New Chairman says 'Northern Ireland Must Act Now to Secure Economic Step Change' (5th April 2011)

Michael Black was elected Chairman of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society at its 104th Annual General Meeting in Belfast today. The Ulster Society represents over 3,400 Chartered Accountants and is a district society of the Chartered Accountants Ireland, the largest and oldest professional accountancy body in Ireland.

Mr Black, who takes over as Chairman from Richard Gardiner, is Finance Director of international telecoms software company Aepona Holdings Ltd. In addition Mr Black is chairman of Antrim based software company Consilium Technologies Limited and local enterprise agency Craigavon Industrial Development Organisation.

Addressing the Society’s AGM, he stressed that immediate action was required to create a step change for the Northern Ireland economy and to create a much larger private sector:

“We have had multiple strategies, reviews, plans, think tanks, grants of multiple types and incentives for R&D, but none of this has been enough to stimulate the private sector to correct the public/private sector imbalance. Simply put, we don’t have enough big companies making significant investments in Northern Ireland to augment the activities of our indigenous exporters.

The current consultation on corporate tax is a very important proposal for the economy for the medium to long term, and I urge all members of the business community to make their views known via the consultation.

To succeed overseas, in the face of stiff competition, every possible source of advantage must be leveraged and for Northern Ireland I believe that low corporate tax as an incentive for overseas investment must be one crucial strand of our strategy to drive the local economy.”

He pledged that the Society would focus on supporting its membership to make a defining contribution to the Northern Ireland economy.

Pictured after the AGM is New Chartered Accountants Ulster Society Chairman Michael Black (right) and outgoing Chairman Richard Gardiner.