The columnists

ROBERT BRUCE

Putting the new year into words

Journalists always have a problem between Christmas and New Year. There are fewer hacks around. There are fewer pages for them to fill and most prefer to take time off. But fill them they must. So the old skill of ‘here’s one I prepared earlier’ comes to the fore. And one of the oldest is documenting the words that have come into fashion over the past year. These can be listed and wittily explained. It does what is required. It fills space and keeps readers, hopefully, amused.

I have always thought that the opposite should be provided. Journalists should come up with the word that encapsulates the year ahead – the one that should be imperative for readers to print out and stick to their office, now home office, wall as a reminder and encouragement over the months to come. The wintry times of the new year will be, as they used to say in my Glasgow childhood, ‘dreich’. It is a terrific Scottish word. It tells you the weather will suck the life out of you with its repetitive dullness. And a raging pandemic and its lockdowns could do the same. We should turn our backs on dreich. What we have been learning from the pandemic is the scale of the possibilities of change. Within business all manner of new ideas, the ease of their achievement, the pivot of management objectives, have miraculously, it sometimes seems, become possible. The word for the year now unfolding should be ‘adroit’.

Robert Bruce is an award-winning writer on accountancy for The Times

In brief

Pap IASB names new chairman

Professor Andreas Barckow has been unveiled as the new Chair of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). He will take over from Hans Hoogervorst in July 2021. Barckow (pictured) has served as president of the Accounting Standards Committee of Germany. He holds a Diploma and Doctorate degree

‘Big 4 employs hundreds of Chinese communists’

The UK’s Big 4 accountancy firms have employed more than 2,000 members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including at least one partner in every firm, says a report in the Daily Telegraph.

It reveals that some 400 KPMG staff had CCP membership in 2016, according to documents seen by journalists at the paper. One partner is even praised by a Chinese website for “making the red gene take root”.

Those documents also show EY and Deloitte each employ more than 800 party members, including Deloitte’s deputy director in China. Some senior staff at PwC are members too, including at least one partner. The Daily Telegraph points out that the CPP demands absolute loyalty from members and is increasingly keen to monitor private firms.

Foreign affairs select committee member MP Bob Seeley told the paper: “This is a bizarre and scandalous state of affairs. Putting aside any espionage risk, which is clearly highly serious in itself, surely there are significant questions to be answered about client confidentially.”

Read the full story at https:// tinyurl.com/y6za8kkz (subscription required).

Advanced level results out who failed all three. A total of 3,970 students sat the November 2020 session. Some ICAEW November 2020 advanced Out of the 423 sitters, 255 passed 5,902 exams were attempted in level results are now out there. (60.3%) and 39% (168) failed. total with 3,101 students passing They show the case study had a Students who sat all three papers all the exams they took. The stats pass rate of 77.6%, Those sitting had a better pass rate than those unfortunately also show 669 PQs the Corporate Reporting paper sitting just ALCR. Some 75.1% of failed all the exams they took. achieved an 80.2% pass rate, and the 433 sitters passed NOVEMBER 2020 ADVANCED PASS RATES last but not least was Strategic Business Management, with a pass rate of 88.2%. Those sitting just the Corporate Reporting paper seemed to struggle the most at the November sitting. all three. Another 17% passed two out of three, and a further 6% passed at least one. That left just seven part qualifieds All candidates First attempt Case Study 77.6% 80.5% Corporate Reporting 80.2% 86.0% Strategic Business 88.2% 91.7% Management

Jo Tuffill joins FME Learn Online family

FME Learn Online is going from strength to strength, with yet another member joining its ever-expanding cohort of high-quality expert tutors. Jo Tuffill is now offering online courses for ACCA PM.

Sunil Bhandari, speaking on behalf of FME Learn Online, was delighted with the platform’s new addition: “It is fantastic news that Jo Tuffill has come on board. Her business and industry knowledge, coupled with over 15 years of teaching experience, is the perfect combination to deliver online courses for ACCA PM candidates.” Tuffill was previously with Vale Financial Training. Bhandari said: “Jo is the fourth expert tutor to join FME Learn Online within the last six months, along with Geoff Cordwell (ACCA APM), Sean Purcell (ACCA SBL), and Erin Morton (ACCA AA). We continue to seek to work with tutors who can match the high quality of teaching and dedicated student support provided by me and my colleagues.”

in Business Administration from the University of Paderborn and is an Honorary Professor at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management. He will step down from all his present positions once he joins the IASB.

Pap Lifetime Skills funding for AAT courses

AAT qualifications have been included in the list of almost 400 fully funded courses as part of the Government’s new Lifetime Skills Guarantee. AAT’s Advanced Diploma in Accounting and its Advanced Certificate in Bookkeeping are both included in the new offer. The fully funded courses will be available to adults aged 24 or over seeking their first Level 3 qualification, and will be open from April 2021. The Level 3 courses are seen as equivalent to a technical certificate or diploma, or two full A-levels. More information on accessing the course offer, including funding guidance for providers, is due to

be published by the Government in early 2021.

Pap Budget date announced

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has announced that the government will publish the Budget on Wednesday 3 March 2021. The Budget will set out the next phase of the plan to tackle the virus and protect jobs and will be published alongside the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).