Professional development day and AGM

Find out more about the region's Professional Update event and the Annual General Meeting

CIPFA in the North East’s professional update event 2018 – ‘Ambition, Drive and Integrity'

A morning session aimed at students who are yet to complete their Practical Experience Portfolio (PEP) was delivered by Aga Jopp, Head of Student Services at CIPFA. Aga gave a walk-through of the PEP requirements, highlighting the nuances for level 7 apprentices, and demonstrated the new online PEP system due to go live in the coming weeks. This was a great opportunity for students to ask questions and receive feedback on ideas. 

Following a networking lunch, Ivan Bradshaw, Fraud Specialist Manager at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, delivered a presentation titled 'NHS Frauds in Glorious Technicolour: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous'. Ivan shared some interesting (censored) examples of cases he has been involved with, highlighting the methodical approach taken by the perpetrators and discussing how or why they were able to do what they did, and how they were, in the end, inevitably discovered. 

The next presenter, Janice Gillespie, North Tyneside Council gave an insightful view into the life of a Local Authority Section 151 Officer. Janice indicated there is no such thing as a typical day for a S151 Officer – her attention is divided across a range of different areas from the strategic and politically sensitive aspects, eg strategic property meetings with council members, down to operational levels such as holding one-to-ones with staff or signing off grant submissions.  Janice emphasised that the value of the network with S151 Officers in the region and the ability to call upon each other for advice, guidance or a second opinion cannot be overstated, and highlighted the importance of networking opportunities such as these events. 

After a coffee break, the final presentation was a motivational session around developing your personal brand, delivered by Graham Burnett, Mazars Talent Development. One of the messages from the session being that we too often are guilty of focusing our attention on correcting our mistakes and weaknesses rather than playing to and developing our strengths, where we are more likely to produce a much greater impact to our lives.  

The day concluded with CIPFA in the North East's Annual General Meeting where Judith Savage and Jim Dafter continued in their second terms as president and vice president, and Matt Calvert and James Charlton continued in their roles as treasurer and acting secretary.