Growth and productivity: is outsourcing the answer?

A third (34%) of UK accountants do not trust that outsourcing is done correctly or to a high enough standard, according to latest research from IRIS Software Group (IRIS), the UK’s leading provider of accountancy software and services.

The research reveals many accountants are reluctant to outsource certain elements of their role thanks to out-of-date assumptions. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, accountants have been their clients’ essential, trusted advisors. Yet with the threat of business survival still at large, accountancy professionals need more support in managing admin-heavy tasks so they can focus on what matters most – helping clients and growing their business.

IRIS’ latest insights paper surveyed 200 senior accountants and their opinions on outsourcing. It found 42% of accountants associate outsourcing with negative connotations, with 68% saying that they haven’t considered outsourcing in the last 6-12 months – despite a rising demand for advisory-led services since the start of the pandemic.

However, the research further revealed that accountants would gladly use the extra time freed up by outsourcing to dedicate more time to work-life balance (45%), complete higher fee-earning work (33%), build client relationships (27%), and one in five (20%) would use it to focus on business advisory.

Matthew Elliott, Managing Director at Clarity Accountants comments on the findings; “Accountancy is very traditional and value has always been found in the tangible reports created and delivered to clients. But now, there is new value to be found in relationships with customers and offering a better service. [By outsourcing] we’re not bogged down in compliance work, so we can focus on cross-selling services and increasing the value we bring to our clients.

Outsourcing gives us the bandwidth and capacity to scale the business. Without it, I don’t think we could have grown to the scale we have.”

Before COVID-19, 24% of accountancy firms surveyed were planning on hiring extra staff to help ease workload. Although no one could have predicted the uncertainty COVID-19 would bring, recruiting full time employees could have been the wrong decision at a time when staying agile was key. It demonstrated how the flexibility of outsourcing wins out over the risk of costly and unreliable recruitment.

Jim Scott, MD for accountancy at IRIS Software says;

“Firms must act smart. They have to be proficient with their time and proactive if they are to stay as the beating heart of British business.”

“Firms must act smart. They have to be proficient with their time and proactive if they are to stay as the beating heart of British business.We need to break the stigma attached to outsourcing. It’s an efficient way for accountancy firms to resolve any talent gaps, extend practice services and reduce costs, all while increasing profits and margins and enabling them to scale at pace. To unlock these benefits, it’s time for accountants to hang up their hang ups around outsourcing.”

The insight guide, Growth and productivity: is outsourcing the answer? can be downloaded here.

The post Growth and productivity: is outsourcing the answer? appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

Optimism as small businesses start to get back to normal but financial support lagging behind

Small business owners are feeling upbeat about the prospect of trading getting back to normal but are still struggling with their mental health and finding financial support, according to a survey from ACCA UK (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and The Corporate Finance Network (CFN).

All owners reported that business trading is at the level they expected or slightly higher this month, a jump of 11% over last month.

And there was also unanimity from 100% of respondents that their businesses will return to pre- Covid levels of productivity and turnover within two years, with more than half (57%) believing they will achieve that goal within 12 months.

The SME Tracker, which reports what small businesses tell their accountants, reported data from accountants representing 12,135 SME clients and ran until yesterday.

However, despite the optimism, about their own prospects, business owners continued to report on the struggle to find suitable financial backing from traditional outlets now that government-backed loans are winding down.

More than half (57%) said they found it more difficult to obtain even an overdraft and the same percentage struggled to obtain an unsecured business loan. Others also had problems qualifying for a commercial mortgage (43%), which was a 10% increase from last month.

Anecdotally, some members even told the survey that even the most straightforward tasks, including opening bank accounts, have been made more difficult.

This frustration with the real-world practicalities of delivering on the opportunities now re-emerging may have contributed to another worrying set of responses concerning business owners’ wellbeing.

More than one in five (22%) said they were more stressed and anxious and 19% reported that they were either not sleeping, feeling unable to cope or that their mental health had deteriorated.

Glenn Collins, head of policy, technical and strategic engagement at ACCA UK said:

‘Our survey shows business owners are still struggling to secure the right financial support.

‘They are telling us that conventional and traditional sources of business finance, such as banks, are lagging behind and are making it difficult for them to complete even the most basic functions like opening bank accounts and securing an overdraft.

‘We would like to see government working with finance providers to improve access to the right finance options to help to support recovery and we will be engaging with both parties on this matter.’

Kirsty McGregor, founder of the Corporate Finance Network, said:

‘Small business owners can see the opportunity on the horizon and are seeing the early signs that trading can return to normal. However, they are also feeling uncertain about navigating the current financial landscape, which is causing them stress.

‘They are generally optimistic about the future, but they perceive a high degree of risk and uncertainty stands between them and achieving their targets.’

The post Optimism as small businesses start to get back to normal but financial support lagging behind appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.digital-accountants.com/?p=732

Friday Footnotes: Accounting’s Future; PwC Plants a Flag on the Metaverse; Netflix For Professional Services? | 12.24.21

Ed. note: Have a safe and happy holiday out there, everyone. We hope a good chunk of you are rocking the out of office message this weekend and can get some much-deserved rest and relaxation, and that the rest of you can at least fit in a nap and a text message to your grandma. We’ll be back Monday with the usual end of the year phoned-in trash. Merry Christmas!

The Future of Accounting: How a New Generation Can Tackle the World’s Biggest Challenges [Bloomberg Tax] As the tax and accounting landscape changes, it’s natural to wonder what that means for the profession. Carmine Di Sibio, the Global Chairman and CEO of EY, writes that he’s “never seen a more important, inspiring moment to be an accountant.”

How companies are responding to rising pressure on wages and benefits [Journal of Accountancy] In the fourth-quarter edition of the Business & Industry Economic Outlook Survey released by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, respondents predicted an average increase of 4.3% in salary and employee benefit costs in the year to come — the highest such measurement in at least 12 years.

KPMG blocks referrals to former insolvency unit over Silentnight scandal [Financial Times] KPMG will not refer any work to its former UK restructuring business Interpath Advisory in the latest fallout from the scandal over the sale of bed manufacturer Silentnight to a private equity firm. The decision is part of KPMG’s attempts to repair its image after a series of fines and investigations.

PwC Hong Kong purchases land plot in The Sandbox [Cointelgraph] PwC Hong Kong, an international subsidiary of the global PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) organization, announced Thursday its emergence in the metaverse space with the acquisition of LAND in the popular world The Sandbox. Though the cost of its LAND asset was undisclosed, it was noted that PwC Hong Kong intends to construct a Web 3.0 advisory hub to facilitate a new generation of professional services, including accounting and taxation.

A Survey of Tax Analytics and Automation Technologies [CPA Journal] Tax departments are always looking for ways to streamline their processes and procedures, and provide greater value-added services to management. Tax analytics and automation technologies present new opportunities to corporate tax departments, and the benefits will trickle down to small and medium-sized businesses as the technologies diffuse. The authors surveyed larger companies on the deployment of tax analytics and automation, and the lessons learned in the process.

Spotlight on tax season [Journal of Accountancy] CPAs assessing the start of this year’s round of client tax return preparation can take some satisfaction in knowing that they’re not likely to face a repetition of last year, when retroactive tax law changes required revisiting many of the returns they’d already completed.

Auditors investigated four unlawful actions over Fairfield Halls [Inside Croydon] Twelve months after Grant Thornton was asked to conduct an audit of the botched and budget-busting refurbishment of the Fairfield Halls, their report has yet to be published. The delay seems likely to be because the auditors have discovered evidence of unlawful conduct.

There’s Inside Information in SEC Filings [Bloomberg Opinion] A good plot for, like, an insider-trading Hollywood thriller would be if the villains hacked into the computers of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC, after all, is maybe the world’s greatest repository of material information about public companies. Companies are constantly filing earnings releases, merger announcements, management changes, proxy fights, all sorts of material news on the SEC’s Edgar system. If you hacked into Edgar you could … well, in a movie, I guess you could delay every filing by like 10 minutes, to give you a chance to read and trade on it?

Are practitioners ready for new pricing models? [Accounting Today] The tax and accounting profession has long talked about evolving to subscription services and pricing. Some have made the leap. Others are still trying to hammer out the details — and the potential benefits.

Privacy and Trust Are in Jeopardy If IRS Gains Power to Monitor Bank Accounts [U.S. Chamber of Commerce] Implementing a new mandatory reporting regime whereby banks must monitor and collect data on their customer’s accounts will hurt not only banks but also the businesses and communities that rely upon their services.

The post Friday Footnotes: Accounting’s Future; PwC Plants a Flag on the Metaverse; Netflix For Professional Services? | 12.24.21 appeared first on Going Concern.

Many businesses failing to focus on cash flow, survey finds

–  Only 14% of UK Finance departments report a primary focus on cash flow during the COVID-19 pandemic.

16 AUGUST 2021: New research has shown that just 14% of UK Finance decision-makers focused on cash flow during the most recent Covid-19 lockdown.

The majority of businesses focussed on cost-cutting exercises and the use of Government support. For example, 41% confirmed they had furloughed accounts payable staff over the past 12 months.

As of June 2021, approximately 11.6 million jobs had been placed on furlough in the United Kingdom as part of the government’s job retention scheme at a cost of around £100 billion.

Ian Smith, GM and Finance Director for document management provider Invu, the company that commissioned the research, argues that cash is the key metric in a crisis.

“Cost-cutting is a key component in cash management but failing to pay attention to current and future cash flow both entering and coming out of a crisis can be terminal for a business.”

“At the start of a crisis, working capital assets and liabilities unwind as the volume of business reduces. For most businesses, this releases cash tied up in working capital and together with cost-cutting may help a business survive to the bottom of the cycle. Emerging from the crisis will see both increasing expenditure and increasing working capital requirements, a nasty pincer movement on cash resources.”

“Surviving this cycle is dependent on having full visibility of working capital commitments which places a high reliance on timely and accurate management accounts and visibility of future financial commitments.”

The survey showed 16% of UK businesses can take up to 20 days to publish their management accounts – a further 7% taking over 30 days.

Smith argues that this is far too long in a normal business environment, let alone a crisis, as the relevance of the information diminishes after each passing day, providing little value for decision making.

“A business needs real-time visibility of variances compared to plan to be agile in a crisis. Each day spent waiting for management accounts, to see variances in performance against the current plan, represents a lag in decision making for corrective actions. This is a significant business vulnerability to nasty financial surprises,” Smith says.

The survey showed that a minority of businesses, 32%, use budgetary controls at the point of making a purchase commitment, and 68% of those businesses believed their purchasing process was effective.

“The majority of businesses appear to make financial commitments without fully understanding their financial business impact at the point of purchase. Combining this with slow management reporting means the impact on cash is often not known until it’s too late to do anything about it,” Smith continues. “Narrowing the gap between making a commitment and understanding its impact on cash flow needs to be a priority. Businesses failing to address this are at risk.”

The post Many businesses failing to focus on cash flow, survey finds appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.digital-accountants.com/?p=720

How can accountants unlock their practices’ full potential?

By Jim Scott, MD for Accountancy at IRIS Software Group

Accountants have faced a number of challenges since the start of COVID-19. The sudden shift to remote working and changing customer demands meant many had to adopt new ways of working, fast.

Added to this, businesses have needed additional support to prepare for phase two of the evolving Making Tax Digital (MTD) legislative changes and will continue to need expert advice from accountants ahead of the next phases in 2022 and 2023.

As we emerge from the pandemic, accountants will play a critical role in their clients’ economic bounce back. There’s a real opportunity for accountants too – to unlock their practice’s full potential by nurturing their clients’ growth. As with happy clients, business growth soars.

By taking these small steps and creating better efficiencies for clients, accountants can gain the headspace needed to grow their own firms.

Focus on the specifics

Accountants need to be efficient, accurate, compliant, and productive to best help their clients. This requires the right tools – enter cloud technology, this can become an accountant’s most powerful weapon. Not only can it drive efficiencies by reducing technical complexity, increasing agility and supporting flexible working, it can also improve accountants’ ability to rapidly respond to changing customer needs.

For example, a huge task for any practice is recording business purchase orders, invoices and expense receipts. Whether a sole trader or limited company with many employees, submitting and recording receipts is a time-consuming and arduous task. Leading many accountants to fall into the trap of becoming preoccupied with lower value actions.

One extremely effective tool to combat this is record digitalisation, stored in the cloud. This tool can streamline lengthy admin tasks like tracking client receipts, capturing photos and digitally processing receipts, invoices, purchase orders and bank statements. This frees up accountants’ schedules, enabling them to respond to impromptu client requests and deliver value-add services.

It also allows for valuable collaboration with colleagues that can benefit practice operations in the long run. By minimising the occurrence of incomplete records or lost receipts and invoices by ‘snapping’ all records as they arise, standards can remain high and expectations can be met on a continuous basis.

Cloud technology is also hugely beneficial in staying compliant with and managing MTD. Through harnessing a cloud approach, accountants can not only streamline services, but also act smart and respond flexibly to changing requirements as they happen. Freed from time-consuming admin-based tasks, accountants can focus on more value-add services like advisory, which will ultimately help them cross-sell services to existing clients and grow their business.

The key to unlocking potential

Happy clients equal happy business. So, for accountants looking to unlock their full potential, it’s essential they get this right.

Adopting cloud software can play a huge role in empowering accountants to work smarter, not harder. It gives them the headspace they need to meet their goals today and tomorrow and focus on what they love and do best – supporting clients. Only then can they grow with confidence and thrive moving into the next normal.

The post How can accountants unlock their practices’ full potential? appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.digital-accountants.com/?p=702

We Did it Guys, We Found the World’s Most Insufferable Accountant

Once again, r/linkedinlunatics comes through with the gold:

Either this guy is really, really serious about his job OR — and more likely — just really bad at figuring out how to get 16 hours of work done in 10.

If Reddit existed 20 years ago, the comment section on that post would likely be filled with similarly-minded weirdos who consider abandoning any hope of a personal life some kind of twisted badge of honor. Thankfully we live in current day where this kind of behavior is called out for what it is: lunacy.

This is not the flex you think it is, my guy. Go touch grass. Quick, before climate change turns it all to dust and sadness.

The post We Did it Guys, We Found the World’s Most Insufferable Accountant appeared first on Going Concern.

Making Tax Digital is less about tax and regulation than you may think

Evan Jones is Lead Technology Product Manager at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK

When we think of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, the obvious association is tax and regulation, but the reality is that MTD in any form is less about either of the above and more about how practices need to evolve as organisations, and how they might encourage their clients to begin to operate in a digital way.

When it comes to practices making as smooth a transition as possible for their clients, there may be a certain amount of expectation setting and education that make MTD for Income Tax a streamlined process rather than the burdensome task many practices fear. There is a real opportunity to transform customer interactions across the entire journey into a seamless, client-focused end-to-end digital experience.

Evolving as Digital Organisations

A shift in mindset to encompass digital working is needed among both practices and their clients as we edge towards the deadline for implementing MTD for Income Tax in April 2023. In their preparations, many practices have begun to explore technology solutions, and it’s often left to the tax department to assess these and lead the way.

However, the reality is that most of the job of MTD for Income Tax will not involve the tax department, and rather, will fall on the department already doing the bookkeeping or VAT. The fundamental principle in MTD for Income Tax is that the record keeping needs to be digital and recorded as close to real time as possible, but understandably, ‘Making Bookkeeping Digital’ probably doesn’t have quite the same impact!

In recognising the true nature of the requirements, what practices will no doubt soon realise is that MTD for Income Tax is less about regulation and tax, and more about preparing clients to work digitally as soon as possible. In fact, it’s also less about specific technology, and more about being comfortable with digital workflows and new ways of working, particularly when preparing clients to make the transition from annual bookkeeping, to quarterly bookkeeping.

Setting Expectations

Most practices have wanted their clients to use digital bookkeeping products for some time now and MTD for Income Tax and its quarterly reporting requirement may just be the catalyst they need.

The upside is that these practices will then be able to have sight of the client data they need, and to keep tabs on it throughout the year without the rigmarole of sending backups via email and ensuring clients don’t work on it at the same time.

However, the complexity is that these increased checkpoints have the potential to change relationships with clients around areas of responsibility and expectation. Just because an advisor has 24×7 access to a digital bookkeeping solution and a client’s data, doesn’t mean that there is a constant human audit service ready to flag when figures aren’t correct.

It’s important to prepare clients for this change in the relationship and set expectations by working with them more digitally now. This may help to address the fear than many practices have, which is that they will be experiencing a large extra burden that they are unable to charge for.

Making it Personal

As practices make the digital mindset shift, there’s often a fear that these new digital processes, including automation applied to what may have traditionally been manual, will affect advisor’s ability to provide a personal service to their clients.

However, if implemented correctly and appropriately, technology should inspire innovation and help practices to build stronger relationships. Sharing information digitally and having more transparency can often introduce more touchpoints, and the move to digital absolutely does not need to replace personal relationships.

Digital should actually enable practices and their clients to have more meaningful relationships, as the rather mundane necessity of constantly requesting information to be sent back and forth can be removed. Just having that data on tap will allow advisors to work more closely with their clients, and move beyond the administrative, operational tasks to dig down into what value add services they may be able to offer.

These are just a few of the mindset changes we’ll begin to see practices make with their clients as we begin the two-year countdown to MTD for Income Tax. While it may seem a daunting process, remember that it’s not the first regulatory hurdle that practices have had to overcome in the past, five, ten or even twenty years. Like all regulation, it’s a chance to adapt and to work smarter, and with the right approach to digital, practices may just find MTD for Income Tax is a new opportunity to have better, more meaningful and more profitable relationships with clients.

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting were the sponsor of the Accountex Spotlight Day on 12 August, which focussed on Making Tax Digital and featured 3 free webinars with members of the HMRC MTD team. All are available to watch on demand now.

The post Making Tax Digital is less about tax and regulation than you may think appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.digital-accountants.com/?p=692

British accountants crippled by raging talent war

Nearly half (49%) of UK accountancy firms are suffering huge blows to growth, amid the skills and salary war raging across the profession. The astounding figure was uncovered during research conducted by IRIS Software Group (IRIS), to understand more about the vital role accountancy professionals play in British business.

Professional services firms have been hit hard by labour shortages, with many forced to turn work away due to a lack of staff, according to KPMG. IRIS also found a third (32%) cite the current skill set of talent in their firm as a barrier to growth in the next 12 months.

A leading global software provider of accountancy solutions, IRIS surveyed British accountancy firms to uncover the state of the profession as demands on their time increase as they play a vital role in helping businesses get back on their feet and boost the economy.

Startlingly, nearly one in five firms don’t want to grow any fee-paying areas over the next 12 months. With 23% citing a lack of time and skill to market the business within the firm as the main reason why they aren’t looking to expand their business.

Jim Scott, MD for accountancy at IRIS comments on the findings, “While technology is vital to driving growth, it will never replace the insight and guidance an accountant can provide businesses. They are the forgotten heroes of the pandemic. Yet the number of firms being affected by the skills shortage is eye opening and this is only being exacerbated by the “Great Resignation”. It is truly an employee’s market. The industry must do more to support firms in listening intently and working with teams to create a culture with flexibility and hybrid working at its heart to attract and retain the best talent.”

The profession is gaining awareness of this fact – over half (55%) of accountants say managing work-life balance keeps them awake at night, and one in five say implementing flexible and hybrid working arrangements in their firm does the same.

Scott continues, “Firms need to empower teams with the best software to help them thrive wherever they choose to work. New starters, and even many who have been in the profession a while, expect consumer-like technology in the workplace and won’t think twice about leaving for a digital-first firm if technology and culture don’t meet their expectations. Firms must put this at the heart of their practice to win the talent war.”

The post British accountants crippled by raging talent war appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

A Pair of Senators are Trying to Get the Kiddos Hooked on Accounting in Grade School

Do you guys remember those after school specials of the 80s that made it seem like drug dealers hiding around every corner offering free drugs was going to be something one would have to be concerned about as we got older? I imagine I’m not the only one who was tremendously disappointed to find out there are no such drug dealers. Having to pay for our drugs aside, there was a lesson in there somewhere: the grown-ups were warning us to be cautious because kids are dumb and impressionable and people who want to take advantage of that will be lurking around every billboard and TV commercial.

Well, in the spirit of gettin’ em started when they’re young, a pair of senators have introduced a new bill that hopes to get kids hooked on accounting in grade school. Let’s check it out:

Today, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced their STEM Education in Accounting Act, bipartisan legislation that would designate accounting as a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subject, strengthening education and career pathways for the accounting profession and promoting diversity within the field.

The bill would amend the Every Student Succeeds Act to add accounting education programs as an allowable use of K-12 grant funding and promote high-quality accounting instruction for members of groups underrepresented in accounting careers. This bipartisan legislation comes at a time when the accounting profession, like many sectors of the economy, is struggling with a shortage of talent to fill available jobs. While the pandemic has exacerbated the problem in many sectors, the accounting profession has long faced such a shortage.

The Every Student Succeeds Act replaced the notorious No Child Left Behind law of the Bush era and was signed into law by President Obama in 2015. Here is a thorough read on what it means for K-12 public education in the United States should that be something you’re interested in learning more about on a quiet Monday before Christmas.

Including accounting in STEM education is a no-brainer according to Senator Collins because math. You know, the M in STEM. Also known as that thing most of you never do at work but whatever, let’s roll with it anyway.

“Mathematics is a critical skill that can help students unlock countless doors to high-paying, in-demand fields. One of those doors leads to the accounting profession whose work plays a key role in providing capital markets with confidence and assurance in financial reporting,” said Senator Collins. “Our bipartisan bill would designate accounting as a STEM subject. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in promoting accounting education, improving students’ finance skills, and strengthening the pipeline of future accountants, who play such a vital role in our financial system.”

High-paying you say? That’s about as believable as the lie about shady drug dealers passing out joints on the playground. But I digress…

You’ll note the accounting pipeline shout-out at the end there. Which leads us to this comment from the AICPA gleefully rubbing their hands together at the idea of exposing kids to accounting:

“For years, the AICPA has championed the inclusion of accounting in STEM programs and we are grateful to Senators Collins and Rosen for their leadership in recognizing the connection between accounting and technology,” said AICPA President & CEO Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA. “The technological skills CPAs learn help them make informed decisions, solve complex problems and enhance the delivery of services throughout the audit, finance and tax arenas. As the profession continues to evolve its services in areas like cybersecurity, information integrity and systems controls and its use of emerging technologies and techniques, such as blockchain and data analytics, the integration of this knowledge with quantitative reasoning skills enhances accountants’ value to their clients, to the profession and to the finance and tax industries. This bipartisan legislation is a recognition of the value the accounting profession provides and will help to diversify and expand the profession.”

Comments like these are exactly why the ‘Smithers Fetch Me the CGMAs’ meme exists.

As fun as it is to point and laugh at the AICPA’s desperation to stuff the pipeline with warm bodies, there’s nothing wrong with introducing kids to accounting when they’re young. Surely there are worse things to expose them to. Like… you know what, let’s not go there.

A similar bill was introduced in the House earlier this year. We’ll keep you posted on any developments. Personally I’m looking forward to the potential for T account coloring pages!

Further reading:
AICPA Supports STEM Education in Accounting Act [CPA Practice Advisor]

The post A Pair of Senators are Trying to Get the Kiddos Hooked on Accounting in Grade School appeared first on Going Concern.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.digital-accountants.com/?p=683

CCAB releases Economic Crime Manifesto calling for more measures to ‘maintain the UK’s resilience’

The Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB) publishes its manifesto today outlining what more must be done to build and maintain the UK’s resilience against economic crime.

The Manifesto calls for four clear areas for change including SARs (Suspicious Activity Reporting) reform and intelligence sharing, ongoing funding of the UK’s Economic Crime Plan, more action to eliminate modern day slavery from supply chains and the need for public education on fraud risk and personal finance.

Angela Foyle, Chair of the CCAB Economic Crime Panel says: ‘Our first economic crime manifesto was launched 5 years ago, and since then progress has been made in key areas, including proposed reforms to Companies House to introduce identity verification for company directors, and a raft of initiatives from the UK’s Economic Crime Plan. However, we remain mindful of the challenges, especially as Covid-19 and Brexit present complex scenarios that can be exploited.

‘Economic crime is damaging and widespread, and we believe that our manifesto

presents actions which the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments need to address. These are sensible reforms and actions to ensure the progress already achieved in the UK’s Economic Crime Plan with the aim of maintaining the UK’s resilience against economic criminal activity.’

Also commenting on the manifesto, Paul Henry, chair of CCAB and director of property consultancy Osborne King adds: ‘The leaking of the Pandora Papers is a timely reminder of the need to strengthen our AML defences. SARs reporting is clearly one important tool in the fight against money laundering but further reform is needed to make intelligence sharing more effective including a two-way intelligence sharing mechanism to enable law enforcement to share new and emerging intelligence with professional body supervisors. As we say in the manifesto, intelligence sharing between the accountancy profession and law enforcement is essential.’

CCAB’s Economic Crime Panel will send the manifesto to policymakers and government officials to highlight these areas of concern and to reinforce the vital role of the professional qualified accountancy profession in mitigating these economic crimes.

To find out more, download the CCAB Economic Crime Manifesto here.

The CCAB is comprised of five bodies – ICAEW, ACCA, ICAS, CIPFA and
Chartered Accountants Ireland. CCAB provides a forum for the bodies to work together collectively in the public interest on matters affecting the profession and the wider economy.

The post CCAB releases Economic Crime Manifesto calling for more measures to ‘maintain the UK’s resilience’ appeared first on Accounting Insight News.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.digital-accountants.com/?p=671