CIOT President's page: Celebrating milestones

All of our students are a perennial source of pride for the Institute, and it is heartening to see their hard work and dedication pay off. I am really looking forward to having the chance to celebrate their accomplishments when we hold our Admissions Ceremony in London later this month.

It is also really encouraging to see ADIT go from strength to strength. Last year, 1,610 exams were sat in 72 countries around the world. This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the first ADIT exam session, and it is of immense pride to all at the CIOT to witness the exceptional standard of students who are pursuing what is a highly rigorous and well-regarded assessment. ADIT is no ordinary achievement and so our collective thanks must go to Jim Robertson and the ADIT Academic Board for their oversight of this important qualification.

Around a third of those who were successful in November’s exams have now passed all the requirements necessary to achieve CIOT membership. Last year, we welcomed 699 new members to the Institute, taking our total membership to a record-setting 19,924. The figure for 2023 is just 76 shy of what we hope will soon be our 20,000th member, a milestone moment in the history of CIOT and the tax profession.

We hope that everyone who studies for their tax qualifications and achieves membership will go on to play an active part in the life of the Institute, maybe even one day following in my footsteps to become President!

For some, that will be chairing or participating as an active member of our branch network, helping to organise CPD and networking opportunities for their fellow tax professionals.

Last year, we welcomed over 900 people to face-to-face and other events, while more than 11,000 logged-in to one of our many online events. Although attendance at our face-to-face events isn’t quite back to pre-pandemic levels, feedback tells us that our members value the chance to meet in person. That is hugely encouraging to us as we strive to give our members the best possible membership experience.

Others may choose to take a more active role in the work of our technical committees, helping with the development of tax policy and legislation by contributing to consultation responses, meeting with government officials or supporting our media and political outreach work.

Our members’ expertise helped to shape over 200 consultation responses to HMRC, HM Treasury and the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales, among others. In turn, this helped to ensure that CIOT and LITRG were mentioned 54 times in parliamentary debates and reports, including a hearty endorsement of our work from the Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury James Murray, as the Finance Bill continued its passage through parliament (see page 47).

Regardless of whether members choose the branch or technical route, they are joining committees that are the beating heart of our membership and which are fundamental to helping us to fulfil our charitable objectives to promote education and understanding of taxation.

I think it is really important that we take the time to reflect on the breadth and depth of work that our members, volunteers and staff contribute in the name of building a better tax system. Now more than ever, that expertise and experience is needed so that policy makers are alive to our concerns and take the steps that are needed to ensure the tax system works as well as it can do.

I invite you to take a look at a snapshot of some of CIOT and ATT’s accomplishments in 2023 in the infographics on pages 5 and 7 of this month’s magazine. If that whets your appetite to take a more active role in the work of our bodies, then please get in touch with us at branches@tax.org.uk. We would love to hear from you.

Have a great month!