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ANNA KATE PHELAN Something is not adding up
There is nothing that brings this nation to action quite like television. Not since the petition to ‘Free Deirdre Barlow’ from prison in Coronation Street has the UK been so galvanised, except sadly this time the miscarriage of justice is very real. Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office is a dramatisation of the very real struggles of Post Office workers who were wrongfully convicted of fraud and theft because there was an issue with the Post Office’s accounting system, Horizon. It was a simple matter of the software being faulty, and human beings could have intervened. Post office workers regularly stated their innocence. In one trial the judge admitted there was no other evidence (no increased spending or fancy holidays) to say that the accused was guilty of theft, the only evidence was the figures not adding up in the software. This horror went on over the course of 20 years, resulting in lives and livelihoods lost. It is a disgrace that law-abiding upstanding members of the community could be persecuted by a state-owned company. Prison sentences, lost homes, and broken marriages all ensued. This is a powerful cautionary tale emphasising that technology is not infallible and there will always be a need for suitably qualified humans to sense check any information provided by a computer – whether it’s accounts from Horizon, essays from ChatGPT or profiles on Wikipedia. Ann a Kat e Phelan is Head of Produ ct at Eintech
Student behaving very badly
In the last disciplinary case of 2023 ACCA student Ashish Khanal (of Kathmandu, Nepal) was removed from the student register and ordered to pay costs of £7,600 after he submitted inaccurate exam records and then sent emails to ACCA which contained photographs of naked male genitalia. To make matters worse, he then made derogatory comments and threatened violence towards an ACCA senior investigating officer. It didn’t stop there either, as Khanal then sent more emails to ACCA in which he continued to use “inappropriate language”. Khanal had originally told ACCA
Speed dating the accountancy bodies Ever thought about speed dating with the accountancy bodies? Well, you will get the chance at the Careers in Accountancy half-day conference on 28 February! We have asked all the accountancy bodies to explain why you should join them – so what is the difference between ACCA and CIMA? ACCA’s Gemma Gathercole
will be looking at what the future of accountancy looks like, and we’ll have an expert from Hays who will take a look at the current state of the job market and what employers want. PQ magazine editor Graham Hambly said: “We believe that everyone should have an equal chance to access a career in accountancy. We want to help
FRC to investigate accountant at centre of £469m black hole
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has started an investigation into the conduct of a member over the financial management of Thurrock Council’s operations and investment activities for the financial years ended 31 March 2018 to 31 March 2022. The investigation will be conducted by the FRC’s Executive
Going green needs to be cheaper The UK needs to increase its current rate of decarbonisation by 50% to meet interim targets to Net Zero by 2050. According to new analysis from PwC, the UK is on track to miss the target for 2030. With cost being the main barrier for upgrading to green technology, by nearly a two-to-one margin, UK voters say they want the government to make green alternatives cheaper, rather than penalise polluting choices. Only a minority of consumers are considering switching to a green alternative in the coming years. Just 19% of drivers on average incomes (£28k – £34k) are considering swapping to an electric vehicle. 10
he had passed some of the exams when in fact he had failed them. When questioned he denied altering the relevant document and emailed ACCA stating: “I hereby abide you [sic] that I am no longer interested in f**king d**ks like you. Please delete my account, If possible refund the money and
fees to my Company A. I am not interested in you deadlog suckers [sic]. F**k off!” Three months later he sent an email to ACCA to which he attached a photograph of erect male genitalia and stated: “Suck my d**k motherf**kers”. In later correspondence Khanal admitted to sending the images and in fact said he had taken them from Google. The disciplinary committee regarded his behaviour as both shocking and deplorable, and not surprisingly said he broke ACCA’s code of ethics and behaviour. It was also judged he had brought the profession into disrepute.
Counsel under the Accountancy Scheme, which covers both member firms and individual members of professional accountancy bodies. The collapse of the council’s financial investment strategy led to significant financial loss for the local authority and saw the council put under Government
Deloitte making AI more inclusive Deloitte is providing free access and support for its new Generative AI platform to a leading disability equality charity in its continued commitment to close the digital divide. Developed by Deloitte’s AI Institute, PairD is an internal Generative AI platform designed to help the firm’s people with day-to-day tasks, including drafting content, writing code and carrying out research safely and securely. The tool is also able to create project plans, give project management best practice advice and suggest task prioritisation. Following the roll-out of the platform to 75,000 of Deloitte’s people across Europe and the Middle East, disability equality charity Scope’s 800 employees will start to have access, too.
to deliver real change, and will be explaining everything from apprenticeships to degrees (including Flying Start), and all the professional qualifications.” Come and join us at The Octagon at Queen Mary University of London. To find out more and sign up to the day go to our Eventbrite page: https://shorturl.at/istFS. intervention in September 2022. It has been estimated that poor investment decisions led to a £469 million funding black hole for the council. Throughout the intervention process, the council and the government-appointed commissioners have been updating the police and financial regulatory authorities about emerging evidence into what happened to lead to the extreme financial difficulties.
When did you last visit your bank? Since the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the transition to online banking, UK individuals are visiting their local bank branches less often and less frequently. New research from KPMG found just 13% of respondents had visited a bank branch in the past week, compared with 18% in 2022. Similarly, a fifth (20%) of UK individuals had visited a bank branch in the past month, down from a quarter (25%) in 2022. As bank branches close, the digital offerings of banks are becoming increasingly important to consumers. Over a third of individuals (34%) now consider an app that is simple to use as being the most important interaction they have with their bank – up from 25% last year. PQ Magazine February 2024
