Accountancy Age invites contributions from accountants to form a manifesto from the profession, which they will submit to the new government in May.

Here are my points:

• Privilege. The Prudential case was a disappointment for the profession, and perpetuates the situation where lawyers' working papers are protected by legal professional privilege, while accountants' working papers are not. The incoming government should put accountants on an even footing with lawyers in terms of the authorities' ability to access their working papers.
• Protection of term 'accountant'. Only a qualified solicitor can call themselves a solicitor. Only a qualified barrister can call themselves a barrister. Yet anyone can set themselves up as an accountant. This is bad news for the general public, who - as the old joke goes - don't really understand the difference between a chartered accouontant and a turf accountant. They should be protected from cowboys. This requires the term 'accountant' to be reserved for qualified accountants only.
• Leave the FRC alone. The Conservatives have made noises about fiddling with the structure of the Financial Reporting Council. The FRC is less than ten years old, and deserves to be given more time to establish itself more strongly.
• Don't go overboard on audit regulation. The recent fuss over bank audits in the UK, and Lehmans in the US, has led to calls for the Treasury Select Committee to do something to fix audit in the new parliament. Government should be more circumspect, and avoid making sweeping changes that haven't been fully assessed.
• A new set of fiscal handcuffs. Gordon Brown's golden rules were a great discipline for government, for as long as they lasted. They should be reintroduced as a new constraint on government to protect the country from ill-disciplined government. The new rules would not be able to be broken, requiring more austerity in boom times (as required by Keynesian economics anyway).
• A commitment to 'no gimmicks' in public sector reporting. Gordon Brown hasn't been entirely honest in the public finances, with gimmicks such as PFI and a refusal to come clean on the level of pension liabilities. This needs to stop. A new government should commit to a hair-shirted approach to preparing financial accounts.
• Proper consultation. The government's own rules require a minimum of 12 weeks for consultation. This is often breached. The incoming government should commit to consulting properly with breaches only in the most exceptional circumstances.
• A better Finance Bill process. The current Finance Bill process is a mess. The Chancellor tends to spring surprises on the House, with insufficient time for consultation and debate on the policies and their implementation. This isn't good enough; all major changes should be open to fair consultation, with the Finance Bill being no exception. The incoming government should consult on a new way of bringing the Finance Bill through Parliament, that recognises the benefits of not changing the tax regime arbitrarily every year.
• Equivalence with the US CPA qualification. The incoming government should work with the US authorities to obtain equivalence for UK qualifications with the US CPA qualification, reducing a significant barrier to transatlantic working.

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Filed under: Politics, Regulation with tags accountancy age, manifestos