Mrs. Thatcher has become patron of the newly established Society of Conservative Accountants.
In a message welcoming the formation of the Society, she hoped it would be widely supported throughout the accountancy profession. “Any organisation which strengthens the links between the Conservative Party and one of our leading professions needs no other justification. I believe that the access which the Society will give us as a Party, to practical professional accountancy expertise will be extremely useful in our work in preparing to be the next Government.”
The Society has three main objectives:-
(a) to make available to the Party expert advice in such fields as taxation, company law, insolvency, rates and local government finance.
(b) to put forward constructive policy proposals in such fields;
(c) to enable Conservative Accountants to exchange views and to contribute to political debate.
The Chairman of the Society is Mr. Cecil Parkinson M.P. (Herefordshire, South) and Vice Chairman Mr. John Cope M.P. (Gloucestershire, South).
Mr. Parkinson said today: [end p1]
“For many reasons accountants have been reluctant to involve themselves in politics and the various accountancy bodies are, quite preperly, scrupulously careful not to involve themselves in party politics. But if Parliament is to carry out its function of vetting Executive spending and controlling the Executive, it must have access to more accountancy expertise and to the services of those who are evolving and operating the latest accountancy techniques. This is one of the reasons why I believe that the Society of Conservative Accountants has a most important role to play.