@ICAEW_talk Responds To Reason

Following an appeal to reason by Elaine Clark

Dear @ICAEW please will you follow my friend @ken_frost He is a proper accountant 🙋🙋🙋😇😛🙈🙉🙊🐵

— Elaine Clark (@cheapaccounting) December 15, 2015

@ICAEW_talk is now following me..I wonder if @ICAEW will follow suit?

#ICAEWROAR Top Online UK Influencers: Accountancy

I see that I am on the list of the ICAEW's Top Online Influencers:

"#ICAEWROAR Top Online UK Influencers: Accountancy

Our inaugural #ICAEWROAR we will be focussing specifically on individuals using social media within the realms of accountancy.

The criteria for being included to our long list of influencers to be ranked would be UK based, have a Twitter handle, cover accountancy related topics as well as represent a tone of voice reflecting the ICAEW values."

Congratulations to all those on the list.

There is an irony here though, despite being on the ICAEW list, the ICAEW still does not follow me on Twitter.

#ICAEWROAR Top Online UK Influencers

As per the ICAEW:

"We are delighted to announce our #ICAEWROAR Top Online UK Influencers project.

Regulatory changes, technological advances and economic pressures are changing the way business operates. This has created new opportunities and fresh challenges. Through campaigns such as Tomorrows Practice and Practice 2015, ICAEW have been working to foster discussion in our industry on how best to face these challenges.

There are those who have already seen this opportunity and taken a firm grasp. We wanted to discover these early adopters, not just to celebrate their work, but to see what can be learned from their experiences and bring new ideas to our industry.

Our brand values are imperative to the way we communicate, behave and position ourselves. We are bound by our Royal Charter to promote a manner in acting responsibly and behaving with integrity, throughout our industry and beyond into UK business. These values have formed the backbone of this ranking system and have informed the design of the algorithm we have written, and as such will ultimately decide who ranks in our inaugural event.

This algorithm we have developed in partnership with Pulsar, our social media intelligence platform partner, and will be using their TRAC platform to search and list the contenders.

For our very first #ICAEWROAR Top UK Online Influencers ranking we have chosen to concentrate on individuals using social media within the realms of accountancy. The winners, and all information on this inaugural event, will be revealed here.

We’d like to invite you to nominate contenders, or yourself, for this new crown."

Happy #InternationalAccountingDay

#‎InternationalAccountingDay‬ is the professional holiday of all accountants celebrated on November 10 every year.

The day goes back in history to year 1494, when book titled "Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita" (Everything About Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion) was published in Venice. This was the first book that contained essay on double-entry bookkeeping and provided a base for other works on mercantile accounting.

Cheers!

ICAEW HMRC Survey

ICAEW to carry out another survey about HMRC's service standards with members who work in small practices. Tax News http://t.co/mOzRsCmc5Y

— ICAEW Tax Faculty (@ICAEW_Tax) October 5, 2015

Accountant Needed

Accountant needed... pic.twitter.com/Kq641thp43

— LOL_Express (@LOL_Express) September 19, 2015

ICAEW Hosts Blair

Tony Blair at chartered accountants hall giving his view on labour strategy pic.twitter.com/wUgD7e5Qj3

— ICAEW FM Faculty (@ICAEW_FinMan) July 22, 2015

Why is the ICAEW hosting Blair, given that this is clearly a Labour Party event?

Diane Jarvis 10 Year Exclusion Recommendation

The FT reports that Diane Jarvis, the former chief financial officer of Healthcare Locums, the staffing agency that suspended its shares in 2011 after discovering irregularities in its accounts, has settled with the UK accountancy watchdog.

The Financial Reporting Council said on Tuesday that Diane Jarvis had agreed to pay £25,000 as a contribution to costs and recommended that she was excluded from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for 10 years.

The FRC said that Ms Jarvis admitted that “her conduct fell significantly short of the standards to be expected of a member”, as she had dishonestly manipulated HCL’s management accounts to increase its apparent profitability.

The Budget Live

#budget2015 Tweets

Pitch To Rich #VOOM

Don't miss your chance to ask @richardbranson your questions today at #VOOM | http://t.co/Y816A05zjT #PitchtoRich pic.twitter.com/IQTg2Ge0fE

— ICAEW Talk (@ICAEW_talk) June 26, 2015

Hail To The Chief

Incoming @ICAEW president Andrew Ratcliffe on the future of the profession | http://t.co/RTU0Fz8uei pic.twitter.com/oANYtA6LY6

— economia (@economiamag) June 3, 2015

Economia Feedback

The ICAEW are looking for people to give it feedback on its economia website, and are offering those selected a £30 voucher.

Participate in a short user testing session for our new @economiamag website! £30 voucher for everyone taking part http://t.co/JBA1rwhtQa

— ICAEW Talk (@ICAEW_talk) May 17, 2015

All very nice, except:

1 The feedback has to be given in person at Moorgate, and

2 The ICAEW doesn't say what the voucher can be used on.

#askICAEW Live

Hangout With Michael Izza

Got a question for our Chief Executive? Send your questions using #AskICAEW by 13 May. http://t.co/yv1UXRiwuU pic.twitter.com/1LitnQziX3

— ICAEW Talk (@ICAEW_talk) May 6, 2015

I assume they mean send your questions "before" 13 May.

Council Elections Close at Midday

Council Election voting closes TODAY at 12:00. Read up on candidates here | http://t.co/TinZfhpuTY pic.twitter.com/Da7YyIFGAl

— ICAEW Talk (@ICAEW_talk) May 5, 2015

Communications Glitch

It appears that not everyone has received notification about the ICAEW council elections.

.@ICAEW should I have received an email or letter about the Council elections?

— David O'Keeffe (@djokeeffe) April 17, 2015

@ken_frost tried phoning @ICAEW but no one able to help!

— David O'Keeffe (@djokeeffe) April 17, 2015

Council Elections

The ICAEW is holding elections for Council, the deadline for votes is midday 5 May.

Those of you who wish to read the candidates' statements can do via via this link candidate statements.

With regard to the constituencyy of Oceania, Christie Malry has a pertinent obseravtion:

@ken_frost aren't we at war with Oceania? Or is it Eastasia?

— Christie Malry (@fcablog) April 15, 2015

ICAEW Ignores Older Members

Calling all younger members, what are your thoughts on #urbanisation? http://t.co/UjEt5vi5If pic.twitter.com/9yEbBfkpLB

— ICAEW Talk (@ICAEW_talk) February 9, 2015

It appears that the ICAEW feels that its older members have no valid contribution to make to society or the Institute itself, aside from their annual subscription fees!

Suitgate

For the bespoke suit competition, we have changed the prize to a MacBook Air. We are really sorry about our mistake. http://t.co/LCeG5oY4YG

— ICAEW (@ICAEW) January 20, 2015

The Emperor's New Clothes

As loyal readers know, I have often likened the ICAEW to a Victorian trading association (given its overpopulated council and the absurdly out of date rules for standing for election to council etc).

Yesterday the ICAEW and its member subsidised media organ economia managed to raise the bar on "Victoriana", with regard to a prize offered for completing a survey about the economia app.

The prize in question was a bespoke suit (up to the value of £1K) crafted by a London based tailors. So far so good, except that as Elaine Clark (British Accountancy Awards winner 2014) pointed out the tailors only make suits for men!

Errm, does the ICAEW not realise there are women accountants?

When Elaine raised the issue on Facebook and Twitter with economia/ICAEW, she was told that the tailors would make a suit for a woman (except that when she called the tailors, they said they don't make women's suits).

Economia then dug itself further into the hole of its own creation by calling Elaine, and asking her to remove her comments from Twitter etc.

I dare say some face saving amendment to the prize rules will now be made. However, the damage is done.

Once a brand is damaged it is very hard to undo that damage. The ICAEW should have learned that lesson a few years ago, when they tried to merge with Cipfa!