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I came across a article Institutes are irrelevant, says profession. 45% of UK accountants believed institutes were no longer relevant.

The responses were broken down:

The ICAEW topped the dissatisfaction league, with 40% of finance director members complaining that it was irrelevant to their everyday work. CIMA came next with 37% followed by CIPFA with 30%. ACCA was top of the institutes for member satisfaction.

If you are accountant from India and member of ICWAI or ICAI, please vote on the poll.

Regards,

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1. Institutes are irrelevant
2. Free CV advise

More than 100 countries on all five continents require or permit the use of international financial reporting standards or are converging with them.

This work is overdue and of critical importance. It has, however, become bogged down in divisions on such issues as: the objectives of financial statements; whether the perspective should be forward- looking or historic; whether items should be measured at fair value or some form of cost; whether markets are efficient or not.

Click here to read more on Ian Mackintosh article who is chairman of the UK’s Accounting Standards Board

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Graduates from medium and small business schools in India are increasingly seeking jobs in the public sector due to their stable and secured nature, said a survey.

Students from those business schools which are located in tier-II cities, such as Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Jaipur, Indore, Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, expressed eagerness to join ’scheduled A’ public sector units (PSUs) like ONGC, NTPC, IOC, GAIL, HPCL, BPCL, SAIL, MTNL, said the survey by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

Click here to read more on NDTV

It is quite difficult to believe that B-graduates are attracted to PSU jobs. Either the PSU pay scales are quite good and perks are quite attractive. Or under table emoluments looks to be attractive !!! Job stability in public sector … no way. You will find lot the people down the line whose jobs are stable and as a manager difficult to implement your vision.

Regards,

Santosh Puthran

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Nearly 70% of respondents said there was an element of luck in their career progression and development and that getting on was more about being in the right place at the right time. True isn’t it.You may observe that in any organisation, accountants has been looked on differently.

The general image is that accountants have a different mindset and are sometimes difficult when it comes to practical situation. This may be due to we are taught to be conservative. However accountants play an important role in keeping the business on track.

ACCA study points out that finance need a structured training. In another report on management accountant, they argue that the best way to broaden and deepen a management accountant’s experience is to have them work with other specialists, including engineers and ­marketeers. To be part of a team you have to trust the other members of that team. This is what the accounting function needs to learn more of and it is closely related to personal development, learning to work and play with others.

So what is your approach to understand the business ? Is it reading the financial statements or going to the shop floor, seeing the manufacturing process or a day with a sales team.

Whenever we start our SAP implementation, we would request the management to take us around the manufacturing plant or depots to understand the business. See the people working. Walking through and talking to really helps to understanding the business.

Long time back, our company had organised a training program for Internal Audit Department and I was one of the team member. The first day, the trainer gave us a quick test. He said, “The scenario is a of a shipping company. One of the ship had to station somewhere in the sea. They drop the anchor and the chain of anchor breaks and anchor goes down to the ocean floor.

The crew are unable to retrieve it. Now the question - how to explain loss of anchor to the financial controller? The captain of the ship comes out with a simple solution. He writes a memo to the Financial Controller of the shipping company that the anchor has been eaten by rats. Please write off !!! … After a couple of days, Financial Controller replies… Note Approved !!!”

Our trainer then asked us a simple question, “How did the Financial Controller approve the write off of the Anchor worth thousands of dollars ?”…. We gave numerous reply, but not to the satisfaction of the trainer. He said, “Financial Controller did not know the business of the company”.

Management Accountants… make it a point to work with the business. You will be looked favourably and you will climb career ladder very quickly.

Regards,

Santosh Puthran

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to clarify the accounting standards that real estate companies have to follow.

The capital market regulator has noticed that different real estate firms have been using varied methods for accounting revenues.

According to the ICAI, there are two methods of accounting for real estate revenues. The one followed by most companies accounts for revenues according to the stage of completion of construction. If a particular project is half complete, the company will account for half of the project revenues.

Click here to read more

What happens in UK in circumstances where there unsatisfactory interpretation of accounting standards ?

It is referred to Urgent Issue Task Force (UITF) which is a subsidiary of the Accounting Standards Board.

The main role of the UITF is to assist the ASB where unsatisfactory or conflicting interpretations have developed (or seem likely to develop) about a requirement of an accounting standard or the Companies Act. The UITF seeks to arrive at a consensus on the accounting treatment that should be adopted, in such cases, in the context of the ASB’s declared aim of relying on principles rather than detailed prescription.

In India, everything is referred to ICAI. We in India are too under-developed that the government relies heavily on ICAI - body responsible for setting standards and the same set of people who audit them !!!

The GOI should establish a proper Accounting Standards setting Framework where there is a distinction between Standard Setters and Auditors. Any unsatisfactory interpretation should not be referred to Accounting Body.

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Recently ICAI, India had launched a video campaign to promote the qualification and get students. I stumbled upon the ads of Chartered Accountants Australia. Sharing the ad on the blog.

Then I stumbled on another ad from ICAI, Ireland. Themes look similar.

I was trying to find the commercial of our very own so called “Chartered” body but could not find it. Can someone find it on the internet. Let’s see how they compare with - which qualification is more desirable.

Last but not the least… it is summarised quite well on Accountancy Ireland

Why do professional accountancy bodies advertise?

The answer is relatively simple: one of the features that distinguishes the accountancy profession from other professions is the level of competition that operates within the sector. While other professions have been the subject of examination of late by the Competition Authority, the accountancy profession has not featured. This is hardly surprising: there are now nine prescribed (not proscribed!) bodies under Irish Company Law regulated by the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority. The accounting environment is entirely different to that operating in the legal profession. Therefore there is a need for the different professional bodies to set out their distinct characteristics and to promote their particular brand of accountancy. The ultimate measure of the success and viability of any professional body is its success in securing member satisfaction and recruiting future potential members as students. These bodies are obviously also competing against other business qualifications.

Cheers,

Santosh Puthran

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Some interesting questions arise out of last week’s announcement by the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) that South Africa was the first country to adopt the International Accounting Standards Board’s new statements of Generally Accepted Accounting Practice for small entities (Small GAAP).

Click here to read more

Share your thoughts on whether Accounting Standards should be set by a Accounting Body in the country or there should be a separate standard setting body.

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