More than 160 chartered accountants and guests gathered at the Harbour Hotel, Southampton for the first annual dinner since their district society, serving Hampshire, Dorset, part of Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight, was rebranded as ICAEW Southern in May last year.

In welcoming attendees, and especially the growing number of younger members, ICAEW Southern’s president, Richard Cartwright, praised the profession, claiming that it has a bright future. He said: “Accounting has been and will remain the language of business. Accountants as purveyors of trusted advice continue to inspire confidence within business and the economy, and the profession, despite our occasional shortcomings, remains the competent authority on ethics within business. I feel that it will remain the backbone of the economy.”

The evening continued with an exciting and animated keynote speech by extreme adventurer, motivational speaker and author Manley Hopkinson, who was introduced by Richard Dibden, Commercial Director of CMA Recruitment Group, the main sponsor. Manley’s talk on leadership was illustrated with videos of his first ever hurricane and similar storms at sea during the BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race in 2000, which certainly had the audience on the edges of their seats.

Following a presidential address by Nick Parker, President, ICAEW and an ICAEW Southern past president, Paul Bennett, director of enterprise at Southampton Business School presented awards to high achieving young accountants in training.

The July 2017 cohort of top scorers comprised Charles Gratton of Deloitte LLP, Eleanor Sheppard of PKF Francis Clark, Simon Moone of Ernst & Young LLP and Matt James, and the November 2017 cohort comprised Matthew Lawson, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Lydia Renouf, of BDO LLP, Kathryn Symmonds of Rothman Pantall & Co and Charles Gratton for a further paper, who also received the Annual Order Of Merit 2017.

A charity auction and raffle followed, raising over £2,000 for Lymington-based Team Ocean Brothers, who completed their two-man row across the Atlantic a few days earlier to raise money for the British Skin Foundation’s cancer research. James Wallis of Bournemouth-based Aben Financial was top bidder in the auction for a day out in the transatlantic row boat with brothers Jude Massey and Dr Greg Bailey, and Manley Hopkinson.

Thanks for a brilliant evening are due to main sponsor CMA Recruitment Group and welcome reception sponsor Kaplan Financial, the Harbour Hotel and Southampton Business School, which sponsored the awards.