deserve better protection

ZOE ROBINSON

It’s time to look to the future

IFAC is the global organisation for the accounting profession and all professional bodies in the UK are founder members. Their most recent seminar explored the changing role of the accountant in the context of the digital revolution and, overall, mood was positive; the calls for change were not driven by the threat of technology but by the opportunities technology could bring.

However, this positivity came with a caveat: accountants should stop looking backwards and begin to look to the future, becoming more proactive and anticipatory. It’s a powerful argument – technology has the capability to replace much of what accountants currently do, but with a different mindset and some new skills this void can easily be filled with even more valuable work.

We can start developing these new skills today but, culturally, the mindset shift will be harder. Accountants are expert in looking backwards, it’s where certainty and accuracy exist. The future requires assumption, prediction and the risk you may be wrong.

To be successful, anticipatory thinking must permeate education as well. Teaching ‘what next’ type skills such as strategic thinking will of course be essential, but these must be combined with creativity, vision and problem-solving to help head off problems and drive the change in focus that’s needed.

At the moment having someone looking objectively at the future feels more important than ever.

Zoe Robinson is Learning and Programme Director at Kaplan Financial

ACCA degree is 20 years old

ACCA is celebrating 20 years of its dual qualification with Oxford Brookes University, which enables students gain a globally recognised BSc (Hons) Applied Accounting degree and the ACCA qualification together.

ACCA and Oxford Brookes University jointly designed this unique programme, which can be achieved entirely remotely, to meet the requirements of a degree and a professional qualification.

Marking the 20-year anniversary of the partnership ACCA chief executive Helen Brand said: “ACCA is proud of our long-standing partnership with Oxford Brookes that equips our students for brilliant careers in accounting and finance. Our partnership not only enables

Karenjeet Kaur Bains, a 23-yearold powerlifter from Warwickshire, made history this summer by becoming the first Sikh women to represent Britain at the World Powerlifting Championships. She balances her training with a fulltime job at KPMG and qualified as an ACA on 2 October. It took her five years to pass the 15 exams, and admits: “It’s been a crazy demanding schedule over the last five years, balancing full time work, studying and competing at international level.”

our students to demonstrate to potential or existing employers that they possess all the relevant graduate skills, but that these have been gained from a university that has a reputation for excellence.

“The impact of Covid-19 may have raised anxiety about career opportunities, but a degree and a professional accountancy qualification remain a powerful combination, boosting employability and enhancing job prospects. Over the past two decades, this longestablished distance learning option has helped thousands of students achieve their dreams of success.”

Students can apply for the degree once they have completed the Knowledge and Skills papers of the ACCA’s professional examinations, and the Ethics and Professional Skills module.

Globally, over 33,500 students have graduated from the programme to date.

For more information on the Oxford Brookes BSc (Hons) Applied Accounting degree visit https://tinyurl.com/y8b3c5px

More power to Karenjeet

She was very happy about no longer having to sit revising at her desk at crazy o’clock. And how much can she lift? An astonishing 166kg – equivalent to a 26 stone man!

Check her out on Instagram at https:// tinyurl.com/yx9pybrf

Croydon council issues Section 114 notice

The London Borough of Croydon has issued a section 114 notice, banning any further non-essential spending as it struggles to balance its books.

There have been concerns about the financial management at the council. Auditors Grant Thornton issued a ‘Report in the Public Interest’ in October warning about looming financial problems.

Now Croydon’s FD, Lisa Taylor, has sent a letter to councillors outlining the scale of the problem. She is predicting a potential budget shortfall of £66 million.

Issuing the notice is recognition that despite all efforts to do so the council cannot now balance its budgets this year, which it is required to do by law. It is now in talks with the government about the financial support necessary to keep it running.

Northamptonshire County Council was forced to take the same steps two years ago.

Driving the future Millennials (24-39 year olds) are expected to lead a car ownership boom in the coming six months across the globe, representing 45% of all first-time car owners, says EY’s Mobility Consumer Index. Nearly a third (31%) of those respondents who do not currently own a car say they plan to buy one in the next six months, while one in five (20%) that already own a car say they would be open to purchasing an additional vehicle. Both groups cited the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the top reasons for their purchases. New space for Deloitte Deloitte’s Manchester practice has signed a deal with WeWork to occupy 35,000 sq ft of office space in Manchester city centre. With the firm due to exit its existing office at Hardman Street, the deal will provide a flexible solution for the 800 people based in the city. Deloitte has said it plans to begin occupancy in early 2021, subject to Government national restriction guidelines. The firm will have two floors in WeWork Hanover Building in Corporation Street, near Victoria Station.

£400bn needed for green agenda Up to £400 billion of investment is needed in green infrastructure over the next 10 years if the UK is to meet its ambitious net zero target, according to a PwC report. An investment of £40 billion each year would represent a near doubling of current capital requirements.

Take the stress test KPMG’s annual risk benchmarking survey, ‘Ready for change? A new era of risk’, has found that many firms have taken action to mitigate the risks, challenges and stresses caused by Covid-19. Some 65% of firms performed additional stress tests, with these leading to 30% taking management action to increase resources of both capital and liquidity. Given the impact of the pandemic it is perhaps surprising to hear that only 28% saw an increase in operational risk events and 15% an increase in size of operational risk losses.