Dear Member,
April and May are probably the busiest months for AICLA.
Last month I discussed the Asian Claims Convention held in April, and the subsequent visit to various centres in Asia to meet with members. Both activities were very successful and it was pleasing to be able to fulfil one of AICLA’s fundamental purposes as an educational body.
After that trip I went on to London for company business, however I took a day out from the trip to meet with CILA’s president in Dublin. Historically there have been differences of opinion between AICLA and CILA and their members, however both bodies now recognise that in fact we have more in common than apart; particularly on the global stage.
More and more with globalisation, the decisions that affect New Zealand or Australia or Asia, are made in other countries. The views that we hold of loss adjusters, though, are the same in all those countries: impartiality, educational standards, and ethical behaviour. We all share the same view that well trained and qualified loss adjusters add value to the claims process. We therefore should say similar things together and support each other when talking to decision makers and influencers – we should speak with a united voice where possible.
The discussions we have had, and continue to have, with CILA and others are beneficial to our aim of supporting and promoting loss adjusting and loss adjusters across the region.
I would like to draw your attention to those members listed below who won prizes for studies in the Diploma of Loss Adjusting. Congratulations to all the prize winners, well done.
In mid-May we held our bi-annual Board Meeting, in Melbourne. The Victorian division held a members networking drinks event the evening before and a number of Board members attended that event to meet and socialise with Victorian AICLA members. One of the key items on the agenda was the on-going development of the Diploma of Loss Adjusting – what will become the ANZIIF-AICLA Diploma of Loss Adjusting. The framework for the diploma under the new skills unit teaching methodology has been agreed and the next step is creating the individual modules, or skills units, that will make up the diploma. We will soon be asking for “volunteers” to assist in designing and writing skills units (I say “volunteers” as ANZIIF do pay for time spent). If you are interested being a Subject Matter Expert please let Tony Libke know.
At the Board Meeting in Melbourne, Narelle Handley (Vic Div Chair) invited James Jacoby, the son of a pioneering loss adjuster, H. H. Jacoby, to address the Board about his father’s early involvement in the profession. He presented to the President a historic photo of the Council of the Institute of the Fire Loss Assessors of Australia 1943, of which his father was President.
Finally, the question for the Carey Bird Scholarship has been published. As you might recall, this is a 1,500 word essay on a selected topic. The scholarship is named for the late Carey Bird, who died in the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake. The question this year is a question aimed at the intersection of material damage and business interruption claims, being the proper treatment of wages. Hopefully we see entrants from both property and accounting members of AICLA. Given the prize of A$3,000 in cash or a trip to the next AICLA claims convention in Sydney or Cambodia, we hope to see a good number of entrants.
Kind regards
Leon Briggs, Chartered Loss Adjuster
President – AICLA
