在其任期内，David的两个工作重点是可持续发展和特许会计师的职业发展。在谈到对特许会计师的职业愿景时， David呼吁特许会计师应该在全球经济复苏阶段成为变革的推动力，利用专业技能为企业提供支持、造福社会。他表示：“建立可持续发展的强劲企业，能够有助于经济保持稳健发展，而在此过程中特许会计师发挥着至关重要的作用。”

同时他指出：“社会和政府希望企业提供的不仅仅是短期利润，而特许会计师通过识别风险和提供见解能够促进可持续发展相关的决策制定，为企业提供一些更有意义的信息，从而实现更广泛的政策性目标，比如零排放。鉴于疫情之后的重点是经济的重启和复苏，这在目前情况下尤为重要。”

David希望特许会计师在积极参与应对气候危机的同时，能够为疫情之后的全球经济复苏作出更多努力和贡献。这些举动将增强公众对特许会计师这一专业领域的信心。

他补充道：“我们的行业在变化，社会对它的期望也在变化，我们有责任达到这些期望。与此同时，政府正在考虑改革的实施，尤其是审计方面的改革，这也对特许会计师提出了期望，我们要不负众望。”

David Matthews was officially installed as the new ICAEW President. David graduated from the London School of Economics in 1982 and qualified as a chartered accountantin 1985 with KPMG. David was made a partner in 1996 and held various managementroles at the company with 37 years of working experience. David became an ICAEW Council member in 2010, and served as a member of the Professional Standards Board and Chair of the Technical Strategy Board.

The two themes Matthews believed he would be focussing on were sustainability and the future of the profession. The newly installed President of ICAEW has called on chartered accountants to be agents of change during the globalrecovery, using their skills to build better businesses and benefit society. He said, “chartered accountants have a fundamental role to play in creating strong and sustainable businesses, and therefore strong and stable economies.”

“Societies and  governments  want  businesses to  deliver  more than just short-term profits, and by identifying risks and providing insights to  support  sustainable  decision-making, chartered accountants can help organisations provide more meaningful information to achieve broader policy goals, such as net zero emissions. This is particularly important now, given the post-pandemic focus on economic restart and recovery,” he said.

David hopes that positive involvement in tackling the climate emergency, as well as wider efforts to aid global economic recovery post COVID-19, will inspire public confidence in the profession - another key focus for David in his year as President.

He added: "our profession is  changing,  and so are  the expectations which are placed on it by society. We have a responsibility to meet these expectations but those that will arise from reforms currently being considered, particularly with regards to audit."