Via the ICAEW Tax Faculty, we learn:

The European Commission has decided to refer the United Kingdom to the EU's Court of Justice for abolishing the ‘remedy for repayment of taxes paid in mistake of law’ without proper transitional rules.

To cut a long story short, the House of Lords had ruled that taxpayers should have longer to reclaim taxes paid by mistake. The government didn't agree, so introduced laws specifically to prevent taxpayers from doing so. Because they did this without introducing fair transitional provisions, they broke EU law. So the Commission is now taking the UK to court to force them to treat taxpayers fairly.

It's a timely reminder of precisely why HMRC was so keen to settle with Vodafone. UK tax law must satisfy European requirements.  If it doesn't, then the EC will force the UK to come into line.

Filed under: Taxation with tags european commission, hmrc vodafone, icaew
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Filed under: Institutes with tags acca, cai, cima, cipfa, icaew, icas, membership
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Oliver Tant, by a country mile the best accountancy blogger ¹, has written about a KPMG scheme to help young people qualify as chartered accountants: 

our school leavers’ scheme is a step in the right direction.  It offers school leavers the opportunity to study for an accountancy and business degree at a respected university; in addition to paying tuition and accommodation fees for the degree course, we also pay a market rate salary to the graduate.  Six years after leaving school, our recruits will be fully qualified chartered accountants ideally placed to take advantage of opportunities in our global firm, or the many other career paths open to qualified accountants. 

The idea for the school leavers’ scheme came not purely for altruistic reasons but because we recognised it as a win-win solution for both the firm and the school leavers.  We want to work with teams drawn from the widest possible range of backgrounds – not just those fortunate enough to have been able to afford to pay to do a degree.  As well as my personal preference for diversity, it’s a fact that our clients are becoming more diverse and are looking for that diversity to be matched by the professional service firms they work with. 

This is, of course, good news. But I do wonder about his diversity claim. Chartered accountancy was always the profession of choice for clever, hard-working school-leavers. Philip Johnson, current FEE president, is a non-graduate chartered accountant. So is Martin Hagen, a former ICAEW president. And, while I was at KPMG, I knew partners there who had qualified by the non-graduate route.

But KPMG's scheme is different. They will be paying for school-leavers to get a degree as part of a period of learning that will include their chartered accountancy exams. That's obviously A Good Thing. But it's not obvious that it will increase diversity. Like my chartered accountant hero, Professor Michael Power, I'm a philosophy graduate. Other accountants I have known have degrees in languages, music, history, english, sciences, maths, theology and many other subjects besides. I know I draw upon my philosophy studies frequently, sometimes several times a week. For me, that's diversity, even though lots of accountants are dull, middle class, middle-aged men (yes, I count myself among that number).

The KPMG scheme may well help to bring in underrepresented groups, and is definitely to be applauded for that. But collectively, chartered accountants must remain alert to the possible risks to diversity from channeling so many future chartered accountants through a single route. More accountancy and business graduates may mean less philosophy and less music. That would be sad.

Filed under: Institutes, Other blogs with tags big 4, icaew, kpmg, martin hagen, michael power, music, oliver tant, philip johnson, philosophy
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Via e-mail, I learn of two interesting looking events on financial reporting that the ICAEW is running.

First up is the 2012 Information for Better Markets conference, which will be held on 17-18 December 2012 on the subject of ‘Who is Financial Reporting for?’.  They suggest you can register your interest by e-mailing them.

Filed under: Institutes with tags icaew, martin walker, pd leake
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If you don't, you won't find this sign,at the junction of London Wall and Copthall Avenue, much help.

It's pointing the wrong way!

Filed under: Entertainment, Institutes with tags icaew, london, signposts
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I know it's common at this point of the year to write "2011" when you mean "2012".

But every single press release from ICAEW this year is dated 01 Jan 2011. Uh, is there any chance they could be dated when they were released, as is, er, the normal convention?

Filed under: Institutes with tags icaew, idiots, press releases, website
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The ICAEW has launched a new site which aims to inform people about the audit of financial statements. Having noticed that lots of people, not least journalists, politician and the general public, have very poor knowledge about how an audit works in practice, so the new site, called True & Fair, looks to put that straight by explaining all the important aspects of audit as clearly and concisely as possible.

The web site covers key questions like 'What is an audit?' and options for changing the current audit model. It also invites readers to submit their own questions.

The site looks pretty promising, and it'll be interesting to see how it develops over the coming months. It'll provide helpful background information as the audit profession draws up its defences against forthcoming European regulation and possible UK changes as a result of the Competition Commission review of the audit market.

(HT AnaGyorkos)

Filed under: Auditing, Institutes with tags competition and choice, ec green paper, icaew, true and fair
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There's a very amusing interchange in the ICAEW LinkedIn group (no URL as it's a private group):

There's more on the history of Economia over at the ICAEW's website. 

Filed under: Entertainment with tags economia, icaew, linkedin, pwned
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So, the new ICAEW magazine is to be called Economia.

The name is taken from Economia, the lady who acts as the physical manifestation of the ICAEW. And look at the elegant way they've stuck the old bird herself into the logo. The logo is all funkily lower-case too.

Of course, 'economia' is also the Spanish word for 'economy' so should play well internationally too. Although it will also make it much more difficult to find a sensible URL for the new magazine.

The first issue of Economia will be sent to all members in early February.

(OK, so I was beaten to the story by over a week by my old buddy Graham Hambly)

Filed under: Institutes with tags accountancy magazine, economia, graham hambly, icaew, spanish
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Because I'm much too lazy to review the EC audit reform proposals myself, other than to express shock and surprise that Barnier could even conceive of a six-year maximum audit tenure, here are some thoughts from other people.

ICAEW doesn't agree with all of what the EC proposes. But it does find some areas of common ground, which it highlights. ICAS finds even more grounds for disagreement, in particular the burdens it will place on business. ACCA use their release to give an outing for their new-technical-director-on-the-block, Sue Almond. She, like ICAEW, is careful not to bash Barnier too heavily, and looks to find some points of agreement, such as the emphasis on the importance of audit committees, while fretting about the potential costs of mandatory rotation. Chartered Accountants Ireland have the smoothest response; while welcoming the proposals, they reserve the right to put the boot in once they've examined them in more detail and consulted with stakeholders ¹.

The firms have also been active. KPMG argue in terms of audit quality to put up a stern defence of multi-disciplinary firms, which would be prohibited by the proposals. pwc is even harsher; while also arguing for greater audit quality, they complain that the EC has missed an opportunity to really learn the lessons of the crisis. Deloitte avoids the audit quality argument altogether, instead preferring to highlight how the EC's proposals won't deliver its stated objectives ².

There are comments in some of the newspapers too: The Guardian says that Barnier is "taking on" the Big 4. The Telegraph echoes this, saying that he wants to break them up. It also notes that the proposals will seriously weaken the powers of national regulators, which presumably includes institutes as well as the FRC.

Accountancy Age snorts at the "watered down" proposals, which have dropped the notion of mandatory joint audits that was included in the earlier leaked drafts.

Filed under: Auditing, Current issues, Institutes with tags acca, accountancy age, big 4, cai, deloitte, ec green paper, european commission, guardian, icaew, icas, kpmg, meta, pricewaterhousecoopers, telegraph
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