Membership of the Chartered Accountants’ professional body ICAS has reached a new record of more than 21,000.

ICAS has seen a 50% growth in members over the last 20 years and half of its members are now based outside Scotland.

Jim Pettigrew, chair of Clydesdale Bank and Edinburgh Investment Trust, has stood down as ICAS president after completing his year in office and will be succeeded by Ken McHattie, chair of onshore energy company Aurora Petroleum.

McHattie said: “Our mission is to build the leading global professional community and I look forward to working tirelessly over the next 12 months on behalf of our 21,000 members to lead the next stage of delivering our ambitious plans.”

Speaking at the ICAS annual general meeting on April 22, chief executive Anton Colella said: “Over the last few years our strategic aim has been to ‘build a professional community’.

“We believe this has served us well. Now our vision is to ‘build the leading professional global community.’

“We are entering a new and exciting era where half of our membership is based outside Scotland and we will seek to serve and support all members through our commitment to being a world class organisation.”