Incorporating NQ magazine
February 2022
www.pqmagazine.com/www.pqjobs.co.uk
UNDER PRESSURE TO BEHAVE BADLY
More than a quarter of professional accountants (27%) say they have been put under pressure or felt under pressure to act in an unethical way over the past three years, a CCAB survey has found. Many respondents said this constant coercion had had a detrimental impact on their mental health, triggering episodes of anxiety, depression and stress. A majority of respondents who reported feeling under pressure to act unethically said pressure came from internal sources such as line managers or those in director-level roles. Some 18% cited pressure from clients, and a further 10% said pressure came from their board, council or cabinets. Among the unethical activities respondents felt pressure to engage in were preparation of overly optimistic budgets, business cases and forecasts; categorising personal expenses as business expenses; and side-stepping financial policies and regulations.
The CCAB, which brings together five professional accountancy organisations in the UK and Ireland, carried out a snapshot survey of accountants working across all sectors recently to take the ethical temperature of the profession. Of those who said they had been put under pressure to act unethically, almost 80% spoke up
against the unethical action. Two-thirds (65%) did not carry out the unethical task; however, 10% carried out the task fully and 25% said they did so partially. Some 88% of those surveyed also said that ethics training should be a mandatory part of CPD, and some 51% said this should be undertaken each year. Commenting on the findings, Iain Lowson, chair of the CCAB Ethics Group, said: “Ethics is at the heart of being a professional accountant and it’s important to regularly take the ethical temperature of the profession. This informal survey provides a useful snapshot of the current context. “It is clear ethical pressures are a real problem for a significant number of accountants and it’s concerning to see so many reports of a negative impact on mental health. “On the other hand, it is encouraging that so many accountants feel empowered to speak out against unethical pressures and practices and Continued on page 4
ICAEW and CIPFA look to ‘work closer’ CIPFA and the ICAEW have admitted that they are looking at opportunities of working closer together. Could this be the start of new merger talks? A joint press release says: “The vision driving the discussions would see ICAEW and CIPFA combining their strengths and resources to better equip them to serve the public interest across all areas of economic activity, including the enterprise, public
and third sectors.” And in a joint statement, ICAEW Chief Executive Michael Izza and CIPFA Chief Executive Rob Whiteman said: “We believe there is significant strategic benefit in our two bodies working more closely in the future and our discussions will examine ways of achieving that.” ICAEW and CIPFA will now conduct further discussions with the aim of bringing forward
proposals in 2022. An ICAEW press spokesperson said: “Any outcome to these talks will be subject to approval within ICAEW, as appropriate and necessary under our governance requirements, but at this stage we do not believe that the nature of the relationship with CIPFA under discussion would require an ICAEW membership vote.” This is not the first time a ‘coming together’ has been
attempted. In 2005, a merger was voted down after an ICAEW membership vote fell short of the necessary majority – by just one percentage point. Some 65.7% of ICAEW members voted in favour of a merger, but it needed 66.7% to go ahead. CIPFA members voted overwhelmingly for a merger, with 86.7% in favour. Then in 2007 the two signed a memorandum of understanding, but that seemed to fizzle out.
