by Paul Casey, CPA, CA, CIRP
February 8, 2016[caption id="attachment_190" align="alignnone" width="3872"] The bow of a traditional Arabian arbre used to transport visitors around the Madinat resort in Dubai[/caption]
Greetings from the Madinat Conference Hall, Dubai. While the formal program has yet to commence, this afternoon I attended the Small Practice Issues Open Meeting hosted by long-time Chair, Hans Klopper of South Africa. Hans opened the meeting with the proclamation that “INSOL is not only about 'big', and that almost one-third of INSOL’s 10,000 members around the world consider themselves to be in a small practice. He then described the history of the Small Practice Issues Committee, and the many technical resources and networking opportunities that the Committee has provided over the years.
The meeting covered two topics: practitioner remuneration, and small business rehabilitation. On remuneration, the group heard from practitioners in the UK, Australia, Europe, the U.S., South Africa and India on the regimes in place, and some lessons learned from some difficult stories. One theme that emerged was increased judicial scrutiny and fee reduction risks, even in cases where the creditors and administrative regulators have approved fees. Further, the need for detailed (tenths of an hour) time dockets which accurately describe the value added by the insolvency administrator was underlined (even where remuneration is entirely based on recoveries).
The second part of the meeting analyzed a case study of a small business in a financial crisis due to internal and external circumstances, and if/how the business could be rescued under the various insolvency regimes represented in the room. The engagement and debate from the floor was amazing, with best practices shared willingly, and the conversation carrying on past the appointed time for the meeting. Congratulations panelists!
Attendees were reminded of tomorrow afternoon’s session: “Smaller firms: being agile and working smart in the digital age”. You can log into www.insol.org to access INSOL’s Small Practice Issues Committee Technical Papers library on practice and consumer debt issues.
Hans thanked those in attendance, and encouraged attendees to make the most of their INSOL memberships by getting involved.
Paul Casey, CPA, CA, CIRP, is Past Chair of CAIRP and attended INSOL’s Annual Regional Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from January 24-26