I know that many of you were not able to attend the 2024 Association of Independent Inventory Clerks AGM held in May so I thought I ‘d take the opportunity to write up a few notes about what has been going on over the last six months.
Where we started
Unfortunately, during 2023/24 the board of the AIIC slimmed down to such an extent that the only thing the directors were able to do under the constitution was to hold an EGM and appoint new board members.
That meeting was held in November 2024 and a further director, Emma, stepped down.
On the plus side, 6 of us agreed to join the board and were duly appointed, Chris Callear, Paul Roberts, Lloyd Wade-Jones, Sally Carter and Joe Greenaway together with myself.
Immediately after the EGM, we held our first board meeting and I had the honour to be appointed chair.
The approach we took was to see the first 6 month stint to the next AGM as a chance to set a few ground rules, get the admin into place and essentially provide a jumping off point for a future board to grow and improve the organisation.
The challenges
So it’s fair to say that an awful lot of things we have done over the first six months have been pretty ordinary, but vital stuff.
We had to work on ‘getting our feet under the table’. In other words, understanding how we can work together, how we wanted the board and executive to function as a whole, where the AIIC was and what we wanted to achieve.
None of this is earth-shattering, blog-worthy stuff. Nobody wants to know that you have managed to sort out the bank signatories or got access to the Mailchimp platform but these things all take time.
We also put our hands up for specific roles.
- Chris took on socials, media and membership
- Sally stepped up for training
- I adopted finance
- Joe started work on standards
- Lloyd agreed to work on the CRM
The 6 month plan
One of the first things we did was to produce a 6-month plan. This consisted of a set of targets to be achieved by the next AGM, by which we could assess whether we had achieved them or not.
The targets
Board
- Produce a strategic plan for the next 2 years
- Agree the structure and switch over to the NewCo
- Produce a set of rules for the conduct of board meetings
- Publish the minutes of every board meeting
Training
- Restart training
- Revise and refreshed old materials
- Begin development of new materials
- Produce a training plan for the next 2 years
Membership
- Finalise the membership CRM project
- Produce a membership plan for the next 2 years
- Produce a Social Media and engagement plan for the next 12 months
Standards
- Produce a standards development plan for the next 2 years
How have we done?
Board – We have a strategic plan in place and we are now working to this. The constitution has been revised for the new company and we will start to transition members over shortly. We have a set of rules for the conduct of board meetings and have published the minutes of all the meetings we have held since the EGM.
Training – We have delivered two training courses for new clerks, have revised and refreshed our old materials, begun development of new courses, have a training plan in place and have a CPD plan in development.
Membership – We now have full control of our social media channels and are starting to understand what things work well, what our members want to see and how we want to be perceived on the national stage. We have a membership plan in place and continue to work on this to refine our communications.
The one fly in the ointment has been the CRM development which is frankly not a surprise with software. Lloyd has taken control of the project and we move forward.
Standards – Joe and Daniel have done sterling work on producing an agreed standard for inventories. This has been presented to stakeholders for their consideration and is now published on the AIIC website.
Overall, I am very pleased with the progress we have made. As a volunteer board comprised of members who all run their own busy inventory companies during the day, we have limited time and getting the organisation to a point where it can move forward with confidence is a great achievement indeed.
On reflection, the target setting process worked well. It gave us a way to mark our own homework and concentrated minds onto the things that we really needed to work on.
Finance
The finance report showed a year of good progress.
The AIIC made a net loss in 2023 of slightly under £10k, the 2024 outturn showed a reversal of this with a surplus of £6k. This was achieved by cutting back on marketing and PR which had shown a poor ROI and a general reduction in expenses. We will spend more on marketing in 2025, but this will be in a highly targeted fashion with ROI and reach as a priority.
Going forward, the board intends to run the AIIC on a not-for-profit basis, ensuring that sufficient reserves are held to ensure continuing good financial health, but returning value to members for their fees.
2024 awards
I’d like to say a heartfelt congratulations to this year’s awards winners, all of whom showed that there is some real talent in the inventory profession.
This year’s winners;
Associate of the year – Thomas Lamb
Newcomer of the year – Azim Ramanov
Inventory clerk of the year – Ade Phillips
Business of the year – The Ashworth Group
The future of the AIIC
Personally, I’d like to think that the AIIC is in a much stronger place than it was 12 months ago.
We have a strengthened board with defined responsibilities and targets, we have good finances and stronger corporate governance and we have a renewed sense of purpose.
In the next 12 months, we plan to;
- Add member value with greater benefits and support
- Improve the training offering and start producing value-led CPD
- Improve our industry influence
- Strengthen our standards
- Make the AIIC the number one body for inventory compliance and standards
In summary
It has been a privilege to lead the AIIC at what has been a somewhat challenging time and I am enthusiastic about the coming year.
We have some great plans and with a much more defined and stronger member offer, I believe we will see the AIIC increase its membership and therefore its influence in the property sector.
In closing, can I pay tribute to my fellow board members who have given their time, free of charge and without complaint, even though the workload has been substantial.