NEWS CFOs have an unprecedented opportunity, as core contributors, to adopt new technologies to drive business growth. However, if they don’t embrace this opportunity they risk losing competitiveness and remaining relevant amid a fast-moving digital landscape, says the ACCA in its report ‘Race for Relevance: Technology opportunities for the finance function’. The concern is that CFOs who fail to take advantage of the opportunities could be removed from the strategic decisionmaking process and marginalised at the leadership table. The report says CFOs need to consider the impact of key technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), the cloud, analytics, social media, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence on finance. Accountants are told they need to develop a roadmap that enables them to recognise the short-term benefits and the longer-term gains.
Don’t lose your relevance
The ACCA has even highlighted six imperatives for success: Align the strategy – understand the organisation’s wider goals and how finance, using technology can best support these ambitions. ● Build the business case – identify the business case for using specific tools and solutions. ● Appreciate the value of data – explore how CFOs can make better use of data analytics throughout finance and beyond. ● Managing the organisational impact of technological change – identify the organisational change required to embed new technologies successful. ● Focus on talent and skills – equip the organisation with the people and skills base needed to exploit the technology. ● Assess the impact of technology on governance and risk management – ensure investments are made with rigor and that the risks created by new technologies are properly monitored and controlled. ●
Accountant ordered to pay back £2.9m Management accountant Aquil Ahmed has been ordered to repay £2.9m within three months or face a further five years in jail. Along with co-conspirator Victor Shearer, Ahmed was found guilty in 2016 of defrauding HMRC of £6.9m in VAT, income tax, NICs and construction industry scheme deductions through fraudulent payroll schemes. Ahmed’s ‘Keepers’ accountancy businesses ran the payroll for Shearer’s company ‘Leaner Logistics Limited’. He admitted to conspiracy to cheat the public revenue in 2016 along with money laundering, and was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison. The pair now face selling their assets to pay back a total of £3.5m after confiscation hearings at Maidstone Crown Court. 4
KPMG in the spotlight over Carillion audit The collapse of Carillion has put its auditors of nearly 20 years, KPMG, firmly in the spotlight, with the accountancy watchdog the FRC launching an investigation into the firm’s audit of the construction and services giant. The worry for many commentators is that the outsourcing company liquidation comes only months after being given a clean bill of health. PQ magazine columnist Professor Prem Sikka told The Times newspaper: “The accounts for 2016 were signed off on March 1, 2017, yet by July the company was in serious trouble. “The auditor is supposed to satisfy itself that a company is a going concern. It must look at cashflow forecasts and what kind of margin of error is built in. It is very strange that within three to four months the chief executive walked and the forecast was erroneous.” In all, Carillion issued three profit warnings last year, the first in July. CEO Richard Howson resigned, and it hired EY to carry out a review of its finances. It has been reported that the company quadrupled its borrowing from 2010 to 2013 and ran up debts of £900m and a pension deficit of £600m. The liquidators are PwC.
‘Punishment taxes’ for tech giants? The global tech giants could face tax ‘punishments’ for failing to help the UK government deal with the threat of terrorism, says security minister Ben Wallace. The minster said ‘ruthless profiteers’ would no longer be tolerated. He went on to claim that too many of these internet firms are slow to remove radical content online, forcing the government to police the web at the cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. It has been suggested that such a tax could be similar to the bank levy imposed on banks by the conservative government in 1981, or the windfall tax imposed on the excess profits of privatised utilities put in place in 1997 by the Blair government.
New ICAS CEO unveiled
CA Bruce Cartwright, a former partner at PwC, has been appointed the new chief executive of ICAS. Bruce qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989 and spent the majority of his professional career in PwC’s restructuring team. He has also worked in Malaysia, Central Europe and Denmark. As CEO he said he would advance ICAS as a modern, leading and virtual professional body. He went on: “As a CA, ICAS is close to my heart. I intend to focus upon our partnerships within the global accountancy profession; grow the membership; and build on the strength of our communities wherever our members are in the world.” NQ Magazine March 2018