obliged to step down from Council (Bye-Law 52).

What might be included in or excluded from ‘paid employment’?
Included–

- salaried employment; paid consultancy and interim management placements; paid non-executive roles.

- any employment sector

Excluded-

- time devoted to voluntary/trustee i.e unpaid roles for voluntary organisations, charities and membership bodies

- ‘pro bono’ assignments.

In which years must I be ‘Economically Active’?
In either of the two full calendar years immediately prior to the February/March in which nomination to stand for a Council seat is accepted. Members failing to meet that definition in one or other of those years are unable to stand for Council.

How should the average be measured?
For those Members in salaried employment, it should be based on the full calendar (1 January to 31 December) year, and a typical year of 52 weeks and an average working week of 36 hours; the required average of 18 hours/week can therefore also be regarded as 50% of the year. The average should be calculated over the full 12 months; for example, a member fully employed for 5 months but unemployed/on unpaid career break for seven months will not meet the required average, but the addition of an average of 5 hours/week of paid employment during those 7 months will increase the average to the threshold.

I am self-employed, so my ‘working year’ is quite different.
We recognise that typically self-employed members are not reimbursed for holidays as salaried members are, and that as a result the number of weeks per year that self-employed members might hope to be in paid employment is more likely to be 46 rather than 52. In these circumstances, self-employed candidates should regard the working year as 46 weeks; therefore the threshold to meet the definition of Economically Active can, for example, be met by either 23 weeks of full-time (36 hours/week) work OR a minimum of 828 paid hours (calculated as 46 weeks at 18 hours/week).

Which election category will I stand in?
Candidates will stand for election in the Employment Category relevant to the date on which they accept nomination, not the category, if different, within which they were employed during the two previous years of being Economically Active. So, for example, a candidate who was employed in Local Government in that period but who has recently moved into Health will stand in the Health category; if he/she has just retired, it will be the ‘All Other’ category.

How will I be expected to show that I meet the threshold?
Candidates will be asked to ‘self-certify’ that they are Economically Active in accordance with CIPFA’s rules and are thereby eligible to stand for Council (alongside certifying that they are eligible to become a charity trustee).

The self-certification will, as far as it is possible, be verified against Institute records; for example, to confirm that a candidate pays the appropriate rate of annual subscription and that the level of activity is consistent with any claimed exemption from CPD. In the event of disagreement with the candidate on this matter, the facts and documentation provided by the candidate will be given to the Scrutiny Panel for discussion with the candidate. Ultimately the Scrutiny Panel has the power to decide whether a candidate is eligible to stand for Council. Its decision is final.