Diluting The Brand Via The Back Door

The ICAEW has announced plans to work more closely with the Institute of Certified Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The MoU enables qualified ICPAK members to apply for ICAEW membership subject to certain requirements, which include passing ICAEW’s Advanced Stage examinations and attaining a period of work experience with an ICAEW Authorised Training Employer.

ICAEW members can apply for ICPAK membership subject to passing Kenya tax and law papers delivered by Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Board.

It seems that the ICAEW is intent on growth by numbers, irrespective of the fact that the method chosen dilutes the brand.

HMRC Service Delivery - The Coal Face

I have asked for views from the coal face (HMRC staff) as to the likelihood of the Joint Statement on Service Levels achieving anything.

HMRC Service Delivery

Michael Izza (CEO of the ICAEW) has expressed hope that HMRC's commitment (yet another in a series of promises, previous ones having been broken) to improving its service levels will actually come to fruition this time.

He writes:

"HMRC has made similar promises in the past to tackle service issues yet have failed to deliver. 

I believe this time will be different. 

Thanks in no small part to the role played by our Tax Faculty and in particular, Paul Aplin, chair of its technical committee, we now have a partnership with HMRC and a very public commitment from the very top to a way forward which will help turn things around."

I don't discredit Michael for his optimism.

However, I do not share it.

Regular readers of my site www.hmrcisshite.com can attest to the fact that HMRC is in fact heading for meltdown, and will not be in a position to make good on its promises.

Topless Accounting

Washington State accounting firm Schuyler, Fishbein and Kleinwort have decided to market their business by having their female accountants give clients topless sessions for an extra $50 per hour plus tips.

That is 50% higher than normal hourly rate of $100, seemingly some clients have been willing to pay for the extra service.

I can't see the ICAEW endorsing that approach to marketing here.

ICAEW News Makeover

ICAEW News (nee "Stop The Merger") has been given a much needed makeover.

The Accountant's Song

A little light relief for the Bank Holiday weekend!

My thanks to Pete McLaren for giving me permission to reproduce "The Accountant's Song" from his site Idiot Husband's Blog.

The following words fit to Lily Allen’s – The Fear

The Accountant's Song

I’ve passed my exams and I’m now fully ready,
To be an accountant but I’ll keep things quite steady.
I’ll wear business clothes and do things right and proper
I’ll follow procedures to avoid a show stopper.

I’ll keep to the budget, I won’t take forever,
I’ll not use a taxi, I’ll walk in all weather
I’ll hand in reports and my boss will just love them
I’ll bend over backwards for clients to help them.

CHORUS
John Majors my hero, he’s so cool.
He left the circus he’s no fool
He’s an accountant, he’s a, star
He chose the best profession by, far.

At the weekend I’ll go out let my hair down,
I’ll hit the clubs with my friends when we’re in town
I’ll put on my make-up, make sure not to smudge it,
And of course when I’m out I’ll stay well within budget.

Some of my friends think accountings a bit sad,
They’re talking stupid, according to my Dad.
He says they know nothing and they spend too much money.
When their card bill comes in, that’s when they start to worry.

CHORUS
I know what’s right and what’s wrong,
Accounting is where I belong
When will my friends see the light?
Agree that I’ve got things right.

There are times when I dream about fast cars,
Or of living the life of those Hollywood film stars.
But I’m an accountant and I earn not bad money,
In the summer I might go somewhere quite sunny.

CHORUS
I’m an accountant, I do my best, all the time.
I’m ambitious which is not a crime.
My partners an accountant too
Being an accountant could be right for you

Running Scared II - A Question of Ethics

Further to my earlier article today about the dispute between Mike Pallot and the ICAEW.

It seems that the ICAEW managed to pay Mr Pallot the £1500 twice by mistake.

Fortunately for the ICAEW (which did so much to block Mr Pallot receiving a refund), Mr Pallot is ethical and told them that they had paid him twice!

Ethics should of course work both ways, so I look forward to hearing that the ICAEW has told all the members who are overpaying their subs that they are entitled to a refund and that their subs have been reduced accordingly to suit their circumstances.

Running Scared

Accountancy Age report a rather interesting story about a long running and acrimonious dispute between Mike Pallot (a retired PwC senior partner) and the ICAEW.

Mr Pallot was awarded £1,500 against the institute in a small claims court for overpaid subscriptions. He successfully argued that the ICAEW's subscription notices failed to make it clear that he was due a reduced subscription due to his retirement.

He is quoted:

"The ICAEW certainly seems to have gone to great lengths not to set a precedent by refunding me the amounts I paid as a result of what I see as a clear lack of transparency on its part, although I am at a loss to understand why it didn't seek to settle my claim in a sensible way before the matter reached court."

The case, and the fact that the ICAEW went to so much trouble to try to avoid setting a precedent, gives rise to a number of questions:

1 Why did the ICAEW not simply settle out of court?

2 Why did the ICAEW waste so much time and money on trying to prevent the claim succeeding?

3 How much money did the ICAEW waste by being so intransigent?

4 What is the potential liability facing the ICAEW from back claims made by retired members, and others (eg unemployed), who now realise that they have been overpaying their subscriptions?

5 If the ICAEW knows the answer to 3, why hasn't it done the ethical thing and alerted the members who have overpaid that they are owed a rebate and that they are overpaying their subs?

It seems to me that the ICAEW is running scared, I advise all members to double check their subscriptions.

Accountancy Parts Ways With ICAEW

Accountancy Magazine have announced that they will relaunch the magazine in January 2012 to widen access to accounting and finance professionals, and that the 10 year contract with the ICAEW will end.

Cathy Wolfe, CEO of Wolters Kluwer UK, says:

"The strong growth of Wolters Kluwer's digital publishing means that we see a great future for Accountancy magazine on multiple platforms. We plan to take the journal in new directions, to meet the evolving needs of accountants and a wider group of finance professionals.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

The relaunch will follow the ending of the current 10-year contract under which Accountancy has been published by CCH as the official journal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. This publishing association is ending by mutual agreement, allowing Wolters Kluwer and ICAEW each to pursue their respective publishing plans.

At the same time, Wolters Kluwer is in discussion with ICAEW to identify areas where we will continue to work together."

This gives rise to a few interesting questions:

1 Given that the magazine will no longer be the official journal of the ICAEW, may we now expect more critical articles about the the ICAEW as from next year?

2 Does this mean that the ICAEW members will no longer be forced to pay for the magazine, and may in fact have their annual subscriptions reduced? I guarantee we will see no reduction in membership subscriptions (even if the magazine is no longer sent out to the membership)!

3 Are the ICAEW going to launch their own magazine, if so at what cost to the membership?

Re questions 2 & 3, here is part of the answer (as per the ICAEW site)

"From February 2012, PCP will take over a suite of existing ICAEW communications reaching over 156,000 members and students in the UK and internationally. PCP will build a significant publishing team that will be responsible for eight different member and student magazines and linked website channels. As part of the agreement, PCP will also be launching a new magazine, in print, digital and online formats, that will be provided free of charge to ICAEW Chartered Accountants, students and affiliates.

Robin Fieth, Executive Director of ICAEW said “Our tender process began at the end of 2010 and involved many leading publishing groups and customer publishing agencies. PCP offered us a unique and innovative solution to develop our publications in a way that will help drive forward our brand and reinforce ICAEW as a world leader of the accountancy and finance profession – they were a natural agency to partner with.”

Dan Davey, Managing Director of PCP said “To win a long-term, multi-million pound contract with a superbrand such as ICAEW in our first year is testament to the unparalleled opportunity that we, as part of the Progressive group of companies, can offer clients. It was clear right from the start of the tender process that ICAEW and PCP, together, could build a market-leading proposition that will set a new standard in business-to-business and membership communication.”

Factoid: The new magazine is not "free" (despite what the ICAEW says), the costs of publication and delivery are built into the annual ICAEW subscription (whether or not the member actually wants the magazine).

It will be interesting to see if the new magazine suffers the same fate as Accountancy currently suffers in the hands of many of the members of the ICAEW, namely being cast into the bin still in its plastic wrapper.

Breaking Ranks?

Citywire reports that the ICAEW plans to "break ranks" with fellow accredited bodies and offer statements of professional standing (SPS) to advisers who make a one-off payment rather than requiring them to join as members.

The ICAEW has applied to be an accredited body, and expects to be approved by the Financial Services Authority in December 2011.

Other accredited bodies, such as the Institute of Financial Planning and Chartered Insurance Institute, want advisers to be members in order to be issued with a SPS.

Vernon Soare, ICAEW executive director of professional standards, said:

"They won't have to be a member.

They just need to register with an accredited body, they pay a registration fee and we do a review of continual professional development."

The proposal has generated a fair amount of heated "debate".

However, so long as the ICAEW's "certification process" does not get dragged through the mud by a conman (a certificate does not make a man/woman a "professional"), it does not seem to be an unreasonable proposal.