The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers is a British not for profit organisation with the objective of promoting the bookkeeping profession worldwide and offering trusted bookkeeping qualifications to its students and members. ICB was founded in the United Kingdom in November 1996, and has since grown to be the largest bookkeeping body in the world, with 150,000 students and members in over 100 countries. ICB’s objectives are: • to promote bookkeeping as a profession • to increase recognition for bookkeeping as an integral part of the financial profession • to promote education and learning • to enable the achievement of a recognised bookkeeping qualification • to provide a trusted benchmark for the profession • to improve the career prospects of ICB members
Global presence
Since its inception in the UK, ICB has set up international offices and agents in 19 other countries, with offices in Australia since 2002, Russia and other countries in eastern Europe and central Asia since 2006, Ghana since 2009, India since 2010, and Ireland since 2013.
Membership
Membership of ICB is available to bookkeepers with suitable previous qualifications or experience, as well as those without prior knowledge. The latter can join as students and take a course with an ICB-accredited Training Provider, or learn through self-study using ICB textbooks, and then upgrade after passing ICB exams. Members have access to a range of benefits, including regular Continuing professional development events, technical advice line and web resources, a membership card and certificate, career and business start-up advice, and an online job vacancies facility.
ICB has been an HMT-appointed Money Laundering Supervisor since the UK Money laundering Regulations Act of 2007 came into force. The act requires all bookkeeping practices to be supervised by such a body. ICB automatically covers all of its members who take out an ICB Practice Licence. Over 3,000 bookkeeping practices in the UK are supervised by ICB.
Annual events
In 2009 ICB established both its annual Bookkeepers Summit, a conference of ICB students and members, and the LUCA awards, its annual awards dinner, both of which take place each year in London. The summit is attended by hundreds of ICB students and members. Guests attend talks covering a range of industry-related topics, and have the opportunity to network with fellow bookkeepers. The annual LUCA Awards were created to recognise excellence in bookkeeping, study and training. They are attended by nominated ICB students, members, and partners from the UK and around the world. In 2013 ICB launched their National Bookkeeping Week; a week of events held across the country for the purpose of raising the profile of bookkeeping as a profession and the recognition of its importance to businesses.
Partners
ICB has had a strategic partnership with Sage software for several years, and has since partnered with several additional software providers, including Intuit, Big Red Cloud, ClearBooks, AE Comply, and Receipt Bank. ICB also partnered with Start up Loans in 2013, in order to give further support to small businesses and emphasise to them the importance of good bookkeeping.
