Governance in the voluntary sector:
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 14:46:00 GMT
Reacting to challenge or creating opportunity? A practitioner view
On 12th November 2014 Anne Davis, formerly Head of Charities and the Voluntary Sector at the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales) and a Visiting Research Fellow with FEGReG, gave a talk to an audience of staff, students and invited guests on the subject of ‘Governance in not for profit organisations: challenges, opportunities and reflections’.
Echoing the commitment of Director of FEGReG Professor Collins Ntim to balance academic and practitioner views, Anne’s discussion was based both on the findings of research and her own experience. She is currently treasurer for the Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, a trustee for the Coalition for Efficiency and secretariat to the Charity SORP Committee .
Anne emphasised that the concept ‘Voluntary Sector’ embraces a variety of terminology, that its legal structures and relationships are complex, multi-dimensional and fuzzy and that there is no agreed international definition. She went on to animate an overview of the governance challenges, and opportunities, this creates with some ‘personal reflections from the ground’. After the talk understanding the implications of the lack of international definition was greatly enhanced by the questions and contributions from some of our international students.
In addition to her work in and on the voluntary sector, Anne has written numerous articles and case studies, has authored the ICAEW reports ‘Reporting with Integrity’ (2007) and ‘Instilling Integrity in Organisations’ (2009) and has given many presentations on ethics for professional audiences. It was a rare opportunity for this FEGReG audience to benefit from the wealth of her personal and professional experience.
