A North West business veteran and leading advocate of audit reform has described the professionalism displayed by the latest round of winners of MSCA Legacy’s David Illingworth Awards as “hugely encouraging” for the future of a sector that has at times been bedevilled by scandal.
MSCA Legacy administers and distributes the funds formerly held by the Manchester Society of Chartered Accountants (MSCA), which latterly operated as ICAEW Manchester. It makes grants and awards for the benefit of accountancy and financial education in Greater Manchester, honouring the legacy of an organisation that sat at the heart of the city’s financial community for more than 150 years.
This year’s awards were presented to nine students of accounting and related subjects at Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) and the University of Salford. Following the presentation Rod Sellers OBE said, “These recipients, like their predecessors, paint a hugely encouraging picture for the future health of our profession.
“Our sector sometimes takes a battering for the role audit failings have played in corporate governance scandals. While I very much recognise the need for reform to address this, I have always been vocal in my belief that the answer isn’t simply more regulation but a far greater emphasis on professionalism.
“This year’s David Illingworth Award winners have demonstrated exactly the kind of critical thinking and commitment to ethics that will be needed to reshape our profession to meet the challenges of a global, AI-enabled future in which audit can, and should, be a key enabler of business success.”
A qualified chartered accountant, Rod Sellers OBE is a former president of ICAEW Manchester and spent more than 50 years in finance and corporate roles, including as financial director, chief executive and deputy chairman of British Vita, as well as holding board roles at Seddon Group and PZ Cussons.
He is co-author, with the late Prof Krish Bhaskar, of the Disruptions in Financial Reporting and Auditing series of books. The fourth and final instalment in this series, Reflections on the Case for Audit Reform: Seeking to Avoid Future Financial Scandals, was published last year by Routledge.
Mr Sellers was awarded the OBE in 2004 for services to business in the North West, and is a director of MSCA Legacy Limited.
The David Illingworth Awards are now in their sixth year. Named in memory of the former ICAEW Manchester and ICAEW national president, and previous Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (WCCAEW), who passed away in 2022, the number of awards made to students has increased from seven to nine in 2026, after more than doubling last year.
The continued expansion of the programme has been enabled by a partnership entered into in 2024 between MSCA Legacy Limited and the Chartered Accountants Livery Charity (CALC), the charity linked to WCCAEW.
The recipients of this year’s awards were: Kainat Akhtar (Manchester Metropolitan University); Jibraeel Ali (University of Salford); Millie Ashworth-Hill (Manchester Metropolitan University); Emily Downes (AMBS); David Egan (University of Salford); Nathaniel Gili-Ross (AMBS); Muhammad Ilham Qayyun Muhammad Najib (AMBS); Luca Oakes (University of Salford); and Muhammad Yazdan (Manchester Metropolitan University).
The 2026 David Illingworth Award winners were announced at an event that took place at Manchester Metropolitan University in July.
Vince O’Brien, Master of WCCAEW, said, “CALC is proud once again to support the David Illingworth Awards, named in honour of our distinguished past Master. I wish the winners all the best in their continuing studies and future careers, which promise to have a material impact on our future economic success.”
In addition to announcing the recipients of this year’s awards, the July event also confirmed that MSCA Legacy and the Livery Charity would make a further grant of £5,000 to the financial education charity Money Ready, extending the three organisations’ partnership for another year.
This grant will enable Money Ready to deliver five “Uni Ready” sessions at colleges across Greater Manchester, as well as making a contribution to the costs of Money Ready’s young adult further education programme.
Sandie Bailey, head of fundraising development at Money Ready, said, “As the debate around student loans and financing has moved to the front pages of the newspapers, the financial education we provide to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds considering the next stage of their studies has probably never been more important.
“We are grateful to MSCA Legacy and the Livery Charity for their continued support, which helps ensure that the next cohort can go to university armed with the skills and confidence to make the best of their money, and avoid the most common financial pitfalls of student life.
“As well as prospective university students, we also work with financially vulnerable young adults. MSCA Legacy’s continued support will help us deliver the vital education we provide to help these individuals achieve financial literacy, confidence and security.”
Reflections on the Case for Audit Reform: Seeking to Avoid Future Financial Scandals (ISBN: 978-0367222215) is published by Routledge. It is available in paperback, priced £19.99, or as a Kindle e-book for £18.74.
