SME guru wins 2007 accounting award

Business consultant and better regulation guru, Teresa Graham OBE has been awarded the ICAEW 2007 Outstanding Achievement award

For the first time in its 28-year history, one of the highest accolades of the accountancy profession has been given to a female chartered accountant.

The prestigious honour goes to Teresa Graham in recognition of her contribution to the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector, to better regulation and to the accountancy profession.

In accepting her award, Teresa Graham said:

“I am deeply honoured to have been presented with this award for outstanding achievement. It is particularly special to me as it is given by my peers within the accountancy profession, so many of whom l have known and admired for so long.”

Teresa Graham has been a consistent champion of the need to improve regulation for SMEs, particularly in the area of deregulation.

She qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse in 1980, having obtained a Batchelor of Arts degree from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

After moving to London, she became a partner in Baker Tilly in 1989 and now works as an independent consultant to the firm.

She became a recognised guru for better regulation following a secondment to the government’s Enterprise and Deregulation Unit in 1987.

She was appointed to the Deregulation Advisory Panel in 1988 and is the only member to have served on the committee throughout its existence.

Her passion and dedication to the cause of improving regulation contributed to her appointment as deputy chair of the government’s Better Regulation Commission on which she has served since 1997. In that role, she has helped to drive a culture of change across Whitehall and in 2006 she was appointed chair of the Administrative Burden Advisory Board.

Teresa Graham is a strategic advisor to ambitious growing businesses and is also chair of the London Entrepreneur’s Club and Patron of Network, a national forum for women in business.

The ICAEW Award for Outstanding Achievement is made every year to a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales in recognition of an outstanding contribution in any field of endeavour.

It was introduced in 1980 by the four Founding Societies who originally came together to form the Institute. The selection committee is made up of Founding Society representatives, captains of industry and other public figures.

The award will be presented at the ICAEW Annual Dinner at Chartered Accountants’ Hall on 06 March 2007.

Media enquiries:

Stephanie Aneto, ICAEW press office, on +44 20 7920 8616 or email stephanie.aneto@icaew.com