Dear members,
On 1 March the Institute released the consultation paper on a proposed framework for the one member one vote election of the President and Vice-Presidents. This is the outstanding action from the Extraordinary General Meeting held in March 2018. The consultation paper proposes an election model developed by an Independent Working Group, and endorsed by Council, albeit with divergent and divided views on the model.
On behalf of the Leadership Team, I urge you to read and consider the consultation paper as well as the accompanying message from the Leadership Team and covering letter from the Council, before responding to the consultation. These proposals are not cast in stone, your views are important for us to help us meet your expectations about how we change our election model.
We held two briefing sessions on the consultation paper in late March, one in Chinese and one in English, featuring myself, Margaret W.S. Chan, Chief Executive and Registrar, and other members of the Institute’s management team. These were recorded and are available via the consultation’s dedicated webpage. The webpage also contains the message from the Leadership Team, covering letter from the Council, and the consultation paper, and other useful information about the consultation.
We treasure your feedback and look forward to receiving your views on the proposed election framework. The consultation will end on 31 May, after which the Council will then consider the results before responding as soon as is practical. I hope that we can quickly progress with this important governance matter.
With the recent news that the government is considering loosening restrictions after the decreasing number of daily local COVID-19 cases, we can now hope for the future. The necessary social distancing restrictions in place over the past year, while important for minimizing the spread of COVID-19, have affected all our lives. One aspect that I know has affected many is the lack of group sports and competition events.
Well now that we can see the end of the disruption, we have a treat for our joggers. Although we cannot offer a physical race – we are delighted to offer a virtual race this year. The CPA Virtual Run 2021 welcomes all members to participate in the 10 km races or in the 3 km Fun Run on an individual or team basis.
My thanks go to the sponsors of the prizes and gifts for taking part, and the team organizing the run. It should be a fun event and I hope you’ll consider taking part. Register by 5 May, and upload your results on or before 16 May to compete for one of the awards, and obtain a finisher pack.
In order to be able to hold large-scale competitions and experience more normal times again, enough of us must be vaccinated against COVID-19. The outbreak in the finance community early in the month also showed that we are not immune as professionals. This month, the government expanded the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme and announced that all residents aged 30 and above are eligible to book vaccinations. I urge all members to consider getting vaccinated, and help to protect those in our community who are unable to be vaccinated.
Finally, congratulations to the over 650 new members who joined us after the December 2020 examination session of the Qualification Programme (QP). We were so happy to be able to successfully hold the examination session and I thank the Institute’s Education and Training Department for their hard work organizing the session, and ensuring that it could go ahead with the social distancing measures in place. Preparations are well underway for the June 2021 examination session, which features the first sitting of the Professional Level modules of the new QP.
Raymond Cheng
President
“These proposals are not cast in stone, your views are important for us to help us meet your expectations about how we change our election model.”
