Have your say Can I have faith in the accounting profession?; finally the accountancy bodies are going green; and why it pays to have a plan. Plus our social media round-up

Can I have faith? I have been training to be an accountant for more than three years and have to admit that I have never questioned my teachers. There seems to be a set of rules that you need to follow and if you learn them and answer exam questions using these rules you pass the exam.

Professor Atul K Shah appears to be saying in your lead story (PQ magazine, January 2023) that we should all be more questioning about where these rules come from. At university we were encouraged to ‘think ‘, but the professional qualifications seem to want us to ‘un-think’ (sorry, not sure that’s a word!).

I have, like he said, had to compromise my beliefs and I am not convinced accountants really work in the public interest as they claim to. We accountants are much more interested in shareholder wealth and profits, and it’s what we are paid to do. Ethics is just a part of the exams now, as he says, to be passed and forgotten on the way to qualification. We learn the right answers, but I am not sure it teaches us to change our and other people’s behaviour. And how, as lowly PQs, can we change a company culture that pushes us to do certain things to help them make as much money as they can?

I think Shah really wants to raise the level of morality in the profession, but it’s hard when it attracts people who just seem to like numbers and money!

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Our star letter writer wins a fantastic ‘I love PQ’ mug!

Mind the gap Is it me or have the accountancy bodies finally woken up to filling the skills gap when it comes to climate change?

ACCA has teamed up with the CFA institute to launch a new Climate Finance course. Turn the page of the latest issue (PQ magazine, January 2023) and you can read all about CIMA & AICPA’s new certificate in ESG reporting.

These are all to be commended, but I do worry that this must mean there’s not enough of what employers want in the current syllabuses. Surely these new diplomas should be offered for free to us recently qualifieds, with the promise that those taking the current exams will at least be covered for a few exemptions?

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I have a plan Thanks, Helen Pretty, for your ‘reasons to write a revision plan’ article (PQ magazine, January 2023). I’m lucky as I like lists, but I still can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t write one for their up-andcoming exam.

You are going to tell me it’s me, aren’t you? But the purpose of any plan is to re-visit your work and study to see what you have accomplished, and measure how well you have done so far. That helps you make the adjustments to ensure success. Everyone does that for their exams, don’t they?

Like Helen’s three-point plan, my plan gives me structure and helps put into perspective what lies ahead. I set myself set times of the day to study and track what I have achieved each week. It has served me well so far!

Name and address supplied Our ‘Young, gifted and CIMA’ feature caused a real stir when we pushed it out on social media.

At 20 years old, Grace Bayton (pictured) is the young-ever CIMA qualified accountant. She got straight As in her GCSEs, but instead of following her friends on to sixth form and university

she opted for an apprenticeship, Grace, who lives in Wales, bought her first house at 18 and was planning to move again when we spoke to her.

Andrew Andersen said: “I seriously wonder if I should get my children to consider this route instead of university. What a fantastic position to be in compared to those of a similar age who are graduating and just starting out their careers. She’s already on the property ladder, has a professional qualification and years of experience.”

Andy Blyth replied: “Of course you should. The days of having to spend years at Uni to become an accountant are long gone.”

Another story that got lots of good traction online was the VIVA Financial Tuition launch of a new free ebook providing the ultimate ‘subject by subject’ pass guide.

The guide includes a breakdown of the structure of each exam, and real ‘dos and don’ts’ for every subject.

The guide uses real insight from prize-winning students and key advice from the examiners. Also among the 64-page guide are links to the best free re-sources, practice and more.

Here is the link to get access to this great free resource: https://tinyurl.com/2s3j47vv

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