Remarks by Jim Aiken, Vice President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, on the official opening of the ICAI Offices, Belfast

“Let me start by conveying to you an apology on behalf of my colleagues, our President, Martin Wilson.

Martin is recovering from surgery and thankfully recovering well. He would have loved to be here to celebrate the opening of these new offices, a testament to the ambition of our Institute and to the on going importance of the accountancy profession to the development of our economies North and South.

Impressive though they are, these offices represent only the first element of our plans as an organization to update our facilities. Work is already underway on a new Headquarters building in Pearse Street, Dublin. For the first time ever both facilities will bring together our educational and administrative functions into the same place. Such a move recognizes our primary function as an educator.

ICAI is different from many other professional bodies. We take responsibility for educating our students. That is why our training system is so successful. These facilities will for the first time ever allow us educate our students ‘in house’. With the implementation of our new syllabus beginning next year, the education of Chartered Accountants will soon be entering a new era.

And not just for our students. We are primarily a member services organization. Members will come to these new state of the art offices to do their CPD programmes or some of the post qualification programmes being developed by our lifelong learning team. Education is not something CAs finish when they qualify, rather their education has merely completed an initial phase. Now we have the facilities to cater for their remaining journey.

These offices will also host not just the Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants, (as Angela has mentioned), an important player in public life here in the North but also our newly established Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board, under the Chairmanship of Dr Liam O'Reilly, who I am please to see among us. CARB, which is operationally independent from ICAI Council, is a notable effort on ICAI's part to introduce both greater independence and transparency into our regulatory functions. As a new regulatory model for the profession, it is already attracting interest from overseas.

It is fortunate and perhaps not entirely coincidental that ICAI has been in a position to make these bold steps at a time when stability and optimism is returning to Northern Ireland. The Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants has consistently argued that the restoration of devolved Government is a critical step towards the stability necessary for the sustained development of the Northern Ireland economy.

Therefore we are particularly honoured here this evening to have with us the newly elected First Minister, Dr Paisley, to officially open these premises. While it may not be Dr Paisley's first official engagement as First Minister, it is surely one of the first, and we at ICAI are particularly pleased to be making this joint statement this evening – optimism about our future and optimism about Northern Ireland's future.

As Chartered Accountants we have been central to the development of business life on this island since our establishment in 1888. We are rightly proud that not withstanding any political turmoil, and there have period of considerable difficulty since 1888, that we have stood together as a body being represented and led by members of both traditions.

We have also, I believe, been key contributors to the phase of growth known in the Republic as the Celtic Tiger and well placed to see the potential that now resides in Northern Ireland.

As an all island body, ICAI is more aware than most organisations of the similarities, and the differences, between the economic environments North and South. The similarities far outweigh the differences. We share the same geographical advantages. We are simultaneously a small island on the periphery of Europe and the Western gateway to the markets of Europe. We share the same legal systems, in the irrecognition of the rights of the individual and the integrity of ownership within common law.

But ICAI believes that our differences can prejudice each other's mutual success. The most graphic illustration of this has been the see-sawing levels of prosperity in our border counties, where towns and villages North and South have thrived or waned in successive periods. These changes in fortune were not determined by the relative sizes of our economies, nor by the relative skills and talents of our people. They depended on the relative levels of VAT and Excise levied by the two governments.

To be truly successful in the international market, this island economy must display a united front to the world. By acting as closely as we can, both territories will surely benefit. Inward investment is important not just for the jobs it creates, but for the domestic markets it sustains. Growing prosperity north of the border generates growing prosperity south of the border, and vice versa if the conditions are right. We are making the conditions right by facilitating the ready movement of goods cross border, and our shared EU Membership has been integral to this. We must now take the next steps ourselves towards facilitating the ready movement of labour and services.

We must recognise and credit the taxes paid by our workers and our businesses as they operate cross border. We must ensure that it becomes as easy for the Newry business to meet its tax obligations when it trades in New Ross, as it is for the New Ross business to operate in Newry. I can assure you that Chartered Accountants know better than most the practical barriers which prevent this from happening at present. We welcome and encourage the recent and ongoing initiatives by both Governments to simplify tax administration for cross border trade.

For the reasons I have outlined, I believe we should go a step further. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland calls for the introduction of a corporation tax rate in the North which will equal the prevailing rate in the South. It is often over looked the 12.5% rate in the Republic is focused on trade, and trade only – other company activities attract rate equivalent to the European average. A unified front on the taxation of trading activities on the island of Ireland will attract investment from abroad, an support all island markets to the direct benefit of both economies. We also believe that a corporation tax rate in the North which is in line with the South will encourage investment from South to North as well as from North to South.

Such a move is not tax competition, it is a kind of tax facilitation – removing tax barriers. In any competition, there are winners and losers. Reducing the Corporation Tax rate in the North to bring it in line with the South will only create winners.

Finally, I think some thanks are due.

To our Council for their recognition that that acquisition of these new premises was important for ICAI in Northern Ireland. To Eric Bell and James Hunt who at various stages headed up our Premise Committee here in Northern Ireland. To Pat Costello John Patten and his team for sorting out the logistic involved and particular tribute should be paid here to the staff of the Belfast offices, especially Michelle Kane, who put up with periods of prolonged and extensive planning.

And to the First Minister, whose presence here this evening, marks official recognition of what ICAI can contribute to the future of this island and its economies.”