MCASS August Newsletter
Transcription
MCASS August Newsletter
ICAEW MCASS August 2016 Newsletter BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com/manchester 2 Welcome Welcome to the MCASS August edition newsletter. Browse your way through the following pages to find out about recent and future events, exam and careers advice. Included is a tutor’s guide on the steps to take after results, articles on the recent notable political changes and outlooks, and a future CABA event to be hosted for you (page 9). Dates for the events over the next six months can be found, as well as further details on the eagerly anticipated Masquerade Ball, to be held at The Midland Hotel on the 9 September. Whilst the early bird ticket deadline has since passed, tickets are still available. See page 10 for the details. Michael McCullough Matthew Holt If you have any suggestions or requests for the next newsletter, please email [email protected] or michael. [email protected]. You can also find us on Twitter @MCASSupdates Contents Welcome 3 Partner Interview 4 RGL Forensics Five perspectives on exam results – pass or fail 4 Accounting & Assurance – Certificate Level 7 Recent articles 7 Economia articles Brexit and Economia ICAEW Chairman article Other articles Events 7 Events review MCASS Summer BBQ – Review MCASS SpeedQuiz – Review Upcoming review Summer games Charity spin Bowling CABA Annual Ball Trustees 8 Committee 6 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 10 11 12 3 Partner Interview RGL Forensics How did you first become interested in Forensics? I started working in Coopers & Lybrand back in the mid 1980’s. At that time you could not qualify as a forensic accountant (you can now of course) and you had to qualify in audit. I started auditing but was lucky enough to be in an audit team which was geographically close to the Litigation Support Unit, as it was known. Often, they would need help on cases and whenever possible I volunteered to assist. I found the work fascinating – I was working on the divorce case of a rock star one day and assisting in calculations supporting the extension of a patent on a pharmaceutical product the next. Auditing could never live up to forensic work once I had a taste for it! Name: Catherine Rawlin Position: Partner Email: [email protected] Firstly, could you please inform us of what the role of a Forensic Accountant entails – what distinguishes it from the other professional accountancy roles such as Audit or Corporate Finance? The definition of a forensic accountant can vary and the type of work done by different firms and individuals can cover a broad spectrum. Essentially, the word ‘forensic’ can be defined as either ‘Relating to or denoting the application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of crime’ or ‘Relating to courts of law’. I consider it in the broadest possible terms as describing an investigative accountant. This can mean you are investigating the financial impact of an incident on a business. That incident could be a fire, flood, personal injury, dispute with a business partner or breach of contract. The business could be a huge multi-national or a sole trader. Alternatively, you might be investigating and quantifying fraud, and assisting in seeking to recover the stolen assets. Another example is marital dissolution or divorce where you might be asked to investigate and value a family-related business. The key distinguishing features are that it is always varied and you never know what you will be asked to look at from one day to the next. There is also a very personal, people-oriented aspect to the work as you are generally dealing with some form of crisis situation. Overall, it is an exciting and interesting field of accountancy! 4 Please tell us a bit about your career journey (qualifications, career experiences) Initially I was sure I wanted to be in the medical professions so I took a degree in Physiology at Bristol University with a plan to potentially transfer across to Medicine at the end of the three year degree. However, my mind changed and I decided to move to London and train as a Chartered Accountant with the view that this was a universally respected qualification and would help me in whatever I decided I really wanted to do with my life! The rest is history. I trained with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) and then moved to my current firm (formerly Campos & Stratis, now RGL Forensics) shortly after qualifying in 1989. In that time, we have grown from 6 people in the London office to around 60 staff in the UK across Manchester and London. We also have 25 other offices around the world. I qualified as ACA, now FCA and am also a member of the Academy of Experts and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators as well as an Accredited Mediator. What do you enjoy most about your job? Without doubt, two aspects. Firstly, I love the work – the variety, the intellectual challenge and the fact that even after 30+ years of working in the profession, I am still taken outside my comfort zone at times, thereby expanding it. Secondly, I thoroughly respect and admire the skills, talents and personalities of my colleagues and very much enjoy working with them. What is likely to be the most challenging aspect of the UK’s Brexit vote on your industry? It is still really too early to say, and by the time these answers have been published, who knows what else might have happened in the current fast-moving political and economic environment in which we find ourselves. I think the biggest issue would be any exit from the UK as a global financial and legal centre by businesses and people. This could change the complexion of the client and talent pools in which we have been accustomed to working. How do you see the role of an Accountant changing over the next 5-10 years, and how is your firm preparing? People and businesses will still need advice and I consider accountants will still be required. However, technology e.g. blockchain and the availability of data is going to change how we interact and work. I believe therefore that accountants will need to embrace technology even more than they already have. At RGL Forensics, we are looking to increase recruitment of data analysts into the firm, as well as investigating and researching the opportunities for diversifying our practice to serve the needs of current and future clients. If you were to offer one piece of advice to trainees today, what would it be? This is cheating a bit as its one piece of advice with three parts to it! I would say knuckle down and get the exams passed as soon as you can. Once they are done, take every opportunity offered to you professionally and when you are given these chances, embrace them and do your utmost to produce the best work product you can, every single time. 5 Five perspectives on exam results – pass or fail 1 Celebrate 2 Get off the canvas If you passed an exam – eat something nice, drink something strong, dance and be merry, for you are one step closer to glory and have achieved something which is both difficult and precious. If you didn’t pass – celebrate still: for when you resit you will be so much better than all the first-time sitters you will laugh at their witless ignorance and passing will be easy. If you failed an exam – shrug it off. Laugh at it. Give it the Agincourt salute. Then register for your resit and get the books back out. I failed an exam at the final hurdle myself – so what? I don’t carry a stain of failure on my skin. Even if you fail and lose your job because of it – be thankful for the fact that you have been released from a firm which wasn’t for you. Get another job, resit, pass, qualify and enjoy a better job and a better life. 3 Shop around Don’t feel chained to your existing tuition provider – particularly if you have failed with your existing one. Why go back for more of the same? A different tutor at a different college with a fresh approach can be the difference. There is lots of choice out there so look around and don’t feel chained to one of the ‘big two’ colleges. 6 4 Scan beyond the horizon 5 Remember perspective Try and see what’s ahead – not on the horizon but over it. If you have passed and qualified – look at your options, both within and outside your current organisation. Don’t relax into your current role and wake up 20 years later realising you are trapped on an escalator to death. I trained in audit with PwC but I now own my own accountancy training college – iCount – which certainly wasn’t anywhere on my horizon when I qualified. Be open to all possibilities and take a risk. A ship is always safe at the shore – but that is not what it is built for. If you passed your exam be humble – it’s only an exam. If you failed be phlegmatic – it’s only an exam. Hug your loved ones, play some sport, revel in your health. Get up early and watch a morning seep into day. Look around you and be grateful. Keep your bowels open and your fingernails clean – the rest will take care of itself. Andrew Booth ACA PhD Partner, iCount Training, Manchester ICAEW Specialists Accounting & Assurance – Certificate Level My top tip for both exams would be to practice as many questions as possible – if you have the time, go through your question banks twice. I would recommend diving straight into practicing questions rather than rewriting your notes from college because not only does this familiarise yourself with the type of questions in the exam and help with your timing but it also allows you to highlight any areas of weakness. You will quickly find topics that you are comfortable with and you can pick up marks easily here but don’t neglect the harder topics, make sure you keep practising those trickier questions and refer back to your notes and study manual if you haven’t quite grasped the content yet. You will quickly master these areas with practice and you will learn how to answer the questions presented to you in the exam. Above all seek help from your peers, your office colleagues and your fellow MCASS members – we’ve all been there and know how helpful it can be to talk through a difficult concept. After all, most of us sitting the first two ACA exams had never studied Accounting/Assurance before and understand how daunting it can be! One to remember for Accounting: DEAD CLIC (Debits increase Expenses, Assets and Drawings – Credits increase Liabilities, Income and Capital. Emma Hutchings, Audit Trainee, BDO LLP Recent articles Economia articles Business activity has so far withstood the shock of Britain’s vote to leave the EU, according to the Bank of England (BoE) http://economia.icaew.com/news/july-2016/eu-exit-did-not-impact-business-activity-boe-says Britain faces ‘severe’ confidence effects on spending and business investment over the next three years following the EU referendum, a new report argues http://economia.icaew.com/news/july-2016/uk-economy-to-see-anaemic-growth-after-eu-exit Brexit and Economia ICAEW Chairman article MoorgatePlace blog http://www.ion.icaew.com/MoorgatePlace/post/A-vote-to-leave-4C9C384A2D8D4C8A82F1B4C6E6DDC67B?u tm_source=Eurefstudentemail&utm_medium=link&utm_content=june28&utm_campaign=CEOblogEUref Other articles Developing a niche for your firm to differentiate from the competition http://economia.icaew.com/business/june-2016/a-bit-special Sport policies this summer http://economia.icaew.com/business/june-2016/how-will-sports-affect-productivity-in-accountancy-firms Duty of care towards clients, identifying problems and support http://economia.icaew.com/business/june-2016/identifying-mental-health-issues 7 Events Events review MCASS Summer BBQ – Review Post June exam festivities kicked off in fine style at the MCASS Summer BBQ, held at The Lawn Club in Spinningfields, on the 8th June. Over 80 attended the event on the Wednesday evening and all were fortunate enough to be treated to sunshine (post showers, naturally). At approximately 19.30, the Lawn Club roared up their BBQ’s and soon we were offered fine beef burgers and sizzling chicken (bread crumbed and Cajun spiced legs) were accompanied by a colourful array of sides were available for consumption. To help down the food were some free drinks! Each attendee were offered two tokens on arrival, which were exchangeable for beer, wine and soft drinks. By 8pm, however, left over tokens were distributed around. The large contingent from KPMG were seen to be scooping them up! A massive thanks to Marks Sattin for sponsoring the event. 8 MCASS SpeedQuiz – Review On 11 May MCASS and MYTSG held a Speed Quiz, sponsored by Hays, at the Living Rooms. The style was different to the usual pub quiz, involving tablets to send in immediate responses, with points for correct answers and time taken to respond. Bonus questions, whereby the first team to answer correctly jumped to the top of the leader board, were dropped in at random over the course of the night, meaning no team could take it easy after building a high score! Thanks go to Hays for sponsoring the event and providing winning team and raffle prizes, the Living Rooms for the food and venue, and the Quizmaster for keeping everyone engrossed for the whole evening, with extra facts and a variety of question styles. Upcoming review Summer games The annual MCASS Summer Games was held on 30 July at Sport City and was a resounding success with 10 teams entering and around 150 participants. The day kicked off with a football and netball tournament held simultaneously with PWC winning the football and CLB Coopers beating Shoosmiths in an exciting final in the netball. After a swift packed lunch it was on to the dodgeball and tug of war competitions, with KPMG winning both. The competition was drawn to a close with various track and field events which produced some incredible performances; don’t worry, we’ll bring a longer tape measure for the javelin next year! CLB Coopers were crowned winners, pipping Shoosmiths to the trophy by only 4 points. It was refreshing to see the accountants (at their own MCASS games) beat the solicitors to the trophy, considering MTSG were worthy winnners in both 2015 and 2014! After a long day of competition it was off to Artisan in town for some refreshments! MCASS would like to thank everyone who took part and contributed to a great day with a fantastic atmosphere! And thank you once again to Michael Page for supporting the day. CABA MCASS will soon be holding an event with the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association (CABA) on 6 October at a location TBC. The event will be run by CABA’s professional team with the aim of helping us to deal with different stresses and pressures from work/their studies. Here is a rough outline of the event: Build your resilience/mindful resilience The way you react to challenges and setbacks is a reflection of how resilient you are. Resilient people don’t dwell on the fact that things don’t always go quite as planned. They simply learn from their experiences and move forward. Our resilience sessions explore ways of boosting your self-confidence and coping more effectively with setbacks, both in and out of the workplace. You’ll explore the tools you need to develop a resilient attitude and examine the differences between pressure (which can be positive and motivating) and stress (a natural reaction to too much pressure). After completing this session you’ll be able to: Ross Taylor, EY Charity spin Save the date – On Thursday 15 September we’ll be holding a Charity Spin, at Spin Factory (opposite Salford Central Station). All proceeds will go to The Children’s Adventure Farm charity. Aritsan will also host a pop-up bar for some post exercise refreshments! Event booking now LIVE via this link: eventbrite.co.uk/e/mcass-charity-spin-for-cafttickets-26418662932?aff=es2 Bowling On Wednesday 9 November MCASS will be holding a Bowling Night. With advanced exams taking place over the first three days that week, this will be a chance to relax and team up for some friendly competition! Keep an eye on the twitter page and the ICAEW Events site for further details. Recognise the difference between pressure and stress Identify what causes you stress Build your resilience/ mindful resilience Use a range of tools and techniques, including mindfulness strategies to increase your resilience Understand the foundations of resilience Assess your personal level of resilience Design a plan to continue to build your resilience Keep an eye on your inbox, LinkedIn or our Twitter feeds for details which will be released when confirmed! 9 Annual Ball 9 September 2016 MCASS is holding its annual ball on Friday 9 September at the Midland Hotel, Manchester. It will have a masquerade theme, so the more creative the better! The Ball is a celebration and recognition of all the success and hard work by trainees over the past year and a chance to meet ‘en masse’. With over 300 tickets sold thus far, it promises to be a fantastic evening, ensure you visit the portal below to get yours before the 22 August deadline. www.eventsforce.net/assuredevents/111/register Trustees Name: Rachel Aldcroft Job title: Manager Firm: Mazars LLP Committee position: President linkedin.com/in/rachel-aldcroft-0a16b025 Name: Simone Masterson Job title: Audit Semi Senior Firm: BDO LLP Committee position: Chair linkedin.com/in/simone-masterson-a464687a Name: Nikki Childs Job title: Audit Assistant Firm: KPMG Committee position: Secretary linkedin.com/in/nichola-childs-38073044 Name: Aisha Anwar Job title: Audit Senior Firm: CLB Coopers Committee position: Vice-President linkedin.com/in/aisha-anwar-26b90945 Name: Michael Angelo Berger Job title: Associate Firm: Grant Thornton Committee position: Vice-Chair linkedin.com/in/michael-angelo-berger-b0b9255b Name: Justinas Pocevicius Job title: Forensic accountant Firm: RGL forensics Committee position: Treasurer linkedin.com/in/justinas-pocevicius-729a9b69 11 Committee Name: Charles Whitaker Job title: Senior in Assurance Firm: EY LLP Committee position: Sports Secretary linkedin.com/in/charles-whitaker-49177b86 Name: Eimear Gunn Job title: ACA Corporate trainee Firm: Booth Ainsworth LLP Committee position: Social Secretary linkedin.com/in/eimear-gunn-370804a0 Name: Emma Hutchings Job title: Graduate Audit Trainee Firm: BDO LLP Committee position: Events Coordinator linkedin.com/in/emmavictoriahutchings Name: Laura Hepple Job title: Audit Trainee Firm: Mazars LLP Committee position: Tuition Provider Relationship Manager linkedin.com/in/laura-hepple-17234549 Name: Louise Sleightholm Job title: Audit Trainee Firm: BDO Committee position: Networking Secretary linkedin.com/in/louise-sleightholm-9a1088a2 Name: Matthew Holt Job title: Audit Assistant Firm: Crowe Clark Whitehill Committee position: Communications Secretary linkedin.com/in/matthew-holt-45a79079 Name: Michael McCullough Job title: Assistant Accountant Firm: RSM Committee position: Communications Secretary linkedin.com/in/michael-mccullough-447098aa Name: Ross Taylor Job title: Assistant Tax Adviser Firm: EY Committee position: Sports Secretary linkedin.com/in/rosstaylor2 Name: Lauren-Jade Roberts Job title: Corporate Finance Executive Firm: HURST & Company Accountants Committee position: Networking Secretary linkedin.com/in/laurenjaderoberts © ICAEW 2016. 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