Pay frozen for some juniors at PwC

PwC’s UK staff have been told to expect smaller pay rises and bonuses this year, according to reports in the Financial Times.

Despite the cost-of-living crisis, which saw big hikes in salaries last year, salary bands have been frozen for some junior auditors because of “challenging” market conditions.

The FT said the firm’s junior auditors were told on a webcast in late June that pay bands would be frozen for one set of employees, while many others would only get increase of 3-6%, which is in effect

World’s fastest accountant

Eugene Amo-Dadzie, a senior management accountant at a property company, always knew he could run quickly. Now everyone knows the self-styled ‘world’s fastest accountant’ can too, as he broke the 10-second barrier in Graz, Austria recently.

His time of 9.93 makes him the fifth-fastest UK 100 metre runner of all time – behind the likes of

It’s an amazing story, as Amo- a pay cut in real-terms.

One junior auditor told the FT they were shocked by the freeze in pay, and there was talk of quitting. Currently, most junior auditors are paid between £26,000 and £34,000 a year, depending on location.

Dadzie didn’t start competing until he was 26, by which time he had qualified as a chartered accountant. He is now 31.

So, is this Rainham boy a sprinter who happens to be an accountant or an accountant who can run? He told the BBC: “I very much enjoy that I have a different story. I still refer to myself as an accountant that happens to operate in the world of track and field.”

Nationalisation is the only answer for water

There is only one answer for the problems of the UK water industry and that is nationalisation, says accountant Professor Richard Murphy. He claims Thames Water can never be profitable and deliver clean water.

Murphy is suggesting that nationalisation should be without any compensation to shareholders. “That is because their businesses are environmentally insolvent,” he said. His idea is to issue water bonds via

ISAs to the public to help the industry raise the funds it needs. Murphy wondered: “Wouldn’t you want to save in a way that ensures we all get clean water in the future?”

Read the full article on page 22

KPMG to cut 2,000 jobs in US KPMG is planning to cut around 5% of its US posts as demand slows for its consulting services. The Big 4 firm’s US CEO, Paul Knopp, said the cuts will address the significant mismatch between the workforce and the reduced demand for its services because of global economic uncertainty.

This marks the second set of layoffs at the firm. In February, some 700 jobs were lost in the advisory business. The announcement follows EY telling its staff that it was cutting 3,000 US jobs after the failed breakup of the firm. Deloitte reportedly have plans to lay off just over 1,000 of its US workforce.

AQ2016 ends in September

AAT students sitting the old AQ2016 need to plan for the switch to AQ2022, says FI’s Nick Craggs.

The last chance to sit the synoptic exams are early in September, so students need to plan for this.

The Level 3 transition is the most complicated, he explained. Advanced Bookkeeping and Final Accounts Preparation have been merged and you need to pass both units to get the exemption for the new AQ2022 paper.

There is also no equivalent unit for the Advanced Synoptic on AQ2022 so it doesn’t carry over into Q22.

See page 16 for more.

Is MTD ‘out of control’?

HMRC’s Making Tax Digital project has so far cost over 400% more than originally estimated, according a National Audit Office report.

Original cost estimates in 2016 for introducing MTD for VAT, Income Tax and Corporation Tax was £226m. Today, the cost of MTD just for income tax currently stands at £1.3bn.

And when HMRC asked the government for more funding last year and in March this year, their cost-benefit analysis forgot to include the £1.5bn plus cost of transitioning for VAT and Self Assessment business taxpayers with income over £10,000.

The NAO report also points out MTD has been delayed four times since 2015 and is eight years behind schedule.

The CIOT and ATT believe MTD is ‘out of control’, and while supporting the digitalisation of the tax payment system believes the NAO report backs its claims that HMRC vastly underestimated the cost to taxpayers and overestimated the benefits to the Exchequer!

Read more on page 34