PQ magazine, October 2019 by PQ magazine

PQ magazine October 2019

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CLASS OF 2019 A new ‘flexible’ private university has been set up by five Manchester United footballers from the ‘Class of 92’ and accountancy qualifications will be high on the agenda. The University Academy 92 (UA92) is giving students the option of taking four-hour lectures, either in the morning or the afternoon, for four days a week. The idea is to allow students to work at the same time as studying, and be directly benefiting from both. The degrees will be awarded by Lancaster University, and include courses in business studies, sport and media, as well as accountancy. UA92 will, in fact, be offering a certificate in higher education in accounting, and a BA (Hons) in Accounting & Finance. The chief executive and Principal of UA92, Craig Gaskell, said: “We fully encourage students to earn money alongside their studies, because not only does this help push the importance of commitment and work ethic, but we

also want to enable as diverse a community as possible to study for a degree qualification.” Among UA92’s partners are KPMG and Microsoft. KPMG’s Nicola Quayle said: “UA92’s ambition is to produce work-ready graduates who are critical thinkers, digital champions, problem solvers, creative collaborators and influential communicators. By supporting UA92 with flexible work-based

Saving the planet Following the success of our previous accounting conferences London South Bank University and PQ magazine are hosting a one-day conference looking to see if we are accounting for extinction. We have gone green with our ‘Accountants will save the planet!’ theme – like many, we believe there is no Planet B! Accountants have a key role to play in creating a sustainable

future and we believe you are part of the solution, not part of the problem. Whether that means calling for a carbon emergency or just understanding the importance of saving both the accountants and the bees. There will be sessions on carbon taxes, the morality of paying tax and why it may be time to get tough with accountants on money laundering.

learning opportunities for their students there is the potential to nurture a pipeline of diverse applicants to KPMG in line with our own social mobility ambitions.” Each student will also be given their own personal development coach. This idea was inspired by the mentors the footballers had at the start of their careers. They say they would have struggled without the support and guidance of youth coach Eric Harrison and Sir Alex This is a unique opportunity to become involved in the debate and help shape the future. We will end the day with our now infamous panel discussion. We have speakers from The Prince’s Trust Accounting 4 Sustainability, the Carbon Trust and ICAEW, to name a few. This year there is a small charge to cover food and drink (you eat a lot!), but we promise you a day to remember, so put 21 November in your diary. To sign up go to accountantssave-the-planet.eventbrite.co.uk

Ferguson. An initial autumn intake is expected to number 300, but the hopes are that the university will grow to 6,000-strong in the future. Gary Neville, one of the Class of 92, said: “Our aim is that university students will of course leave with an academic qualification, but also a range of skills such as how to deal with pressure, an understanding of finance, leadership, presentational skills and also how to maintain a healthy body and mind. In other words, the complete package to succeed in the workplace.” The university’s website explains the curriculum will be “inspired by the experience and connections of the Class of 92”. Located in a former Kellogg’s site near Manchester United’s training ground, UA92 has been set up as a private university rather than a charity. Check out the website at www.ua92.ac.uk. And for those who don’t know, the Class of 92 alumni are Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes.

CBE delays

Some ACCA PQs sitting at the Rowton Hotel in Birmingham were forced to wait up to four hours to sit their September AA exams. It seems a combination of old PCs and poor software meant not all sitters could log online at once. We also heard that the AA exams started 30 minutes late at London Met University. One TX sitter also said her exam was delayed two hours because her screen froze. ¥ More exam feedback, page 6

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CONTENTS News 06ACCA exams Reaction to the

latest set of exams

08Mental health CABA teams up with new support partner

09Work experience New college is offering practical training

10CIPFA conference Institute unveils diversity initiative

12Tech news Our digital update Features, etc 04Mind your Ps&Qs I want my exemption fees back; ACCA is not playing fair on exam centres; and the best of PQ’s social media 13ICAEW spotlight Your student society needs you!

15Caron Betts How to best use your time after the exam is over

16Mentoring The importance of having good people on your side

17Mental wellbeing How you can fulfil your potential

18CIMA update The qualification can really take you places

20CIPFA spotlight Two CIPFA prize winners share their secrets

21The Troubleshooter Tackling costings questions in the exam

22ACCA APM Measure it, do it 24AAT Level 4 How to hone your real-world skills

25AAT salary checker Are you getting paid what you should be?

October 2019 26Your career The financial crisis did have a silver lining 27CIMA exams How to pass the Management Accounting papers 28Using Excel Top tips on how to become a spreadsheet whizz 29Careers Life at Newcastle City Council; European tax news; and our book club review 30Fun stuff – and our giveaways The columnists Robert Bruce Why audit firms are rejecting the blame game 6 Prem Sikka As the government dithers, the scandals continue 8 Zoe Robinson How by working together we can all succeed 10 Mike Day Technology will usher in big opportunities for accountants 12 Subscribe to PQ magazine It’s FREE – see page 23 or go to www.pqmagazine.com OCTOBER 2019 ISSUE Total Distribution

30,381 Publisher’s statement: We send both a paper and digital issue to a controlled database each month. The above figure is the combined total of issues sent out this month. Free to subscribers who fulfil our terms of control Annual subscription: £35 (£50 overseas)

No Planet B Hopefully you’ll have noticed that we have another November conference with London South Bank University coming your way (see page 7). ‘Accountants will save the planet’ will look to see if we are truly accounting for extinction! We will also be looking at carbon emissions and taxes, and haven’t forgotten to include our everpopular career stream. Here at PQ we have always seen accountants as being part of the sustainable future. More than 100 local councils have declared a climate emergency, and at their recent conference CIPFA said it is going to include carbon accounting in the syllabus. Ex-PM Theresa May’s parting gesture to the UK was a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050. These are legally binding plans and will mean the UK will become the first major economy to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions by 2025. Accountants need to be at the forefront of creating our new green world. There is a small charge for our conference this year to cover food, but don’t be put off – sign up at https://accountants-save-the-planet. eventbrite.co.uk. What price are you putting on saving the planet? Your mental wellbeing Hats off to ACCA for taking our mental health campaign seriously. It was great to read that ACCA is now asking its students directly about their wellbeing in a short online survey. It wants to know if students feel that ACCA adequately supports their wellbeing, and if studying for the qualification has had a direct impact on their mental health. Students even get the chance to say what wellbeing support they believe ACCA should offer. Finally, it asks them if they feel pursuing a career in accountancy and finance has had a negative impact on their mental health. Now we need to see the findings. Graham Hambly, PQ magazine editor (graham@pqaccountant.com)

ICAEW EX AMS

Essential functions that you need during your exam All ACA Professional and Advanced Level exams are now computer-based. Getting to know the exam software before sitting your next exam is essential.

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PQ email graham@pqaccountant.com

HAVE YOUR SAY Well done CIMA, but... Well done CIMA! It was great to see the news that CIMA has dropped its exemption fees. I am really surprised the other bodies haven’t followed suit already. But shouldn’t CIMA be looking to reimburse all those who paid for exemptions in 2019? It is very frustrating for graduates like me who only a few months ago had to shell out hundreds of pounds. If I had waited I could have had those exemptions for free! Another worry I have is that CIMA will just put up the cost of exams to maintain its income from students. In effect, I will be hit double – paying for exemptions and higher exam fees. CIMA

should have given a guarantee it will hold exam fees for 18 months. Currently, it costs £90 to sit the Operational OT and £220 for the

Strategic case study exam. So we are talking just under £2,000 in exam fees and annual subs – and that’s if we qualify in three years, with no failures. That sounds cheap, and it is, but it is important that CIMA keeps these fees as low as possible. Not everyone has an employer who pays for everything! Name and address supplied The editor says: I think CIMA has to be congratulated for scrapping the exemption fee. I don’t know how other bodies can justify making students pay the same fee for an exemption as the exam. If they are not prepared to make them free then the other bodies should at the very most charge a small administration fee.

Our star letter writer wins one of our fantastic ‘I love tax’ t-shirts! I want to sit CBEs I may be in a minority, but I really like the ACCA CBEs and want to sit the Strategic exams online asap. I wanted the opportunity for a smoother transition through the qualification you wrote about. So why is the ACCA only offering the March Strategic level in certain UK centres? I live in Kent and would happily travel into London to sit them, but not to Birmingham! Sitting the CBEs has worked for me at the Applied Level – they help me concentrate on answering the question at hand. When I sat in an exam hall with pen and paper I felt the need to fill the pages – I was just brain-dumping. It was also the only time I ever wrote for three hours straight and really suffered from cramp. Name and address supplied

I need pqjobs.co.uk

Mental wellbeing Thank you, PQ, for homing in on mental wellbeing issues. I recently had a meltdown myself before my last exam sitting, and it was my family and friends who kept me on the straight and narrow. At one time I was thinking of not sitting the exam, but I had spent nearly £1,000 on courses and exam fees and couldn’t afford to do it all again. While it wasn’t a total

success (one pass, one fail) I felt I had done well just to keep going. I do feel the bodies and tuition firms should have clear policies for people who are struggling to cope. Everyone talks about resilience, but sometimes things can just get too much. We are only human after all.

Maybe that’s why everyone wants the robots to take over! Name and address supplied The editor says: We know the ACCA, for one, is taking this issue seriously and is conducting a survey of PQs as we speak – we urge all readers to get involved in it.

social media ROUND-UP Our tweets try to cover the whole gamut of exams, careers – and anything we think might help bring a smile to your face! We tweeted out about HMRC’s decision to slap VAT on Botox. But you really liked our ‘other VAT facts’ tweet, too: “Dog food attracts VAT unless the dog has a job – such as a guide dog. VAT is not charged on plain biscuits, but if you cover them in chocolate they become a luxury and are taxed. VAT is payable on digital editions of newspapers, but newsprint is zero rated.” Our ‘tattoo’ tweet also got people talking at London South Bank University when we visited: “A leading Canadian economist has claimed people with visible tattoos are more likely to act in haste and are less likely to consider the consequences of their actions!” We pointed out that nearly a third of 25 to 39 year olds in the UK have a tattoo. Professor Ruffle said: “From an economic perspective a decision to have a tattoo is puzzling.” He suggests dying you hair or getting a personalised t-shirt is the way to go – both can be changed. We never forget why we are really here, though. The problem with CBEs not loading in Birmingham on the first day of the ACCA September exams certainly got you engaged. We were told a student had to leave the exam centre without sitting the exam, as the invigilators couldn’t load the paper. This PQ will now have to wait until December to sit again. Elaine said: “I’d be very upset if this happened to me… When tech fails the student can’t be dismissed without due consideration.” Juliet agreed: “If that’s true it’s disgusting!”

PQ Magazine Unit 3a, Kingfisher Heights, 2 Bramwell Way, Royal Docks, London E16 2GQ | Phone: 020 7216 6444 | Email: graham@pqmagazine.com Website: www.pqmagazine.com | Editor/publisher: Graham Hambly graham@pqmagazine.com | Associate editor: Adam Riches | Art editor: Tim Parker | Contributors: Robert Bruce, Prem Sikka, Zoe Robinson, Mike Day, Tony Kelly, Phil Gammon, Edward Netherton | Subscriptions: admin@pqmagazine.com | Origination and print services by Classified Central Media If you have any problems with delivery, or if you want to change your delivery address, please email admin@pqmagazine.com

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PQ news

ROBERT BRUCE Audit firms are rejecting the blame game

Politicians and Whitehall have traditionally been relaxed about auditors. They rely on the audit firms to do the job of policing what boards of directors put in the accounts and they have never thought too much about how the model might go wrong. Suddenly they are sitting up and taking notice. They never gave the audit regulator much in the way of teeth, still less powers to deal with feckless company directors – and that is coming back to bite them. A raft of lazy criticisms of auditors when in truth it has been company directors who have created the disasters means that auditors now think seriously about the consequent reputational damage and whether or not they are interested in doing the audits of companies that they know are suspect. In the past all the different parts of this market were closer. They talked to one another. They became aware of the problems and they agreed to sort them. In some cases an audit firm would take the decision that it would never work with anyone involved with, for example, the bully Robert Maxwell. In some cases what was seen as a deeply dodgy company would be taken up by a mid-tier firm with the clear understanding that it was a dirty job but somebody had to do it. If it went wrong no one would take it out on the audit firm. Those days are gone. Auditors have little desire to be pilloried for something for which they had little responsibility. Audits they see as deeply dodgy will find no auditor. No one will take them on. What happens next is anyone’s guess. Robert Bruce is an award-winning writer on accountancy for The Times

Emerging technologies to be incorporated into exams ICAEW has unveiled sophisticated plans to incorporate emerging technologies into its accountancy qualification by 2021. To this end, it is joining forces with cloud-based accounting data analytics firm Inflo, to ensure the ACA qualification is ‘fit for the future’. Interestingly, the ICAEW felt it had to act now, ahead of the new syllabus update, due for September 2020. The collaboration will first

focus on the Audit & Assurance exam. The ICAEW’s director of education, Shaun Robertson (pictured), told PQ magazine that auditors in practice are increasingly using more advanced approaches to interrogate client data, and are using analytics to help them with risk assessment and fraud testing. He explained that small pilots have taken place and the new-look exam has been well received by those taking part. “It’s

just like being at work,” explained the testers. Robertson promised the software will also test the thorny issue of scepticism, something many current auditors have be accused of not having! Once Audit & Assurance is up and running the collaboration will then expand into the Corporate Reporting exam. Inflo CEO Mark Edmondson is an ICAEW accountant who qualified with PwC. He said embracing the skills challenge and incorporating emerging technologies in the ACA qualification means the ICAEW is ensuring the profession stays attractive to those beginning their careers.

Waffle time for SBL sitters If your speciality is waffle then you may have come into your own at the ACCA’s September SBL sitting! Question 3 was the problem here. As one sitter put it: “That’s mental for 20 marks.” Another just felt Q3 ruined the exam. They described it as “absolutely diabolical”. Yet another admitted to spending 45 minutes on it – reading, re-reading and, finally, writing half a page that they admitted “made completely no sense”. Then there was the PQ who “just waffled crap”. Also in the ‘strange exam’ category this September were ATX, AAA and PM.

“Well, that was different,” is how one AAA sitter explained their experience on social media. PQs really didn’t like the 24-mark audit risk question. In fact, they really struggled to find enough to write about. As one put it: “How can you answer 24 marks based on disclosures?” Students felt this question was both “unreasonable” and “crazy”. On the plus side, however, TX was deemed OK, and one perennial APM sitter said this exam was “so much easier than the last two exams”. • Check out www.pqmagazine.com for all the feedback and more.

It’s time to bring on the robots PQs are ready to embrace automation, says new research from Hays Accountancy & Finance. Almost 96% of PQs respondents said they are optimistic about the opportunities technology will create in the future, and believe it is changing their workplace and everyday lives for the better. The study found that PQs are more interested in using the latest technology in the workplace than in everyday life – 83% to 73%. This echoed by three-quarters (75%) of professionals who say they have an open mindset towards digital transformation. Find out more at: hays.co.uk/what-workers-want

Will and James Top dogs: James Charlton is the 2019/20 President of the CIPFA Student Network (CSN). He works as an internal auditor at Newcastle City Council. He began his CIPFA studies in 2016 and graduated in 2019. Alongside his role on the CSN, he is also an active volunteer in his region where he serves as Vice President of CIPFA North East. Will Goodchild is the Vice President of CIPFA Student Network as well as the current President of the South East branch network. He has been working at Essex County Council for the past three years and has just passed his final CIPFA exams.

In brief LSBF’s seal of approval AAT has recognised LSBF’s high pass rates and innovative approach to delivering course content with a highly positive verification report. LSBF’s AAT pass rates were deemed “exceptionally good”, currently hovering between 95.2% and 100%. It has also worked hard to present timely information via tools such as aat TV. 6

ACCA Strategic CBEs ‘open’ Students in the Czech Republic, Ireland and some parts of the UK (see our story last month) have been told they can now sign up for the Strategic Professional CBEs. These are the markets will be the first to launch in March 2020, and ACCA says the first bookings have already been made.

HMRC for breaching anti-money laundering laws. The taxman said the west London firm were guilty of serious failures, including poor record-keeping, a lack of due diligence on customers and inadequate staff training. Hassanien Tomuma was also banned from any management role at a business governed by antimoney laundering regs.

Huge money laundering fine Touma Foreign Exchange has been fined a record £7.8m by

Tutor in your pocket This month we are giving ACCA SBL students the chance to

‘win’ top tutor Sean Purcell. He has been helping students pass ACCA exams all over the world for over 25 years. Even the ACCA recognise how good he is – he has delivered their ‘train the trainer’ programme for SBL tutors. Check out page 21 to discover how you can “put a tutor in your pocket”! PQ Magazine October 2019

Accountants will save the planet! Thursday 21 November 2019 The Business School, London South Bank University Following the success of our previous accounting conferences, we are hosting a packed day conference looking at green accounting issues. Hear from renowned experts and industry leaders on current and future aspects of green accounting. Network with other professionals and join the discussion.

If you’re interest e green ac d in counting issues, t his is to be mis not sed!

• What are the practice implications of carbon taxes? • How do we account for corporate social responsibility? • What are the developments in green financial reporting? • How can we maximise non-renewable resources as accountants? • Rather than accounting for profit or loss, how can we best look at the effect on the environment?

Booking will open in Autumn

Winner of Innovation in Accountancy PQ Awards 2019

304-1819-MAR-BUS-PQ CONFERENCE AD_270x210_V2.indd 1

03/06/2019 16:37

PQ news

PREM SIKKA As the goverment dithers, the scandals continue Accounting and auditing failures continue to hit the headlines. The latest relates to Eddie Stobart, a wellknown haulage company. It is “reassessing the recoverability of certain receivables, as well as considering the appropriateness of certain provisions”. How far back do the problems go? Eddie Stobart’s 2017 accounts received an unqualified audit opinion from KPMG. The firm collected £324,000 for auditing and £834,000 for non-auditing services which included taxation. On 27 November 2018, KPMG resigned and said that this was “due to a breakdown in our relationship with management which followed difficulties in obtaining sufficient appropriate audit evidence during our audit of the Company and its subsidiaries for the year ended 30 November 2017, although that information was ultimately obtained”. This opaque statement fails to provide any indication of the issues or the amounts involved. The audit report and the accounts were silent as well. Eddie Stobart’s accounts for the year to 30 November 2018 have been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers and received an unqualified audit opinion. The accounts were filed at Companies House on 31 May 2019 yet within a couple of months the company says that its accounting practices are flawed. Despite BHS, Carillion and other scandals the government has failed to reform the accounting and auditing industry. In such an environment, more scandals are inevitable. Prem Sikka is Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex

XenZone offers support XenZone, a UK digital mental health pioneer, has been commissioned by the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association (CABA) to provide its online counselling and wellbeing support service, Kooth, to ICAEW students, members, staff and their families. CABA’s own research highlights the mental health issues facing the accountancy profession, with one in four in the industry between the ages of 18-24 thinking about quitting their job every day. This is often due to the crippling pressures of mounting workload.

Through the new partnership chartered accountants and their children will have a 24-hour access to self-help materials, as well as goal-setting and mood-tracking tools. The online service also hosts moderated live forums, allowing peer-to-peer support and interactive messaging with counsellors.

Users are also able to drop-in or book anonymous online counselling sessions with qualified therapists who are available in the evenings and at weekends; sessions are available on weekdays from 12pm and 10pm, and from 6pm and 10pm on weekends. CABA support manager MaryJane Gunn said: “We know that often younger people within the industry don’t ask for help for fear of showing weakness. We hope that this new partnership gives an anonymous outlet for them to turn to, preventing them from suffering alone.”

Social mobility: an awardwinning initiative has continued for a second year, as AAT played host to a new batch of interns for summer 2019. AAT again partnered with social enterprise The Brokerage offers eight interns the chance to see how a professional accountancy body works. All the interns were paid the London Living Wage during their six-week stint at the AAT

ACCA has cracked down on students taking pictures of exam questions at their exam desks, and then trying to sell them online. Taobao Marketplace, a Chinese shopping website, was the common portal for this, but there was one problem – students’ ACCA registration numbers and the exam centre were at the top of the screens, making it easy for the association to identify the guilty parties! In one case ACCA China

received an email raising concerns about the integrity of the CBEs after F4 questions were found on the internet. This ‘person’ later provided ACCA with a web link and sample photographs of exam questions. A local ACCA contact then made a test purchase on Taobao Marketplace. After the payment went through the questions were made available on Baiduyn, a cloud storage service. Four students have now been found guilty of misconduct. Failure

to respond to ACCA correspondence added to the punishment, as this is a big no-no. The disciplinary committee judgements were: • F4 student Chen Yiyun was removed from the student register and ordered to pay costs of £7,000. • F4 student Hiujiao Ru was removed from the student register and ordered to pay costs of £6,500. • F3 student Zehui Gong was also removed from the student register and ordered to pay costs of £5,000. • F4 student Ziying Wang was severely reprimanded and ordered to pay costs of £3,500.

Presentation of Financial Statements and IFRS Practice Statement 2 Making Materiality Judgements. This is to help companies provide useful accounting policy disclosures to users of financial statements. IAS 1 requires companies to disclose their ‘significant’ accounting policies. The Board is proposing to replace the reference to ‘significant’ with a requirement to disclose ‘material’ accounting policies to clarify the threshold for disclosing information.

The price of vanity A precedent-setting first-tier tax tribunal has ruled that Botox treatments in Britain should be subject to VAT. The tribunal ruled in favour of HMRC in its case against a London skin-care clinic that had provided injections without paying VAT. The tribunal found that Botox was primarily a cosmetic ‘vanity’ treatment. RSM’s Scott Harwood said some clinics would still potentially be able to claim relief if they provide evidence of the client’s mental health.

Polish income tax initiative Poland has abolished income tax for all those under the age of 26 earning up to 85,500 zlotys (£18,200). Some two million young people will be exempt the 18% basic tax rate. The move is seen as a drastic attempt to reverse its ‘brain drain’ and tempt graduates back from overseas. The average annual income in Poland is around £5,500. Those leaving Poland are overwhelmingly the young – the country’s median age has risen from 36 in 2000 to 41 in 2018.

ACCA exams up for sale

In brief What AATs want… The latest AAT salary survey shows that flexi-time is the most desired company benefit for most AATs. Private health care and paid time off to study came in second and third. Employers paying for studies came sixth on the list, just below a company pension scheme. Check out AAT salaries on page 25 IASB makes changes The International Accounting Standards Board has issued proposed amendments to IAS 1 8

PQ Magazine October 2019

news PQ

ICAEW posts impressive set of July results The ICAEW July advanced level exam results are out, and it was another set of impressive pass rates. Students excelled across the board. Strategic Business Management was the top paper with a pass rate of 83.9%, followed by Corporate Reporting on 79.6%. The Case Study pass rate was 76.7%, which all added up to a pass rate of 69.7% for students who sat all three exams together. The July session was the first sitting for the Case Study on computer, meaning all ACA exams have been successful transferred to computer-based. PwC PQs dominated the list of prize winners: Adam Kent, Clare Ford and Sunil Ghosh were all named on the order of merit, along with FTI Consulting’s Thomas Maassen. A total of 4,921 students sat the July test; 8,246 exams were sat; and 3,549 students passed all the papers they sat.

Practical help is at hand PQs in search of practical training have a new helping hand in the form of Next Accountants’ Practical Accountancy Training courses. Next Accountants co-founder Dak Patel told PQ magazine he wanted to help accountancy students with that ‘catch-22’ dilemma of having accountancy qualifications but not the practical skills employers are looking for. The University of East London has already signed up its graduates to the courses and Patel is closely working with ACCA. He said PQs and graduates will be offered 12 weeks of practical

job-ready accounting training, and a further 12 weeks of placement with ‘live’ clients. Courses will start weekly and students can opt for morning, afternoon or evening sessions. Patel said: “We think there is huge gap in the market for this sort of Dak Patel training. Too many students lack the practical knowledge and experience of cloud

CIMA OT sitters are being ‘strongly advised’ to return to the review screen and click ‘review incomplete items’ when the five-minute pop-up button alerts you that the end of the exam is nigh. CIMA claims it is good exam technique for candidates to review any questions that remain flagged in the remaining time they have left. The institute is also telling OT sitters to take 10 to 15 minutes at the start of the exam to click ‘next’

through all 60 items, identifying and tackling short questions that can be answered quickly and confidently. These include brief ‘knowledge’ and ‘definition’ MCQs, where the correct answer is identified immediately without the need to re-read the stem or the options. That means at the end of the first

accounting and it means they don’t know how to use the tools of the accountancy trade. They need to understand how Xero, Sage and quickbooks and VT work. And employers expect students to know these basics when they start.” He is talking here payroll, personal tax returns, advanced Excel bookkeeping, VAT prep and submission, and company accounts and corporate tax returns. For more information go to nextaccountants.training

Your five-minute warning run-through you may have answered 10 to 15 questions with confidence. This, says CIMA, will allow you to relax and approach the remaining questions more calmly. Next up, tackle the longer questions you think you can answer. Here you could get 20 to 30 questions completed in around 30 to 40 minutes.

PQ news

ZOE ROBINSON How we can all succeed by working together

There are several characteristics that set accountancy exams apart from others. They are time based, often three hours, normally over three years, with three levels and are assessed in an exam room. Although there are clearly merits of testing students like this, is it the very best way of selecting the finance professionals of the future? The World Economic Forum (WEF) identified the top skills to survive and prosper in the fourth industrial revolution. They are complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and people management. While not specific to finance, they give an insight into the wider skill set required to succeed. Collaborative learning involves students working together to learn. Benefits to this include helping team building, social competence, promotion of critical and higher-level thinking. Given these skills are not dissimilar to WEF’s, what if we took it one stage further? What if, using modern technology, we assessed the performance of students while working in these groups. There could still, of course, be an individual exam after the group assessment (not instead of but in addition to). Consistency and objectivity could be achieved by way of a well-structured rubric, supported by key metrics. Competition teaches us about winners and losers, but collaboration helps us see that by working together we might achieve something that individually we could not – and that’s not a bad message for the future. Zoe Robinson is Learning and Programmes Director at Kaplan Financial

Reflecting the wider world A new diversity and inclusion strategy focused on finance professionals has been unveiled by CIPFA at its annual conference, Public Finance Live 2019. Officially launched in autumn 2019, CIPFA President Carolyn Williamson said it was time to tackle the lack of diversity in the public finance

Bridge Group, a strategy to promote an even more representative profession. Williamson pointed out: “I want to see all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds being encouraged into the top finance jobs across the public sector, our new diversity and inclusion strategy will be a big step forward in achieving this goal.” The findings of the survey will be available shortly.

Goldsmiths acts on climate change Beefburgers and bottled water will be consigned to history on Goldsmiths’ University of London campus at the start of this term. Goldsmiths is committed to being carbon neutral by 2025 and the new Warden, Professor Frances Corner (pictured), has announced major measures to achieve this. Among the changes are: • All beef products to be removed from campus food outlets by the start of the 2019 academic year. • An additional 10p levy will be placed on bottle water, with single use plastic cups ‘discouraged’. • More solar panels to be

introduced on its New Cross campus in south London. • A switch to 100% clean energy supplier. • Investment in Goldsmiths allotment area and more ‘green’ planting.

• Look at how students can access curriculum options, which investigate the subject of climate change. Professor Corner said: “Declaring a climate emergency cannot be empty words. I truly believe we face a defining moment in global history and Goldsmiths now stands shoulder to shoulder with other organisations willing to call the alarm and take urgent action to cut carbon use.”

CIMA’s case study changes The last chance to sit the CIMA case studies under the old syllabus is fast approaching – November 2019. CIMA will, however, be making a resit under the 2015 syllabus available in February 2020, using the same preseen material as November 2019. Going forward the same pre-seen material will be used over two exam windows – May and August, and November and February. To this end CIMA revealed that there will also be a one off pre-seen

Pay hikes all round! The Deloitte results are out, with UK partners in line for their biggest payday in a decade – despite all the pressures on the Big 4 firms. The average ‘profit’ per equity partner has risen to £882,000, up £50,000 year-on-year. Revenue to May grew 10.9% to £3.97bn, with over 4,000 people joining the firm, including 1,200 graduates and apprentices. Female partner promotions were up nearly threefold to 32, or 41% of promotions. Investment outside London also continued, including the new Tech Foundry in Reading, with plans to create 350 new jobs. Distributable profit was £617m, up from £584m in the prior year. The figure 10

profession head on. Williamson (pictured) said: “The gender pay gap and under representation of BAME groups in our profession is very real, and the first step to reaching a solution is recognising the problem. Only by reflecting the communities we represent can we make the most informed financial decisions.” She explained that CIPFA has developed, in partnership with the

used for the first case study exam under the new syllabus in February 2020. From 2020 CIMA students will be able to sit their case study exams over a three-day window, from Wednesday to the Friday. These dates, says CIMA, were chosen because they were the most popular days students currently opt to sit. Case study candidates, at the moment, can choose to sit over five days – from Tuesday to Saturday.

benefited from a one-off gain on the sale of an investment; lower provisioning charges and currency gains. Deloitte admits without these distributable profit would have been flat. The firm’s total tax contribution was £1,057m in 2019. This comprised £638m of taxes collected on behalf of HMRC (VAT, PAYE and NICs) and £419m of taxes borne by the firm (partner income taxes, NICs, corporation tax and employer’s national insurance). Client cull on the cards The UK’s Big Six accountancy firms are preparing to offload their more risky and unprofitable audit clients, according to a Financial Times report. Sweeping reviews of clients have been launched with the aim of

weeding out those considered to be ‘problematic’. The auditors are particularly concerned that they will become embroiled in any fallout in volatile sectors such as retail and outsourcing. The FT said that PwC started its audit book review in June, with Hemione Hudson saying it would “ensure we achieve a return that allows continual investment in and focus on quality”. She explained the process could lead to an increase in fees and stressed there would be some instances where PwC will walk away from clients. EY has written to its large listed clients, warning them on increased fees, due to unprecedented market forces. PQ Magazine October 2019

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PQ tech news

MIKE DAY Digital age offers rich rewards for accountants

There are many cases of digital abundance driving massive disruptive change – think Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Alibaba, JD.com, Uber, Airbnb and Salesforce, to name but a few. So if we translate this digital thinking into the business world what might it look like? Back in 2000 there were 3.5m business in the United Kingdom; by next year, 20 years on, that’ll pass the six million mark. If we grow at the current rate it’s likely we’ll see nine million businesses in the next 10 to 20 years in the UK. But if digitisation transforms our profession the way it has other industries we could see many more. Imagine a world where forming and running a business was as simple as creating a new project in software. Where entrepreneurs could easily run multiple businesses and opening a company will be much like you open a new case file or a new project today. We have already seen a surge in the gig economy, with people setting up stores and other ventures online while holding down a full-time job. What does this mean for you, the PQ accountant? Right now we know that businesses really start humming when a small or medium-sized business is connected to an accountant, or employs one directly. In fact, the likelihood of a business surviving five years is 85% when they work with you. If they go it alone it’s just 50%. You are absolutely central to their success – SMEs need you. Yet another reason why it's a great time to be studying accounting. Mike Day, Director, UK Education Sector, Xero

Decipher annual reports A new app that allows investors and regulators to cut through the complicated language of company annual reports has been developed by Lancaster University. The new tool dissects and analyses the narrative aspects of companies’ annual reports and documents aimed at shareholders. The Corporate Financial Information Environment – Final Report Structure Extractor (CFIE – FRSE) app, to give it its full title, aims to help users identify unusual patterns in corporate reports that may help distinguish long-term financial strength from inflated short-term profit. Professor Steve Young, head of accounting in Lancaster University Management School, said: “Annual

reports are highly unstructured, and different companies report in different ways, which makes extracting content and comparing reports very difficult. Almost every document is different.” The app has analysed more than 26,000 documents published between 2003 and 2017 and scored on features such as length,

Banking on your voice

Game on!

Many businesses are finally waking up to the skills gamers can bring to the workplace. The Game Academy has said puzzle games like Portal and Defense Grid (a tower defence game) are played ‘more than average’ by IT workers. Meanwhile, managers have a preference to Civilization, Total War and X-Com, where strategy and resource management are key.

readability and sentiment. It found that the average length of annual reports has more than doubled over the past decade to almost 34,000 words. The average report’s readability – measured using an algorithm that penalises long sentences and complex words – is also poor, and there have been no noticeable improvements over the sample period. There has, explained Young, already been interest in CFIE-FRSE from investment and hedge-fund managers. • The UK app economy is estimated to be worth about £83bn by 2021, but with almost 1,000 apps submitted to the app store each day competition is fierce.

The Game Academy believes by analysing gamers’ habits from their online gaming profile employers can see the transferable skills they have. Ryan Gardner of recruitment agency Hays agreed and told the BBC: “There are plenty of soft skills that gamers can utilise in a professional setting, such as team work, problem solving and strategic planning.

NatWest has teamed up with Google to allow customers to ask a home smart speaker for details about their bank accounts. In a three-month trial, 500 customers will be able to check balances and ask about recent transactions. In order to use the voice features users will have to remember two numbers of their six-digit PIN to confirm their identity. The pilot lets customers ask eight questions as well as access over 15 banking tips. NatWest’s Head of Open Experience, Kristen Bennie, said: “We are exploring voice banking for the first time and think it could mark the beginning of a major change to how customers manage their finances, in the same way mobile banking made a huge impact.”

Investing in tech talent KPMG has announced plans to expand its Software Engineering Degree Apprenticeship. The expanded scheme will offer 21 places and will enable aspiring engineers to gain a BSc honours degree in Digital & Technology Solutions from Queen Mary University, London. At the same time, these students will work alongside KPMG experts and earn a wage. KPMG piloted the programme in 2018, initially offering five places.

November date for Apple TV Apple’s streaming service will be with us come November. Apple TV Plus is considering a monthly subscription of around £8 to £9 following a free trial period, according to Bloomberg. It is also being reported that Apple has committed $6bn to its production budget, in a effort to stand out in an increasingly crowded field. Disney Plus is also launching in November.

Tech briefs Paying salaries on bitcoin New Zealand has become the first country to legally back firms that are paying their employees in cryptocurrencies. The tax authority ruling means from 1 September wages can be paid with the likes of bitcoin, as long as payments are a regular fixed amount. It has also insists that the digital currency be pegged to a standard currency and be able to be converted directly into a standard form of payment. Self-employed people are excluded from the scheme. 12

British tech success UK tech start-ups are enjoying an unprecedented investment boom, attracting £5.5bn of foreign funding in the first seven months of the year. They are on course to secure just under £10bn by the end of the year, with the data showing that Britain remains the most attractive country in Europe for tech investors. It has been suggested that tech business are less exposed to a no-deal Brexit than companies from other sectors that rely on complex supply chains.

PQ Magazine October 2019

ICAEW spotlight PQ

he ACA isn’t all work, work, work. Students can attend a wide range of professional and social events throughout the year through their local society. ICAEW is one of the few accountancy bodies with fully-functioning, selfsufficient student societies across the country; a definitive benefit while studying the qualification. But what is an ICAEW Student Society? They are run by students, for students. All trainees automatically join their local student society when they register with ICAEW. Each society has a committee dedicated to organising events and activities throughout the year; from ACA revision sessions, skills-based seminars such as negotiating for success, to football tournaments, pub quizzes and the annual society ball. Trainees can meet fellow students who are also on their ACA journey, from a wide range of industries and organisations. And why should trainees attend events? Alex Narang, current Chair of the ICAEW Manchester Student Society (MCASS) says “the main skill I have developed by attending these events is how to network and build relationships with new people, something that is a vital skill for an accountant”. And, they’re fun! Here’s what some of the ICAEW student societies have been up to over the past few months.

Manchester On 24 July, the trainees of Manchester celebrated the end of Summer exams on a traditional wide-beam canal boat. Fifty guests enjoyed food and drinks, with onboard karaoke and ice breaking games. Another sell-out boat party! South and East Wales On 26 July, the ICAEW South and East Wales student society held its annual summer ball at the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff. 85 students and members attended the event which included a three course meal as well as entertainment such as casino tables, sweet carts, professional photographer and photo booth. London On 1 July the London, Thames Valley and Southern student societies hosted a combined revision session with ACA Simplified, for students sitting their July Case Study exam. Just under 200 trainees gathered in central London. We’re always looking for new committee members. All ICAEW students are encouraged to join the committee of their local student society, who meet regularly to organise events, and discuss matters that affect other students across the country. Contact details can be found at icaew.com/studentgroups PQ • Thanks to the ICAEW for this article PQ Magazine October 2019

Work smart, WHAT’S ON play smart 13 September Post exam social, Bristol

17 September Flight Club Darts, Manchester 19 September InflateSpace, Newcastle

There’s a whole host of great social events taking place across the country – why not join the party?

19 September Young professionals networking, Chester 20 September Boat party, Cardiff Bay 20 September Introduction to the ACA, London 24 September Yoga for busy people, Bristol 25 September Annual dinner, Edinburgh 28 September Chester races, Chester 3 October Student quiz night, Nottingham 4 October Student quiz and curry, Sheffield 4 October Annual student ball, Manchester 9 October Bowling, Preston 10 October New starters’ event, Newcastle 10 October Future leaders – talks and networking, Birmingham 21 October Case study revision, Birmingham

So – what’s next? Attend an event, of course! If you’re an ICAEW student and haven’t already booked onto an upcoming student society event you can do so by going to icaew.com/events 13

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your exams PQ

After the exam day Instead of her usual Q&As our Agony Aunt Caron Betts has some advice on how to use your time once the exams are over

ith the ACCA exam sittings available every quarter it seems as if students are constantly studying for an exam, revising for one or waiting for the results. As soon as the exams are over students wonder about what subject to do next, whether they will have to resit or if they can take a break. I will deal with resits separately next month, but for the moment let me share my CHECKlist to help you use your time effectively once you have sat your exam, to plan your next steps. C is for Chill out Firstly, you have been working really hard for weeks and months preparing for the exam and now it is time to take a break. At least enjoy an evening catching up with your family and friends who you have probably been ignoring recently! Give yourself a treat as a reward for all your hard work and, if you didn’t think of it this time, why not book a holiday for the week after the next exams? It really is important to rest, relax and recharge your batteries. After all, you’ll need to be match fit for the next round of exams all too soon. H is for How did it go? The exam is over and there is nothing you can do about it now, as it is in the hands of the markers. However, it is important to reflect on how the exam went. Take a deep breath and review your performance in the exam. Consider whether you felt you were sufficiently prepared: • Could you answer all of the questions on all of the topics that came up? • Could you complete the whole exam in the time allowed? • Could you have done anything differently to make the exam easier? That last question is really important, because now is the time to decide whether your study approach is working for you. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to studying, but if your current approach is leaving you rushed or anxious in the exam then it’s sounds as if you are under-prepared and perhaps something needs to change. Take time to reflect on whether you spent enough time studying. Did you give yourself enough weeks leading up to the exam to go through everything AND did you spend enough time each week? If not, then make the decision that you will start studying earlier for the next exam. Plan the days of the week that you will study and block out times in your calendar to study. Be creative with your study time – set your alarm 30 PQ Magazine October 2019

minutes earlier to read some notes, watch a video or tutorial or the bus or train while travelling, or work through some questions over lunch. Find ways to make study fit in with your other commitments. E is for Explore your options Arrange a meeting with your line manager and/ or apprenticeship coach to give them feedback on the exam and to discuss the next steps. Talk about what new skills you have learned and whether there are opportunities for you to apply those in the work environment. Review the subjects you have left to study and find out if there are any work placements coming up where you could gain some real-world experience as you are studying the theory. Look at the work schedule for the coming months and be honest about whether you will have time to fit in studies alongside year-end or the busy period, or if you need to take a break from the next exam sitting. Think about your personal commitments, too. Will you have time to study over the summer months if you have a young family who needs you? Do you like winter sports and want to take time out to pursue those? Just because the ACCA offer an exam sitting every quarter, it doesn’t mean you have to sit every quarter. Take a study break if you need to. C is for Courses and resources As part of your post-exam reflection, do think about whether the course was the right one for you. It may be that your employer provides you with a study package so you may not have any input in your course selection, but you can still give feedback to your employer and the tuition provider on what worked and what didn’t. When you are buying a course take time to

discuss with the course advisors on exactly what the course has to offer. As a minimum you should have a clear and comprehensive text book and a bank of questions (whether online or hard copy) to work through. Where possible have a system where you can practise exams or mocks in an online environment to get some real exam preparation – it’s great for time management, too. In addition, check out what tutor support is available in a classroom, video tutorials, online classes, email and phone support. No matter how great the learning materials are there are likely to be areas that you need a bit more help with, so the ability to chat to a tutor is invaluable. Visit the ACCA website and make sure you read the technical articles, review the examiners’ feedback, work through past papers and attempt the specimen exam, just so you are comfortable with the computer-based exam platform. Don’t underestimate the power of peer-to-peer learning. If your work colleagues are studying the same subject then arrange some group study sessions. Why not meet up with your classroom colleagues or use community forums to chat to your online study-buddies to support each other and share advice and tips? K is for Keep going ACCA exams are challenging, but do-able. It’s a professional qualification so, of course, the exams need to check that standards are being maintained. Remind yourself why you want to become a qualified accountant – your hard work will all be worth it in the end. Next month: Caron has some top advice on what to do once the results are released. PQ • Caron Betts is an ACCA tutor with AVADO 15

PQ mentoring

Helping hands ACCA has launched an online mentoring programme for members and affiliates

entoring is a win-win situation that enables both mentors and mentees to benefit from sharing knowledge and learning from others. The concept of mentoring has been around since Ancient Greeceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Homer wrote â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Odysseyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and created the character Mentor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a wise guide to watch over and educate the protagonistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son while he was at war. The influential broadcaster Oprah Winfrey said that â&#x20AC;&#x153;a mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourselfâ&#x20AC;Ś who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden to your own view.â&#x20AC;? None of us have achieved anything meaningful without some form of mentorship. Nobody has made it alone. Often we will have been mentors to people even when we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realise it. The transfer of knowledge is clearly one major aspect in mentoring. It is teaching what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learnt, learning what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve yet to experience, preparing a mentee by offering tools to further wisdom and understanding.

It is a great opportunity for a mentee to fasttrack their attainment of knowledge, but also to bring in new ideas and fresh perspectives. There is also a responsibility on them to execute and deliver on the task he or she is being mentored for â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to repay the time invested in and the faith bestowed to them by the more experienced and established mentor. Mentoring has allowed our members and affiliates at ACCA to benefit from the vast experience of our network. Members frequently ask how they can give something back to the profession. The ACCA Mentoring Programme achieves

AAT to ACCA

both goals and helps build the accountancy profession the world needs. It is a great opportunity allowing members to communicate and share experience and knowledge with other members worldwide. Earlier this year it won the gold award for the Most Innovative Development by an Association at the European Association Awards in Belgium. This month ACCA are relaunching this programme with several new features. In response to user feedback, we've enhanced the programme and made it even easier for members and affiliates to make a connection and achieve their goals, through: â&#x20AC;˘ Simpler, clearer navigation. â&#x20AC;˘ An improved application process. â&#x20AC;˘ More focused profiles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to help users select a match. Users of the programme will gain valuable experience directly from a fellow member, developing new skills, knowledge, insights and perspectives. They will also build their confidence by setting and achieving development goals, expanding their network, challenging themselves, helping fellow members and giving back to the profession. The programme is being piloted for ACCA members and affiliates in Hong Kong SAR of China, Ireland, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and the UK. If you are an ACCA member or affiliate, please go to www.accaglobal.com/mentoring to join our growing mentoring community. PQ â&#x20AC;˘ Clare Hodgson is the head of professional development products at the ACCA

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PQ Magazine October 2019

mental health PQ

A new way of seeing What keeps us from fulfilling our full potential? Imogen Caterer explains all

ne in six people suffer from mental illness. Students struggle with studies. And our failure to get in touch with our true brilliance makes it seem like artificial intelligence (AI) could be a real threat. I’m a CIMA student and Certified Transformative Coach. One student who learned for me went from 95 (marginal fail) to 132 out of 150 in the infamous CIMA P1 management accounting exam. But I don’t teach accounting. Instead, I talk about the human potential to overcome challenges. This article aims to give you hope that there is a better way. Hidden intelligence Our health is within us. We have an innate ability to learn through insights also called ‘light bulb’ or ‘aha!’ moments. Learning our mother tongue and how to walk comes naturally. We have a natural ability to recover from setbacks. Your emotional reaction to an exam fail will diminish within days. New ideas for solving issues come too. We take that for granted but it’s our health and resilience. This ‘inner wisdom’ is a tailor-made solution generator. Throughout history moments of progress occur, with someone seeing something in a radically new way – for example, the discovery of gravity (Isaac Newton), the invention of the light bulb (Thomas Edison) and entrepreneurial breakthroughs (Bill Gates and others). This isn’t just the intellectual mind. These are jumps in consciousness. In the US, my colleagues at Insight Principles help employees solve ‘unsolvable’ multi-million-dollar business problems. This is humanity’s birthright. We all have a built-in connection to wisdom, and it does these amazing things for us. As a Transformative Coach I help people to see that innate resilience, learning ability and wisdom. AI has no equivalent. No matter what AI does

PQ Magazine October 2019

to our profession, I’ll rely on insights to give me a new way of life. What obscures it? What is it that stands in the way of a more insight-rich experience? It is a misunderstanding about how the mind works. It is just assumed to be true but both neuroscience and physics disagree with it. It is the belief that outside events directly affect our feelings and experience of life (e.g. exam failures).

It is, in fact, thought that creates our experience of life. Our thinking and emotions react so fast we are conned into believing it is the outside that is causing our reaction. Overthinking results as we try to control the world so the thing we wrongly believe could hurt us doesn’t happen. Einstein’s protégé David Bohm said: “Thought

creates your world and then says I didn’t do it.” Getting insights into how the mind really works reveals the fallacy. Tony was angry and convinced his employers were incompetent. He came to my first public talk. The next day his world changed. Overnight, he had had an insight into the role of thought and it changed him permanently. No longer did he hate work. Two talks later he lost decades of depression and anxiety. Tony had been holding tight to his opinion that he couldn’t be happy without his employers changing. He had been heavily over-thinking trying to find a way to change them. When he learnt his thinking wasn’t reliable a breakthrough happened. Just three minutes of over-thinking causes signs of mental illness. Thirty minutes and you start switching on disease-causing genes and turning off healthy genes. Inflammation results. Symptoms will depend partially on those genes, and possibilities include depression, anxiety, heart attack, asthma and schizophrenia. This new understanding of the mind reduces all that mental strain. CIMA’s P1 has a 52% first-time pass rate, with 60 multi-choice/calculation questions from across the syllabus. Time problems are common for those who fail, but not for those who pass well. I love accountancy. Exams are a fun challenge to me (my thinking creates my world). I put in the hours. I aimed for insights. I dived into the material, played about with the formulae. I took clean breaks when I stopped thinking about P1. I was rewarded with an everdeepening understanding. I was quick and intuitive in the exam and got a good first-time pass. Contrast that with fearing the exam, rote learning and being slower. Failing, trying to recover with question practice. Getting bored. Hating accountancy. Blaming P1. It is a hard exam, or do we just think that? Insights and the role of thought go to the essence of who we are. • Imogen Caterer’s website helps accountancy students have a richer life in study, work and free time. Go to www.LearningLife.club PQ

PQ CIMA spotlight

Time to broaden

those horizons CIMA uses the power of the Association to support and develop future generations of finance professionals around the world, writes Paul Turner

e’re coming to the final quarter of 2019 and the end of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) centenary year. Since our inception in 1919 a lot has happened in the world of business and no less in the last decade – we’ve had a global financial crisis and the UK may potentially leave the EU without a deal. So it goes without saying, disruption is now the norm and these are uncertain times for all of us, no matter if you’re a student at the start of your career journey or, you’re part way through it. At CIMA, we have always recognised the need for change and evolution to ensure our members and students have all they need to thrive and build a successful career. Over the years we’ve led the way to unlock the world of business for students and members and

ensure employers are supplied with a pipeline of skilled professionals. This year has been significant, backed by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association), we have updated the CIMA syllabus to help prepare future and current generations of finance professionals and give them the tools to thrive in the digitalised world. The syllabus now includes trending and future-focused topics such as digital strategy, blockchain and artificial intelligence – all areas finance professionals will need to understand to navigate a business world in constant flux. The changes to our syllabus come just seven years after CIMA and AICPA first joined forces to create the Chartered Global Management Accountant designation in 2012, there are now more

than 150,000 designation holders across the world and it has become recognised as the global passport that extends the reach of our qualification and leads to a diverse career. And this year, through an independent valuation by UK NARIC (National Recognition Information Centre) – the National Agency responsible for providing information, advice and opinion on academic, vocational and professional qualifications from all over the world – the CIMA qualification has been recognised as equivalent to a Master’s Degree for holders in UK, France and South Africa. This recognition marks a great step for CGMAs and shows the level of learning finance CIMA qualified finance professionals have. To date, CGMAs can be found working in 179 countries and across all sectors including some exciting and cutting edge industries such as sustainability, motor racing, broadcast and the arts. We have also taken steps to make sure finance professionals from many different backgrounds and countries, continue to have access to the world of business and develop into business leaders of the future by studying for the CIMA Professional Qualification. No exemption fees As of August 2019, CIMA no longer charges new students studying with us exam exemption fees. This is a first for a professional body in the UK accounting sector and we hope the changes will encourage more students to start their studies and further support their career development. Building on our 100-year heritage and the global reach provided by the Association, we are setting a new standard for the accounting profession, and will continue to make sure the CIMA professional qualification meets the needs of our students, members and employers. To learn more about a variety of roles held by CGMAs around the world visit https://tinyurl.com/y5twjwoo Next month, we will be sharing strategies and tips to help you prepare for the new CIMA exams on the 2019 Syllabus. PQ • Paul Turner, Regional Vice President, UK & Ireland, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

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PQ Magazine October 2019

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PQ CIPFA spotlight

And this is me! Two prize winners explain how they steered their way through the CIPFA qualification

he overall pass rates at the CIPFA exams in 2018 was an impressive 75%, but there are still some PQs who do that little bit extra and become prize winners. Here’s two of this year’s prize winners stories… The prize for the best overall performance in the Audit and Assurance exam this time around went to Robyn Evans from Essex County Council. Robyn started her studies with CIPFA as part of her role in the council as a finance graduate. Before she started at Essex she had just finished her degree in mathematics at Lancaster University. She says she wanted to pursue a career in something that further qualified her in the workplace, and also helped the residents in the community in which she lives. Robyn explained she has now worked within all the major teams within finance and audit, and thanked everyone for being so supportive. She was even recently nominated for and won a ‘You Make a Difference in Essex Award’ as the ‘Learner of the Year’. Robyn admits to being a worrier at heart, and finds the wait between doing exams and getting the results particularly difficult, as well as juggling revision with workplace demands. She claims this has all become easier by looking after her new kittens. In her spare time she is a keen card player and has played bridge nationally. She hopes to be qualified by next summer. She then knows she must decide where she wants to take her career. Meanwhile, the prize for the best overall performance in the Financial Management exam was awarded to Jacqueline Millington. She also won the best overall performance in the

Robyn Evans

Jacqueline Millington

Strategy & Policy Development exam. So she was a double winner! Jacqueline started working for Halton’s library service when she was only 15 and stayed for more than 10 years. As much as she loved this profession, as her career developed she found herself more and more focused on the business and financial aspects of the job. In 2014, she made the move to finance and began working in accounts payable, Although she enjoyed the role, she knew she wanted to progress her career in finance and started studying CIPFA two years later. As a result of this she was appointed to the role of finance officer last year, and is now responsible for managing the budget for the council’s community and environment department. Jacqueline knows she has been extremely lucky to have hugely supportive divisional manager and operational director who have encouraged her on her journey. She also mentioned her family who are 100% behind her, even when she gets a little stressed with it all. With working full time and studying she feels she hasn’t got a lot of time for other interests, but she kept up membership of a successful quiz team. “We’re pretty much universally hated, and there’s always a groan when we walk through the door,” she explained. Ultimately, Jacqueline doesn’t see completing CIPFA as the end of the journey – rather just the beginning. And she can’t wait to explore the possibilities that await… PQ

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PQ Magazine October 2019

the troubleshooter PQ

Tackling costing questions Philip Dunn tackles a subject that should be of interest to CIMA students preparing for P1 as part of the (CIMA Dip MA)

Fixed overhead variance £3,500 Favourable Comprises: Fixed overhead expenditure £2,500 Adverse Fixed overhead volume £6,000 Favourable We now need to examine the fixed overhead volume variance and its sub-division to efficiency and capacity as these two elements effect the level of output achieved.

he indicative syllabus content includes the following in relation to standard absorption costing: fixed overhead expenditure and the fixed overhead volume variance, together with the sub-division of the volume variance to capacity and efficiency.

Mini case study Pickering Feeds Ltd is a SME that produces a single animal feedstuff. Its budget and actual activity for the month of January X9 showed the following: Budget Actual Output (tonnes) 1,000 1,200 Standard labour hours per tonne 1 Actual direct labour hours worked 1,320 Budgeted fixed overhead £30,000 Budgeted fixed overhead recovery rate: £30,000/1,000 = £30 per hour Actual fixed overhead £32,500 Let us now consider the approach to determining the fixed overhead variance and its analysis. Fixed overhead variance Firstly, determine the standard hours produced/achieved in the month: 1,200 tonnes x 1 standard hour = 1,200 standard hours. Thus fixed overhead recovered/absorbed in production achieved: 1,200 standard hours x

£30 = £36,000. This is then compared with the actual fixed overhead incurred: Fixed overhead recovered/absorbed £36,000 Actual fixed overhead £32,500 Variance £3,500 Favourable (an over-recovery) This variance initially sub-divides to: fixed overhead expenditure and fixed overhead volume. This is expressed simply as: Budgeted fixed overhead £30,000 Actual fixed overhead £32,500 Variance £2,500 adverse (this represents an overspend of fixed overhead) Fixed overhead volume variance This is expressed as (standard hours produced – budgeted hours) FORR (1,200 – 1,000) £30 = £6,000 Favourable: (the volume of output achieved was greater than budget and therefore has a favourable effect on fixed overhead recovery) At this point we can consider the following summary:

Fixed overhead efficiency variance This is expressed as: (standard hours produced – actual hours worked) FORR (1,200 – 1,320) £30 = £3,600 Adverse (Here there is a lack of efficiency as the actual hours worked were greater than the hours allowed for the output achieved. This represents an efficiency ratio of 91%). Fixed overhead capacity variance This is expressed as (Actual hours worked – Budget hours) FORR (1,320 – 1,000) £30 = £9,600 Favourable. (The management allowed more hours to be worked than originally planned and this had an effect on achieving the additional volume of output. The plant was favourably utilised for an additional period of time.) Summary The fixed overhead volume variance £6,000 Favourable Comprises: Fixed Overhead Efficiency Variance £3,600 Adverse Fixed Overhead Capacity Variance £9,600 PQ Favourable • Dr Philip E Dunn is a freelance author and technical editor for Kaplan and Osborne Books

Put Sean Purcell in your pocket! Calling all SBL students! Here is your chance to win your very own expert tutor – yes, you have the chance of having SBL expert Sean Purcell in your pocket! Sean Purcell has been helping students pass ACCA exams all over the world for more than 25 years. He has excellent knowledge of ACCA Strategic Business Leader and has worked as the ACCA SBL Tutor Guru, giving advice on the ACCA tutor forum. He also helped to write and deliver the ‘train the trainer’ programme for SBL tutors when it was recently rolled out around the world. WITH SEAN IN YOUR POCKET YOU WILL GET: • An initial one-to-one online chat with Sean, to review the nature of the SBL exam and to agree a personalised study plan for you. • You will get his mobile number and personal email for any queries you might have. • He will also provide you with an interim mock exam, which he will mark and give you personal feedback on. • He will provide you with a second mock to complete PQ Magazine October 2019

closer to the actual exam, together with key last-minute exam tips. This is a great opportunity – Sean often gets 100% pass rates on his courses, and if you win and take his advice it should pretty much guarantee you success in the SBL exam session. To be in with a chance of winning this great prize then email graham@pqaccountant.com, heading up your email ‘Pocket Sean’. The closing date is 1 October 2019. 21

PQ ACCA APM exam

Measure it, get it done Brigita Petrova explains how you can manage your performance and pass the Advanced Performance Management exam

f you are an ACCA student nearing the final stages of your studies you might be thinking of choosing APM as one of your two optional papers and specialising in exactly that (performance management), putting yourself in the shoes of a strategic management accountant. But you might have already noticed that, despite it being a fascinating practical subject, APM has been consistently one of the exams with the lowest pass rates amongst the whole ACCA qualification; consistently, around twothirds of sitters fail at each sitting. Do you know why? Let’s have a look at the challenge and how you can succeed.

Performance management This is the processes for achieving the objectives of an organisation while managing the stakeholder interface. It is crucial to an organisation’s success; as you would discover in your APM studies, an entity with poor performance management will most likely fail. Now think about your personal objectives – the same is true about you and your APM exam (or any ACCA exam). So being good at the ‘first principles’ in APM could be also the secret to APM exam success. Principle #1 Feedforward and feedback controls: Feedforward aims to correct the system before it fails and as such it tends to be more expensive – but also more useful. Don’t wait until you fail the exam; plan to avoid this, think carefully about your preparation. A good feedforward control could be choosing to study with an approved learning provider, rather than on your own or using some random help. They can guide you teaching you all the relevant knowledge and techniques way before you sit the exam. Which can help to protect you from failing! Feedback is also useful, although it takes place after the system might have become out of control. However, it can still work as it identifies areas for improvement and triggers change. So during tuition aim to get homework and

term tests reviewed by your tutor when you learn a topic, and do sit a mock exam during revision. Measure your performance A vital part of performance management is the process of creating measures that can be used for both planning and control. They are called key performance indicators (KPIs) and can help to indicate your progress, introduce necessary changes for improvement and monitor and control your steps to success. A lot of these are applicable to you: number of questions practised per week/day, marks scored, time taken per question, etc. Principle #2 Critical Success Factors (CSFs): As the name suggests they are the things an organisation must excel at in order to be successful. What CSFs do you need to pass the APM exam? Inevitably, technical knowledge and exam technique, the ability to deal with stress and manage time well, being professional, practical and logical are among some of the many you will need. In addition, there are some APM-specific CSFs on exam technique. Like a clever question approach, broken down into the following order: • Starting from requirements – identify tasks based on wording and mark allocation. • Thinking of answer structure and clever use of headings. • Analysis of scenario on your question paper while reading it.

• Brainstorming – dropping in ideas you could use. • Planning answer and choosing your points to use, so you maximise marks. • Writing a clear, sharp answer – essays are a ‘no-no’, but justifying each point is a must. When practising, your KPIs will show how well you are doing and where you need to improve. Principle #3 Short-termism, a threat to performance: Short-termism is actions taken to improve an entity’s short-term position at the expense of its long run performance. So look at your short-term sacrifices in relation to your long-term future. Attending that party, watching TV or hanging around with friends might be tempting; you think study can wait, you will manage it tomorrow. Enjoy yourself today, but tomorrow you will struggle even more. And especially so on exam day: the more you neglect your study now, the harder it becomes to pass and longer it takes to qualify. Principle #4 Systems methodology: This relates to the importance of the quality of and the link between input, process and output in performance management. ‘Garbage in, garbage out’ means good input into a bad process produces rubbish output. Rubbish input into a good process does the same. So use quality tuition and resources (good input) and practise well (good process) to achieve a good quality exam output! PQ • Brigita Petrova is a tutor at LSBF

Award-winning AAT courses and apprenticeships Flexible learning to suit your lifestyle mindful-education.co.uk/students 22

PQ Magazine October 2019

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PQ AAT Level 4

Honing your real-world skills Jennifer Nyland talks you through the AAT’s exam on Management Accounting – Budgeting (MABU)

t is important that at this level you are able to not only pass examinations, but also demonstrate communication skills that are expected of an accountant in a real working environment. As part of an AAT accountant’s day-to-day role (financial accounting or management accounting) these skills need to be developed to ensure that you are able to communicate your findings to your clients, managers etc and this is why the written tasks are very important at Level 4. MABU can be a student’s worst nightmare because it contains two huge written tasks. Students can run out of time or just scrape a pass. Using the following approach to the exam could secure you a clear pass. Time is extremely tight for this exam so a tactical approach is essential. Practice with the online AAT practice assessments. Time how long it takes to complete all the calculation tasks first. Ideally, you need to complete these tasks in just over an hour. Divide the remaining time over the two written tasks and use this time as a guide for your real exam. This should leave 30–45

minutes for each written task. All students are more comfortable with the calculation tasks, so by completing these first, you can gain maximum marks in your stronger areas. If you waste time on the written tasks and run out of time for the calculations, you could be losing out on easy marks and disaster could strike. If you are struggling with where to start in the written tasks, then think about the following: • Salutation and introduction to the email (where necessary). • Doing the calculation first will help get you started.

• Extract the information from the question and put it into your answer. • State the obvious – say what you see. Ask yourself, why? • Assume the examiner knows nothing. • Does your answer leave any questions for the reader? • Space out your answer with a space after each paragraph, do not write in big blocks, this is unclear and somewhat boring for the person marking it. • AAT always say that the students with low marks do not include enough detail. The exam is very similar to the AAT practice assessments online; however, remember to revise seasonal variations, which are not in the AAT online assessments but could pop up in your exam. Practice getting the calculations done fairly quickly – but accuratley – to allow you plenty of time for the written parts. Think tactically and keep your eye on the clock. Time can easily run away with you in the exam. For the written tasks, look at how many marks are available for each part and use that as a guide to how much you should write. Easy marks can be lost by not reading the question carefully and not following instructions on rounding. PQ • Jennifer Nyland is a Training Link Level 4 tutor

PQ Magazine October 2019

AAT salary survey PQ

What are AATs worth? We take a look at the 2019 AAT salary survey

he latest AAT salary survey is out and it makes for some interesting reading. At the professional level you find a gender pay gap, with AAT male members earning 5% more than women. This is up on the 2% gap in 2017. However, at student and affiliate levels, the reverse is true, and women have a higher average salary. Women students are, for example, earning £1,500 more than their male fellow studiers. They are taking home on average £20,000 compared with £18,500 being pocketed by the men. When it comes to average salaries the North East is again (as in 2017) bottom for students and professional members. Wales is the lowest paying region for affiliates. London, not surprisingly, remains the top paying area at all levels. The survey points out that there is a 37% difference in salaries

between the highest and lowest regions. The AAT has also worked out the average salary by age. Those aged 16 to 18 are paid just £10,738. For 19 to 24 year-olds the average salary is £18,000. Moving on to 25 to 34 year-olds, salaries move up to £23,005. Those aged 35 to 44 are paid £26,000, and you finally get to £30,000 aged 45 to 54. If you are following the money then the top paying industry for AATs is the not-for-profit sector, where the average salary is £25,179. This compares with private sector practice salaries of £20,000. In the past year some 33% of AAT members received a bonus. This is up 1% from 32% in 2017. The average bonus was around 3% of the overall salary for students, and 4% for MAATs and 5% for FMAATs. For the 31% of students who did get a bonus the average they got was £500. Affiliates got slightly more – £650. The survey found a clear link between job satisfaction and salary. Those who have seen their salary increase in the past year are more

Scotland

North East England

Student £20,000 Affiliate £23,500 MAAT/FMAAT £28,919

Student £17,850 Affiliate £24,500 MAAT/FMAAT £25,500

likely to indicate high levels of job satisfaction. In all, 76% of members say they are ‘very’ or ‘quite’ satisfied with their current job (down 1% on last year). It was also good to see job security levels were up. These have been gradually increasing since 2011 when 74% of non-AAT Licensed Accountants felt very or quite secure. Today that figures is 85%. When asked what company benefit they ‘preferred’ from a list of 14, the top pick was flexi-time. This was followed by private health care and paid time off to study. Members’ career plans for 2019 remain almost identical to previous years, with 51% saying they plan to stay put. Some threequarters plan to stay with their current employer, either in the same job or seek promotion. However, more students and affiliates are planning a move. Just 43% of professional students said they expect to be with the same employer in a year’s time. PQ • Find out more at aat.org.uk/salary

Yorkshire & the Humber Student £18,500 Affiliate £21,500 MAAT/FMAAT £27,000

North West England Student £18,500 Affiliate £21,000 MAAT/FMAAT £27,500

East Midlands Student £19,000 Affiliate £22,780 MAAT/FMAAT £27,500

West Midlands Student £18,500 Affiliate 21,500 MAAT/FMAAT £28,000

East of England Student £20,000 Affiliate £23,000 MAAT/FMAAT £29,500

Wales Student £18,200 Affiliate £21,000 MAAT/FMAAT £26,243

South West England Student £19,250 Affiliate £23,500 MAAT/FMAAT £28,000 PQ Magazine October 2019

London Student £24,500 Affiliate £28,800 MMAT/FMAAT £35,000

South East England Student £21,000 Affiliate £25,500 MAAT/FMAAT £30,500 25

PQ your career

Financial crash has a W silver lining for ACAs One of the legacies of the global recession is a shift in power away from employers to ICAEW candidates, says Jonathan Moss

decade has now passed since the end of the global recession that began in 2007, yet the ramifications of the 18-month downturn are still being felt in the UK and around the world. Some industries were severely impacted, but the downturn also produced some surprising positives. In this article I’ll take a look at how the recession has led to a power shift between ACA candidates and their employers. Prior to the recession, the balance of power was firmly in favour of the Big 4 accounting firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. Graduates competed for roles in one of the four firms before going on to complete their ACA certifications and secure employment in a range of different industries, or alternatively continue their career within practice. Yet, as the recession rolled to an end, due to a reduced number of ACA trainees being taken on within the Big 4 in this period a limited cohort of qualified candidates were coming to market, which increased their desirability. Hiring teams in the Big 4 were forced to look outside of their usual pool, which was now much smaller, and cast the net to the top 10 accounting firms. This had a knock-on impact all the way down the chain, with upwards movement from boutique firms through to the top 20, top 10 and upwards, which has ultimately lead to a break down in the hierarchy once presented by the Big 4. In the 10 years that have since passed the balance of power has remained in favour of the candidate. In my experience on both the client and

candidate side of accountancy recruitment at Sellick Partnership I have also observed a shift in terms of the traditional switch from practice into industry. Typically, ACA candidates gain their certification in a practice and then move into industry to further their careers. But in the past few years I have seen an increasing number of very attractive opportunities to remain in practice. The knock-on impact of the recession meant that there are fewer skilled accountants at a more senior level in practice, creating a real opportunity for candidates to carve out an incredibly fulfilling and successful career if they climb the ladder this way. Furthermore, the longer-term impact of the power shift has meant that candidates can secure more competitive benefits packages as employers look to hire the best possible talent. Non-financial incentives such as flexible working hours and wellbeing initiatives are proving increasingly popular among candidates. Today’s uncertain pre-Brexit economy seems to be having little impact on the accounting industry, as businesses always need a strong finance function. As the latest ACA candidates to gain their accreditation at the end of August plan their next move, they enter a market that is wide open with a variety of career paths to choose from. Candidates should make the most of this buoyant market and explore the ever-expanding number of opportunities within their grasp, both within industry and practice. PQ • Jonathan Moss, manager, Sellick Partnership

ith the titles of Management Accounting and Advanced Management Accounting for CIMA P1 and P2, you would think that these two subjects would be the easiest in the CIMA qualification, given that it is a management accounting qualification. But the pass rates disagree. These subjects are a real problem for some students – pass rates for both hover around 50%. With the 2019 exams launching in just two months, here are some tips on how to be well prepared for the exams, and to give you every chance of success. Read the question You need to make sure you read the question. I would suggest you read the question before even reading any scenario or addition detail you might be given. If you take this approach you will know what the question is asking, and can then read the scenario and approach the calculations knowing what is being asked. Answer the question Any students who know me know that I talk a lot about this. When doing complicated questions that require a bit of thought I would always give steps to go through, one of them being always answer the question asked. Be careful not to make assumptions about the question. Read it carefully, even jot down a few key words on the note sheets you are provided with in the exam. Watch the time It still surprises me the number of students that go into the exam without having sat a mock exam, let alone a full exam standard mock under time and exam conditions. The key to this exam is practise, practise, practise. I get much feedback about time pressure, yet very few students attempt all of the question practice given to them. It’s essential you get a feel for the time you have available, and how you are going to use it to ensure you are thoroughly prepared for the exam day. Build your confidence You have 90 minutes to answer 60 questions, meaning an average of 90 seconds per question. Some questions will take a few seconds and others will

PQ Magazine October 2019

CIMA exams PQ

SHORTEN THE ODDS Rebecca Evans has a few tips and tricks to help you succeed in CIMA’s tough Management Accounting papers brain and, secondly, it provides a handy revision aid.

require more detailed workings, thoughts or calculations, and take longer than 90 seconds. Try to get the easy marks early on and come back to the more detailed calculations later when you have built your confidence.

Brush up on your maths Accounting, ultimately, is numbers and numbers are maths. So you do need to be able to do maths. Being able to rearrange equations, understanding the rules of double negatives and simple algebra is essential in these exams. Although you may not have looked at this sort of maths since you were 16 years old at school, you do need to be prepared for some maths in these exams. If you are struggling with some of these concepts see if there is anything online via a search engine; YouTube has lots of resources on this.

Use flagging system In all, CIMA objective test exams you are provided with the opportunity to flag questions. If on a first read of the exam you find a question is going to take you a long time, then flag it to come back to later. These flagged questions will appear on the review screen just before you finish the exam, although you can view this at any time by using the navigation screen at the bottom right of the screen. Don’t leave anything blank There is no negative marking in CIMA exams so there is no point leaving anything blank. If you get to the end of the exam and have a few minutes to spare go back to any unanswered questions and, if you really have to, have a guess at the answer. You can use the flagging system in the exam to mark any questions that require more thought as mentioned previously. Expect questions on the theory The exams do include theory as well as calculations, which students seem to be surprised about. Remember that being an accountant isn’t just about calculations. You need to make sure you understand the theories as well as being able to calculate answers. Look for shortcuts I love thinking about ways to remember formulas and different approaches to answer questions. Totally random acronyms that don’t mean anything apart from in the context of P1 or P2. SIAM is one of my favourites, and it could mean the difference between getting a question wrong or right by applying the logic

Make sure you can use your calculator You will need to be able to use basic functionality on your calculator and you will definitely need a scientific calculator. In P2, you will need to be able to do basic discounting and compounding that is almost impossible to do without a scientific calculator. Being able to use your calculator quickly will also save time. below. For those who haven’t a clue what SIAM means, it is in the context of reconciling profits between absorption and marginal costing. For reference, Stocks Increasing Absorption More (SIAM) means that when closing inventory is bigger than opening inventory, you have more profit. Develop a formula sheet CIMA provides you with a very basic formula sheet in the exam, but you actually need to know lots more formulas to be successful in the exam. I would strongly advise that you develop your own, more detailed formula sheet for all of the new formulas or the assumed ones that you should and perhaps don't know. Although you won’t be able to take it into the exam it serves two purposes. Firstly, writing things down really does help to get things in your

More tips For further, more detailed tips, a walk through of some exam questions on key topics and a chance to ask questions register for our free webinar on Thursday 19 September at 5pm. To register type this link into your browser – https://tinyurl.com/y6cmht96 Remember, the 2019 syllabus is examinable from 4 November, with the final 2015 syllabus exams taking place on 3 November. Although the syllabus changes for P1 and P2 are fairly minor you will still have some additional study to complete if you have studied under the 2015 syllabus and plan (or have) to sit the exam under the 2019 syllabus. Save yourself some extra work and get your exam booked and ideally passed before the end of October. PQ • Rebecca Evans is Head of Product Management at Kaplan Financial

Free Notes, Lectures, Tests & Tutor support for

ACCA & CIMA Exams Visit OpenTuition.com to benefit PQ Magazine October 2019

PQ spreadsheets

How to excel with Excel U

nderstanding and using spreadsheets is essential for every accountant – but their functionality is so vast that even experienced users often don’t know the benefits of some of their most useful tools, and their potential pitfalls. Here’s a quick summary of some of our favourite functions.

Data validation Data validation allows you to set cells so that they only accept specific information. It works for numerical values and text, making it a very powerful tool. Applying data validation to cells can help prevent incorrect entries being made into a spreadsheet that is being used by several people. You can even write your own error message to explain why a cell does not accept data that goes against the validation criteria. You can also use data validation to create dropdown lists in cells, which may help cut down on typing during data entry and give consistent spelling to entries, helping later searching or counting of results. Count functions There are various useful count commands in Excel. COUNT tells you the number of cells in a range that contain numbers; COUNTA counts the number of cells that are not empty (this can be text or numerical data), and COUNTIF allows you to count the number of cells that meet a specific requirement - eg how many cells contain the word ‘overtime’. VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP Excel’s lookup functions use a formula to find information in large spreadsheets – saving you from manually searching through the data. VLOOKUP searches columns, and HLOOKUP searches rows.

Cath Littler has some sound advice on how to improve your Excel skills Find or remove duplicates When working with data, you may find that you end up with duplicates, particularly if data comes from multiple sources. Excel’s Remove Duplicate tool quickly searches for – and removes – replicated data. When using this function, make sure you ‘select all’ the columns in your data before you remove duplicates as there may be different information attached to different instances of replicated data (for example, a phone number against one entry for Joe Bloggs, and an email address for a second). To identify duplicated data without removing it, use conditional formatting, highlight cells rules, duplicate values. Pivot tables Many people find pivot tables daunting, but these interactive tables are very simple to create.

They’re a powerful tool – particularly when working with large datasets – allowing you to analyse and summarise information, and create reports, with just a few clicks. If you’re already working in an accounting role, you will have lots of opportunities to use your spreadsheet skills outside of your studies, creating new spreadsheets and sharing them, and your skills, with other members of your teams. If you’re not yet working in a finance role, don’t worry – spreadsheets are useful in many jobs, and away from work too (such as creating a budget for household expenditure). Whatever you use them for, try to practise spreadsheet work frequently and you will find that they will soon become second nature. PQ • Cath Littler is the Head of L&D (Accounting) at Mindful Education

PQ personal development

Have self-belief Self-belief impacts on all aspects of your life, says Pantelis C. Fouli. So how do you improve yours?

or things to change for you, you have to change. For things to get better for you, you have to get better. Don’t just wish it was easy… wish you were better! Don’t wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills – and that is precisely what I want to talk about in this article. Reconnect to that self-belief and you increase your skills within our craft – that craft being that we all share ACCA. 28

Many people ask the great teachers of our time, what is success? And they sit and wait for a huge, complex answer. The great Jim Rohn said: “Success is the steady progress in reaching your personal goals, designing your life like you want it and making that steady progress in getting there.” We all have the core beliefs about what it takes to master our studies and to be successful in our ACCA exams. They are simple and clear. They are easy to follow, easy to do, but what’s easy to do is also easy not to do – and that’s the habit we need to get out of. Our personal circumstances do not get

better by chance, they get better by change. Without a sense of urgency, desire loses value. Another eternal question: what’s the secret to happiness? The answer I have heard many of the greats articulate is progress! Yesterday’s learning won’t keep me where I am today… I need to go and do today’s learning. It isn’t about what that ACCA course costs, it’s what it will cost if you don’t invest in it. The books you don’t read won’t help. If you think education is expensive – try ignorance. If you want to get in touch with me, connect with me via LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in /pantelisfouli), but please mention in your message that you are an ACCA student. Till next time! PQ • Pantelis C. Fouli is ACCA qualified, and an ACCA advocate and student mentor PQ Magazine October 2019

careers PQ

European tax corner

GERMAN SAUSAGES UNDER ATTACK German politicians are looking at abolishing meat’s special VAT status in an effort to reduce consumption and help save the planet. Germany currently levies 7% VAT on meat (the same as bread and milk), but there are calls to nearly treble it to 19%. This would class meat as a luxury item and it would be taxed the same as restaurant meals and mineral water. It has been suggested that despite their reputation Germans are in fact already eating less meat. A recent survey found that just 28% said they eat meant every day, down from 34% in 2017. DELIVERING A £126M TAX DEMAND Just Eat has been accused by Danish tax authorities of not paying enough tax after moving its headquarters from Copenhagen to London in 2012. A claim of £126m has been made against the company after an audit into how profits were allocated across the group. Just Eat has said the claim is ‘without merit’, but has nevertheless made a £21m provision to cover the potential bills, accounts just published show. Just Eat, the online takeaway service, was founded in the Danish capital in 2001, establishing a UK subsidiary in 2006.

Life at Newcastle City Council James Charlton, 25, has worked as an internal auditor with the council for eight years. In 2018 he became CIPFA exam qualified. His claim to fame is that he appeared in an episode of Wire in the Blood with Robson Green when he was a child What time does your alarm go off? 5.15am – but I very rarely get up then! What’s the first thing you do when you get to your desk? Log in, then dart to the kitchen for a coffee. What’s on your desk? A miniature violin, which makes an appearance whenever one of my colleagues is feeling particularly sorry for themselves. What’s the best thing about where you work? I work with a fantastic team of people and there is never a dull moment. Where’s your favourite place to go for lunch? I don’t tend to go out for lunch much anymore, but I used to venture out to the Subway across the road. What (or who) can you see

when you sit at your desk? A great view of the Jesmond tree line from the sixth floor of the Civic Centre. Which websites are your favourites and why? I tend to use the BBC website on my lunch break to check out the news. Which websites do you use for work? Nothing in particular, though I’ve been using gov.uk recently for current work. How many hours a week do you spend in meetings? Fortunately, not that many! What time do you leave the office? We’re on flexi time and as I’m an early bird I usually leave about 3pm having done a full day. How do you relax? I like to crash out on the sofa and watch Netflix or play Xbox.

What’s your favourite tipple? Just a simple pint of lager. What is your favourite TV show? It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Summer or winter? Summer, but skiing holidays are the best. Pub or club? Something in between. Who is your hero? My mam and dad are pretty great. If you had a time machine, where would you go? A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… If you hadn’t chosen accountancy, where might you be right now? Something around computer programming – maybe taking down hackers.

What pay rise? New research shows that the ‘pay rise affect’ does not last long for most of us. Charter Saving Bank found more than two out of five (44%) say they don’t feel they have any extra cash immediately, while 73% feel no better off after three months. After 12 months just one in six (18%) of those who have received a recent pay rise still feel like they have extra money. For nearly one in five (17%) pay rises simply allow them to catch up as their spending was outstripping their salary, while 12% use the cash to clear debts.

Hungry young men Young men are almost twice as likely as young women to start a business, despite similar levels of desire to do so, says research from The Entrepreneurs Network. A study of 14 to 25-year-olds revealed that 11% of young men had already tried to start a business, compared with 6% of women. This is despite the fact that men and women were similarly eager to set up a business (45% and 41% respectively). Women were more likely than men to cite fear of failure as a reason not to get a venture off the ground.

In brief A robot to replace me Who would you prefer to lose your job to – a robot or some whippersnapper? A team from Erasmus University discovered that 60% of us would rather a robot took our job! The authors felt it was deemed less damaging to people’s self-esteem to feel that they were victims of the rising tide of technological innovation, rather than being less effective than another person. It means you can blame the system rather than yourself, too!

The PQ Book Club: books you should read

ITALY BUSTS 13,000 TAX DODGERS Italy’s finance police has nabbed more than 13,000 so-called ‘total evaders’ – residents who haven’t filed a single tax return. Between January 2018 and May 2019, the Guardia di Finanza busted 13,285 people who had dodged a combined total of €3.4 billion. That’s a slight increase from the previous 18 months, when 12,824 people were caught doing the same thing. The unit also found 42,048 employees being paid ‘under the table’, an increase of more than 11,000, it said in its latest annual report. PQ Magazine October 2019

What Am I Doing With My Life? by Stephen Law (Rider, £12.99) This is a really novel and fun idea for a book. The author, an academic and philosopher, has identified 45 questions most Googled “in a midnight moment of existential despair” and answered them in an entertaining and informative manner. The questions range from the deeply profound (Do I have free will?) to the bizarre (Is there a face in my toast?) to the poignant (Why don’t people like me?). Stephen Law answers these questions with reference

to the great thinkers of the past, including Kant, Hume, Aristotle, Epicurus, Nietzsche and Betrand Russell, and more. The format makes this book easy to digest – the chapters are just three or four pages long, and packed with insight and advice to help the reader see the issue under discussion in a new light. For accountancy students some chapters will have more relevance than others. You might want to check out the chapter entitled ‘What if I fail?’ just before that vital exam, or turn to the one ‘Why is life so

hard?’ if you’ve just had the dread news of exam failure. It seems the internet is the new church – where people turn to in their hour of need. This book is sure to give you more satisfying answers than the internet can. PQ rating 5/5 Socrates said that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. This is a great way of examining the important issues that trouble you and explain your attitudes to them. 29

PQ got a story, funny or serious, you want to share? Email graham@pqaccountant.com

HEAD BUZZING WITH NUMBERS Forget spelling bees – new research shows we might need to start talking about counting bees! Scientists have shown that bees can be trained to connect symbols to numbers and then use that information to obtain food. This

research follows on from another study that said bees can perform basic arithmetic and even understand the concept of zero. Together that implies a well-trained bees can attain a level of sophistication that human mathematicians took centuries to reach. That said, the highest number bees can count to is four!

IPLAYER FALLING BEHIND NETFLIX Netflix has more UK users than the BBC iPlayer for the first time. The US streaming service had 11.47 million UK subscribers in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 10.42 million iPlayer viewers. The BBC has been trying to move iPlayer from a catch-up service to a full on-demand platform. To this end Ofcom, the regulator, recently approved the BBC’s application to scrap its 30-day hosting limit for programmes.

’ WEV E

CRIME CRAZY

HEAD FOR NATURE

If you are felling stressed then you need to get back to nature! It has been a well-held belief that nature can soothe the fevered brow, now scientists have discovered just how long you need to be ‘with nature’ to bring stress levels down. They estimate that you need to spend at least 20 minutes a day strolling or even sitting in a natural environment to lower stress levels. Having a cup of tea in a park or garden can have the same effect, too.

The average adult reads 696 books in their lifetime – that’s getting through around 11 a year. Some one in five of us reads every day, but 42% say they are too busy to read as much as they would like. And what do you think the most popular genre is, according to the eBay poll? Well, you are right if you said crime and not accountancy.

CHIEF/AUDITOR JAILED

DARK CHOC Dark chocolate can boost your mood and relieve the symptoms of depression, says new research. The study suggests that adults who eat dark chocolate have 70% lower odds of reporting depressive symptoms than those who eat no chocolate. Evidence also suggests that mood improvement takes place only if chocolate is palatable and pleasant to eat, which suggests that enjoyment of chocolate is an important factor, not just the ingredients.

Former Waltham Forest auditor Felix Ndiweni has been jailed for two years in Zimbabwe over a charge of malicious damage. Some five years ago Ndiweni left London to become chief of the Ndiweni people in Matabeleland, an opposition stronghold. Riot police were called in after he was convicted of the malicious damage of a hedge, which was destroyed at the home of a woman accused of adultery. His supporters are claiming this latest move is an attempt to silence his outspoken view against the government. Ndiweni plans to appeal the sentence.

UNTIMELY TAX ADVICE

WORD PLAY

AAT’s Phil Hall was not a happy man after a recent visit to WH Smiths! He said on twitter: “Shameless @WHSmith is selling a ‘DIY’ self-assessment #taxreturn pack for a staggering £24.99, and it’s for 2014, ie it’s 5 years out of date! If stuck with your #taxreturn, find an @Your AAT licensed accountant here: aat.org.uk/licensed-member.”

In his podcast ‘Something Rhymes with Purple’, Gyles Brandreth explains he wants to create new adjectives for the recently sacked! For example, ex-accountants are ‘dis-figured’, former admirals are ‘a-bridged’ and erstwhile bankers are ‘dis-interested’. Anyone got any thoughts on what we call the former tax advisors or bookkeeper?

GOT THE L OT

What are you doing? We love tax! Every day millions of people ask Google all sorts of questions, from the deeply philosophical to the most banal. Responding to some of the biggest questions asked online and using the wisdom of Plato, Kant and other philosophical greats, Stephen Law helps answer your questions. We have two copies of ‘What Am I Doing With My Life?’ to give away. Send your details to giveaways@pqmagazine.com. Head up your email ‘My Life’.

It was recently reported that between them the accounting and law professions contributed over £19bn in taxes in 2018. That means accountants can proudly wear our ‘I love tax’ t-shirts. When we put them out at conferences we have people queuing up for them – it’s true! We have three great t-shirts up for grabs this month. All you have to do to be in our draw is send your name and address on an email to giveaways@pqmagazine.com. Head up the email ‘I love tax’ and we will do the rest.

Terms and conditions: One entry per giveaway please. You must send your name and address to be entered for the draw. All giveaway entries must be received by Friday 11 October. The main draw will take place on Monday 14 October 2019.

TO ENTER THESE GIVEAWAYS EMAIL GIVEAWAYS@PQMAGAZINE.COM 30

PQ Magazine October 2019

MAKING LIFE SIMPLE

CREATING THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT FOR YOU

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