This was published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales this morning:
I was pleased to note this publicity.
The timing is also opportune. I am seriously wondering whether I can stay in membership of the ICAEW now as it still seems to have done nothing with the £148 million (or maybe more by now) of funds by which it has been enriched since 2015 as a result of fines paid by its members and their regulated firms who failed to deliver services to a standard expected of them.
I am aware that they are not amused by my criticisms. I have a decision to make. Their governance and ethics are now falling short of the standard I expect of a body of which I am a member.
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How many other accountants spend their entire lives tapping away at a keyboard? .. most of them (myself included) will be doing full time jobs won’t they?
You have very clearly never been involved in the senipr management of an accounting practice trasked with managing client relationships.
Maybe you should not be if you cannot imagine the need for a social media strategy
Forgive me, but I can’t help thinking that ‘accountancy’ and ‘social media influencer’ do not often appear in the same sentence!
I might be the only exception to that rule….
But well done all the same.
I have been a member of an accountancy website for over 20 years – and indeed Richard has used it as well.
Back when it started you used full real names to ask and answer questions.
I forget when that changed to allowing pseudonyms (although not everyone does), but I was quite glad when that came in. I realised that I had probably given away more information than was ideal about whichever was my employer at the time.
No one outside my company would have cared a jot – but even so..
WHat are you trying to say?
I suppose I am saying that social media (and all websites with comments) could be a bit of a bear trap for people who may get a bit trigger happy with their postings and end up making comments or observations they may later regret?
Maybe..
Think before you ink has long been a very good maxim
I have perhaps the unusual distinction of having very left-of-centre politics, and running my own limited company in IT since I was 25, with all the paraphernalia of corporation tax, VAT, collecting PAYE and NIC from thirty highly paid staff. Now seventy-ish and semi-retired. I appalled at the ignorance of my progressive comrades about tax, accounting and so on. Double-entry bookkeeping, for example, is not a neoliberal trick to defraud workers. You can leave school in Scotland without knowing the difference between a balance sheet and a profit and loss account. Shocking.
This is, I believe, a huge issue for those of us who seek progressive change. We need more accountants on the barricades! Richard above says, ‘I might be the only exception to that rule’. Indeed. We need more accountants and fewer videos of kittens on social media. No idea how that happens, just certain that it must. Great work, Richard.
Thanks David
The plan for more tax, accounting and economics videos on social media is underway
Quote : You can leave school in Scotland without knowing the difference between a balance sheet and a profit and loss account.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I suspect that’s true of schools throughout the four nations.
Reading, Writing and Rithmetic were the priorities in “my day”. No accounting knowledge or critical thinking. No philosophy or politics.
One could almost imagine that school curricula are designed towards giving just enough education, but not enough to analyse government policies and corruption?
I’m glad Richard is here to correct that.
I often wonder what really happens in schools, because, despite the supposed focus on reading, writing and arithmetic, so many students leave without an ability to do those things, let alone anything else. When I was teaching, I was all too familiar with students who had got good grades of A-level to qualify for our courses, and yet we are quite unable to put an essay together. I did extra work to explain to them how to do this. My suspicion is that we should not blame those who are teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. What we should blame all the materials that they are required to work with. Most things that are read at school are boring. The maths that is taught is not related to the real world. That is the problem.
John,
Agreed but, I was in a school yesterday taking the whole 3rd year (150 pupils) through nuclear weapons as part of their Modern Studies curriculum. Key message is think critically. Don’t believe me (I’m CND Exec) Don’t believe the MoD, do your own research. VERY different from my own experience at school. The only question I couldn’t answer was ‘how much does it cost’………
Thanks
Thanks John,
That’s encouraging.
More common than you’d think. I was a former ACA (resigned late 90’s). I was at EY 82-92 then after 2 years CFO at a US company left to help run the family business which I still do. I regard myself as a Scandinavian Social Democrat which is definitely not incompatible with running a small business. I didn’t disagree with anything in the Lab 2019 manifesto (maybe schools as I’m pro Academies).
Many of my ex-EY colleagues are also on the left. Maybe we should all be more vocal. A good society needs a thriving but properly regulated private sector but the proceeds should be enjoyed by all. What’s wrong with that?
New pressure group “Accountants for a good society” headed by Richard Murphy
I am not an organiser of networks
I happily work with them
It’s important to know what you’re not good at