Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

28 September 2006

Yesterday, Tuesday 26th September 2006, onboard Brunel’s first great ocean liner, the SS Great Britain, CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) Bristol Branch celebrated 70 years of business and development in the area. In a year which has been full of celebrations for Bristol, CIMA is proud of their great success and of the relationships that have been established, built and defined with local businesses.. CIMA has always been at the forefront of innovation for management accountants in the region and now boasts impressive membership numbers and has many CIMA qualified people operating in and around Bristol.

CIMA and Bristol businesses together have achieved these outstanding statistics:

• Over 3,000 CIMA members and students
• In the South West region there are 150 CIMA senior managers and over 300 CIMA financial directors working in local businesses.

Another milestone being celebrated this year in Bristol is the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's birth. A man of tremendous vision, confidence, energy, diligence and skill, Brunel has, over the last two centuries, played a significant role in shaping Bristol and his innovations have resulted in many of the world’s great engineering feats.

The Bristol Branch sees Brunel’s originality and innovation as aspirational to CIMA’s members and students, who remain at the leading edge of financial management in business. In line with this, CIMA Bristol Branch decided to hold their birthday celebrations aboard a Brunel masterpiece, the SS Great Britain. More than 80 members and students from local businesses enjoyed a greeting from John Coghlan, CIMA President, and Carol Davis, CIMA Bristol Branch President, followed by a tour through the SS Great Britain and the Brunel Exhibition.

Tony Hallwood, Aviation Development and Marketing Director at Bristol International Airport also spoke at the event on air transportation in the 21st century.

Bristol has always had and continues to have a thriving business community.  The CIMA Bristol Branch has a strong working relationship with many of the top businesses in the area including Imperial Tobacco, BPP Bristol, Airbus UK, Bristol International Airport, Ernst & Young, Bristol Water Plc and Axa Sun Life Plc.

The event is sponsored by FTC Kaplan and Hays Accountancy & Finance.

John Coghlan, President, CIMA, said:

"We are proud to be celebrating 70 proactive and successful years in the Bristol region. We would like to thank the businesses of Bristol who have worked together with us. The statistics of people involved with CIMA in this area are an immense credit to everyone involved.

"Bristol is celebrating many special milestones this year. It seems fitting that CIMA could add to this. We look forward to continuing to work with local businesses in this area to ensure a bright and flourishing future for Bristol".

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Claire Grewer
Press Officer, CIMA
+44 (0) 20 8849 2300
Claire.Grewer@cimaglobal.com

Notes to editors

1. CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business.  It is a world leading professional institute that offers an internationally recognised qualification in management accountancy, focusing on accounting in business, in both the private and public sectors. CIMA is the voice of over 155,000 members and students in 158 countries and is responsible for the education and training of management accountants who work in industry, commerce and not-for-profit and has more members in the public sector than any other UK based body.  CIMA prides itself on the commercial relevance of its syllabus, which is in tune with the activities of high performance organisations, and evolves continually to reflect the latest developments in global business.  It is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of members and students, and to maintaining public confidence in management accountancy.  For more information about CIMA, please visit www.cimaglobal.com

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