CIMA initiative

ZOE ROBINSON

A blended approach is likely to be the way forward

Another month has passed and we are still in lockdown, although there are clear signs of progress, with restrictions gradually being lifted. The reopening of schools has been a contentious topic and although teaching in classrooms while maintaining social distancing is not going to be easy, it’s a key step in getting back to a degree of normality.

But not all students may want to return to how it was before. In a recent survey by HEPI of 1,000 undergraduates, 49% were happy with online learning compared with only 23% who were dissatisfied. Being happy in the short term doesn’t mean the same students would choose to learn online in the future, but these are university students who study full time and on campus, so have an appreciation of how valuable learning can be in this environment. Having been forced to engage with online learning the preferences of a whole generation may well have been changed irrevocably.

It is of course not a binary decision. The scenario favoured by many, and most likely to emerge in accountancy training, is some form of blend, combining the best of classroom and online into a single programme. In practice it’s not that simple. There are many different ways of blending and designing the best mix requires all training providers to challenge our thinking around teaching and course design, taking an evidence-based approach and questioning why something works, not simply accepting that it does.

From early May, CIMA began the delivery of its first-ever at-home OT exams.

Students in more than 70 countries have now booked to sit the exams remotely, and students in over 40 countries had sat exams by the middle of May. We can report all is ‘going well’, but you don’t have to believe us.

CIMA PQ and Civil Service Fast Stream Graduate Matthew Barton explained: “I was feeling rather nervous about sitting my exam, especially under new and

Online exams the norm

unfamiliar conditions. But once I clicked ‘begin exam’ button the process was very smooth, it’s close enough to the test centre experience so it’s not worth delaying your studies until they can reopen.”

And Siemens’ CIMA part qualified Dan Ralls said: “On the whole the experience was fairly good and the online invigilator was very easy to contact to ease some of my concerns.

“I didn’t feel disadvantaged by sitting my exam at home and I’m really pleased to be able to continue with my studies to hit the targets I had set myself.”

Local authorities have £10bn black hole

Some UK councils are reportedly seriously thinking of declaring themselves bankrupt because their balance sheets cannot cope with the financial pressures of the pandemic.

There is an estimated £10 billion black hole, and many authorities are now openly discussing a ‘114 notice’, which signals their bankruptcy. A report in The Times said that councils in the Yorkshire and Humber region are thinking of making a joint declaration. The problem is that as revenue has gone down additional bills in these regions has jumped £600m. There are another 120 local councils looking at a 114 notice. Making such a move would impose severe restrictions on spending and massive cuts in services such as parks, libraries and museums.

One senior local government source has been quoted as saying: “Many finance directors have their finger on the 114 notice trigger. The end of the financial quarter in June may be when they pull it if they continue to lose confidence that councils will receive the support they need from government.”

Football clubs must publish full reports

All of UK’s professional football clubs should publish full accounts, says Kieran Maguire in his new book ‘The Price of £ootball’.

Zoe Robinson is Learning and Programmes Director at Kaplan Financial

Consequently, he explained clubs can end up just following Bradford City’s example, where its accounts consisted of three pages and very little detail.

He said the Football Association could easily make it a rule that all professional clubs are obliged to publish full accounts if they want to participate in FA competitions. “But they have done nothing,” he says.

Maguire is worried that the FA’s indifference towards public scrutiny of stewardship of individual clubs by owners does not reflect well “on an organisation that is supposed to be the guardian of the game”.

Maguire ventured that fans are kept in the dark and the opportunity for financial abuses merely increases. He said: “Many small club owners are fantastic and work tirelessly for little reward or appreciation, but the scope for abuse increases if there is an information vacuum.” • See pages 34 for our feature on football’s finances – and a quiz.

Two for price of one The FRC has opened investigations into KPMG and PwC over their audits of Eddie Stobart Logistics before trading in the company shares were suspended. The FRC is looking at KPMG’s audit for the year ending 30 November 2017, and at PwC’s audit for the following year (30 November 2018). Last August accounting problems meant the haulage company did not file half-year accounts on time. KPMG resigned as its auditors in November 2018 due to a ‘breakdown’ in its relationship with the firm. former owner of Matalan, over tax advice it gave when he moved to Monaco. Hargreaves relocated to the tax haven in 2000, and alleges that the Big 4 firm were negligent when it advised him on the timing of his move. PwC refutes the allegations, and believe Hargreaves is out of time to bring his claim.

UK avoids deluge of insolvencies The number of corporate insolvencies during April 2020 was actually down by a third on the previous year as government support packages gave companies vital headroom to deal with the pandemic. A total of 61 companies fell into administration this April compared with 91 in April 2019, according to analysis of notices in The Gazette by KPMG’s Restructuring practice. Meanwhile, March saw 135 administrations, compared with 116 in 2019. In total, there were 444 insolvencies during the first four months in 2020, down 5% from the 468 seen between January and April 2019.

EY splits assurance/audit roles EY has made four senior UK appointments, effective on 1 July. Benoit Laclau is the new EY managing partner for consultancy; Jeff Soar the new managing partner for tax; Kath Barrow becomes managing partner for assurance; and Andrew Walton head of audits. EY has used this opportunity to split the roles for assurance and audit. As head of audit Walton sits on the EY LLP Board, which remains 60% women and 40% men.