U Turn If You Want To, Ken's Not For Turning II

Nice to see Accountancy Age have corrected the misleading impression that their headline about U turns gave last week.

U Turn If You Want To, Ken's Not For Turning

Today's Accountancy Age has a piece entitled "Long-term critics u-turn in institute cold war".

The article notes that I have stated, in an earlier article, that the ICAEW had "accepted the argument" that mergers would dilute the ICAEW brand.

I have no quibbles with that, and indeed am pleased that the AA article notes that I am unhappy about the size of council and "pension black hole".

I would also emphasise that wrt council, the Victorian nonsense of nationally unknown candidates being "elected" on a local basis, and candidates needing to be nominated, needs to be addressed.

The Victorian trading association model is no longer applicable!

However, I would tactfully like to remind Accountancy Age that the ICAEW (by accepting the argument made on this site for the last two years, that the ACA/FCA brand is superior) has in fact made a U turn, not I!

The AA heading is misleading.

A Competitive Advantage?

The ICAEW launched its new advertising campaign this month.

The campaign underlines the value of chartered accountants to business for employers, training organisations and potential trainees.

The headlines used in the campaign, 'A Cut Above' and 'A Competitive Advantage', emphasise (in the words of the ICAEW) the benefits that the ACA qualification provides as a benchmark of the highest professional and ethical standards.

Does this mean that the ICAEW have finally accepted the argument that I have been making on this site, for almost three years, that a merger with a non CA body would dilute the brand?

It would seem that they have accepted that argument.

Otherwise, were they to try to foolishly push another merger attempt with eg CIPFA or CIMA, the words of their own advertising campaign would be thrown back at them.

Prince Charles

I see that Prince Charles is to become an honorary member of the ICAEW.

I wonder where he stands on the merger issue, and the size of council?

Does anyone have his email address?

Pension Black Hole

Given the ever increasing pension black hole in the ICAEW accounts (it has grown by £4M over the last year), it is hardly surprising that the ICAEW has asked to raise subscriptions this year by 4% (which, despite their denials, is above inflation).

The triannual actuarial review will be carried out later this year and, as sure as eggs are eggs, we can assume that the black hole will have increased.

The astute amongst you will realise that the ICAEW will therefore be again coming cap in hand to its members, to ask for another inflation busting subscription increase in 2008.

Given these never ending increases in staff costs, why did the ICAEW hire 125 more people in 2006?

Do they regard the membership as a docile compliant cash cow which can be milked to death?

Inspiring Confidence?

Why did the ICAEW need to recruit 125 more staff in 2006?

Why do they need to put the fees up by 4%, given that they show a net income of almost £1M in 2006?

Why did the ICAEW backtrack on the setting a separate ethics paper?

Merger No Longer a Priority?

Accountancy Age reports that Michael Izza, CEO of the ICAEW, no longer believes that consolidation is a priority.

We shall see.

Hat Tip

I tip my hat to Martin Waller of The Times, for mentioning this site again.

Can an accountant be a rebel?

Inspiring Confidence

The ICAEW is, as is the tradition at this time of year, asking its long suffering membership to stump up for another increase in subscriptions.

We are told that the rise of 4%, is "in line with inflation".

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but the inflation figure for March was 3.1%, and is expected to be around 2.8% in April (Bloomberg).

Therefore where does the ICAEW get its 4% from?

I know that it may not seem to be much of a difference (43% actually). However, as accountants we are meant to be reasonably accurate when it comes to numbers...aren't we?

"Inspring Confidence"?

I think not!

Needless to say, I will be voting against the rise.

I recommend that you do the same.

CA Qualification To Be Offered Outside The UK

ICAS is to offer its CA Qualification outside the UK for the first time. ICAS will offer students in Luxembourg the CA course.

ICAS Chief Executive, Anton Colella said:

"We are breaking new ground by taking the CA qualification outside the UK and onto the continent.

We are responding to clear employer demand for our qualification, which is regarded by many as the 'gold standard' in accountancy training. CAs work successfully in a global business environment – so it made sense to offer business outside the UK the chance to train the leaders of the future through our CA programme."

John Li, Managing Partner, KPMG in Luxembourg said:

"We welcome this excellent initiative from ICAS... We have found that the CA is admirably equipped to satisfy these and other demands from our clients and KPMG are therefore delighted to be at the forefront of supporting this initiative."

Why doesn't the ICAEW opt for in house training, instead of farming it out to third parties?

The ICAEW could then offer its qualification globally, and earn money for doing so, without diluting the brand.