Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

The Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales is one of the livery companies of the City of London. They were one of the earliest of the modern livery companies promoted by the Court of Aldermen from the 1970s, receiving a Grant of Letters Patent (i.e. converting from an unincorporated Guild to a livery company) in 1977 and receiving a Royal Charter in 2012. The Company is complementary to, and supported by, the Institute of Chartered Accountants. It promotes "honourable practice" of accounting and awards prizes to students in the field. It also supports general charities. The company ranks eighty-sixth in the order of precedence for livery companies. Its motto is True and Fair.

Founding
Formal letters patent for the creation of the livery company were presented on 25 July 1977 by the lord mayor of London. Its first master was James M. Keith, member of the city's Court of Common Council and chief commoner for 1976–1977.

It was one of several companies formed in the 1970s, when concerns were raised that existing livery companies had few connections to the modern financial services industry in London.

Charitable activities
The charitable arm of the Company made over 40 grants to deserving causes in 2022-23. These include:


 * Mansion House scholarships, funding mostly overseas students to study a UK Master's Degree in a Financial or related subject.
 * City Harvest London, helping fund the Livery Food Initiative truck which redistributes potentially waste food to vulnerable Londoners.
 * The Youth Ventures Programme by the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, which supports young leaders and their social impact organisations.
 * The GASP Motor Project, which provides motor mechanic training to disadvantaged young people in Surrey.
 * The Financial Smarties Programme by The Community Hub in Hackney, which gives financial literacy training to young women.

In 1992, the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales launched "Chartered Accountants in the Community", a programme which placed senior accountants onto the management committees of charities. The scheme aimed to place 20 to 30 attachments a year, with a focus on providing advice and professional expertise to charities, rather than day-to-day bookkeeping. The livery company had previously focused on making donations to support overseas training and rewarding student achievement.

As of December 1992, the company had 100 members. At the time, former master Richard Wilkes told the Financial Times, "We do not have a large endowment. Instead of money, we've got talent."

Dinners
In July 2021, The Telegraph reported that up to a dozen business leaders were boycotting a dinner banquet at Mansion House hosted by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants, because guests were being required to wear face masks and use NHS Test and Trace QR codes to enter the event.

Financial Services Group of Livery Companies
The company is a member of the Financial Services Group of Livery Companies, the other 11 members of which are the Worshipful Companies of Actuaries, Arbitrators, International Bankers, Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, Insurers, Information Technologists, City of London Solicitors, Management Consultants, Marketors, Tax Advisers, and World Traders.