We seldom get letters from abroad at Room151, so we were particularly grateful to receive an email recently from 84 year-old, David C. Jones FCPA, resident of the United States and public finance professional of many years. As a keen reader of our pages, David thought we might be interested to see a CIPFA presidential address of yesteryear by his namesake George C. Jones, former treasurer of Reading Borough Council.
In his letter, David describes the paper, THE INDEPENDENCE of THE TREASURER of PUBLIC FUNDS, with great affection:
“When I was studying for what was, then, the IMTA, and in the early stages of my qualification, one of the key purveyors of the concept of “treasurer independence” was the Borough Treasurer of Reading and a one-time Institute president. His name was Mr. George Jones (no relation!). He wrote, then, a widely circulated article about “treasurer independence”. It was printed on IMTA documents for students and members. I have always kept a copy for reference, as it is impressive and meaningful to me.”
At a time when council finance officers have increasingly felt under pressure to compromise (57% of 487 respondents in a recent CIPFA ethics survey said they had been put under pressure or felt under pressure to act in a professionally unethical way) it comes as a useful reminder that fellow professionals for many years have endeavoured to set themselves the highest standards of independence and professionalism.
If you can forgive Mr G C. Jones the now outdated use of personal pronouns – you may find, like we did, that there are some very interesting talking points in here.
As David, who penned the paper’s foreword, puts it:
“I feel sure that Mr. Jones would be delighted to have his paper re-circulated, in whatever suitable format that you choose. This would repeat and enhance its circulation as an important historical document of the Institute. His original paper was greatly circulated in professional journals and teaching material. I, therefore, heartily support your suggestion for its re-circulation.”
