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MORRISONS SUED BY STAFF
A RUNAWAY SUCCESS
PQ reader Mitesh Dhimar is another step closer to his goal – running the world’s six big marathons. He ran London in 2012 and Berlin in 2014. This year it was New York, which he completed in a time of seven hours and 12 minutes while wearing a sumo outfit! Dhimar qualified as an ACCA this year, so is moving on to our sister magazine NQ. He runs for Soft Power Education, a charity based in Uganda, his father’s home country. Mitesh’s next stop will be Tokyo – if you want to support him go to JustGiving: www.justgiving.com/mitesh1986
One of the stranger stories this month was the news that several thousand Morrison employees plan to sue their supermarket chain bosses after their personal and financial details were leaked. It was, in fact, auditor Andrew Skelton who leaked the data of thousands of staff because of a grudge. He had been disciplined for sending personal eBay packages via the company mailroom, and as an act of revenge he had released the salaries, NI numbers, dates of birth and bank account details of staff. The data breach cost the company more than £2m to fix. That grudge saw Skelton eventually jailed for eight years in the summer. Morrisons denies it is responsible and says the legal action is fundamentally misconceived.
KEVI N ‘ROO-FUL’ AFTER AUSSIE DEFEAT CIMA’s information solutions manager, Kevin McCuaghan, had high hopes for the England rugby team in the World Cup. He made one fatal error – he bet new head of UK, Paul Turner, that they
would beat Australia in the group phase. Paul, who moved from head of CIMA Australasia to head CIMA UK in July, was happy to take the bet! And here we have the evidence of poor Kevin’s forfeit.
HERE COMES THE TAXMAN EP FOR MEGAN DALLAS CIOT’s president Chris Jones chose the perfect venue for his farewell reception, and the great and the good in tax turned out for the tour of Abbey Road Studios. For those not in the know, Abbey Road was the Beatles second home during the Sixties and Pink Floyd recorded Dark Side of the Moon there. So did we get a band singing ‘Taxman’ and ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’? Or even ‘Money’? Well, no – we had a trio of choral singers warbling the CIOT’s charter. Nice though.
W E ’V E
Basildon (that’s Essex) accountant Megan Dallas didn’t make it through boot camp on this year’s X Factor. However, that has not squashed her dream of spending less time behind a desk and more time behind a mike. She has just released a new five-track EP called Tattoo, and very sweet it is too.
NO CHEATING PLEASE Trainee analysts at leading investment bank JP Morgan were recently sacked for cheating in their accountancy training exam. Three UK analysts apparently flew to New York to take the test, and had to pay for their own flights home after being caught sharing answers and using notes.
GOT THE L OT
PERSUADE BY PERSUASION! Whether it’s asking for a pay rise, pitching to win a client, going to a job interview or asking a friend for a favour, you have to learn how people think, explains Philip Hesketh in his new book ‘Persuade: Using the seven drivers of motivation to master influence and persuasion’. Hesketh believes it’s possible to find out what’s going to get them to agree and so can you – we have three copies of his book to give away! Send your name and address to graham@pqaccountant.com – head up your email ‘Persuade giveaway’
A STUDENT’S GUIDE PQ magazine has teamed up with Kaplan Publishing and author Clare Finch to offer you three copies of ‘A Student’s Guide to International Financial Reporting Standards’. This is the third edition of Finch’s must-read tome. You really do need to get to grips with accounting standards to pass accountancy exams and this book is a breath of fresh air. Yes, we have found a readable book on accounting standards and want to give you a chance of winning a copy, worth £25! To be in with a chance of winning this great prize simply send your name and address to graham@pqaccountant.com, with ‘A student’s guide’ in the email heading
Terms and conditions: One entry per giveaway please. You must send your name and address to be entered for the draw. All giveaway entries must be received by Friday 11 December. The main draw will take place on Monday 14 December 2015
TO ENTER THESE GIVEAWAYS EMAIL GRAHAM@PQACCOUNTANT.COM 38
PQ Magazine December 2015