AAT - Student Magazine - Spring/Summer 18

TOOLS FOR STUDIES, WORK AND LIFE SPRING/SUMMER 2018 AAT.ORG.UK

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Debt-free lov ng t!

Apprenticeships are a win-win for employers and students.

So why aren’t teachers and parents getting on board?

Inside this issue

Your work and study questions answered Meet the mentor: accountant and millionaire CEO Paul Lindley Plus 11 more accounting essentials

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So why have we called this magazine 20?

MARK ROWLAND, EDITOR

AAT opens doors – you just have to step through NICKY FISHER, AAT PRESIDENT Before I started in insolvency, I worked with a lady who was pursuing her AAT qualifications. She didn’t have much confidence, and would never put herself forward for any sort of responsibility.

I encouraged her to get involved in AAT branch activities, as I knew it would be great for her.

She was delighted to have been asked to get involved in the branch, but would never have volunteered. A decade later, she was branch chair. Now she lives in France and runs her own business at a fishing lake. Without AAT, she wouldn’t have had the confidence to do that.

That shows how AAT can open doors. It can help you build confidence and resilience, and move into whatever area you want.

AAT created opportunities for me, and it’s helped many other people I know pursue their career goals and improve their lives as well.

Know that, whatever you plan to do with your life, AAT and accountancy can help you get there.

ASSOCIATION OF ACCOUNTING TECHNICIANS 140 Aldersgate Street, London EC1A 4HY UK: 0845 863 0800 Outside UK: +44 (0) 20 7397 3000 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7397 3009 Email: info@aat.org.uk

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Content Manager Dale Rolfe Content Editor Flaka Jasari Deputy Content Editor Florence Codjoe President Nicky Fisher FMAAT Vice-President Vernon Anderson FMAAT Chief Executive Mark Farrar A company limited by guarantee and registered as a charity (No. 1050724).

The Council of the AAT does not necessarily agree with, nor guarantee the accuracy of, statements made by contributors or advertisers, or accept responsibility for any statements that they may express in this publication.

Your new AAT student magazine, 20, is built around a concept: everything we write must contain a tool or lesson that will benefit you as you achieve your qualifications and move your accountancy career forward.

The title refers to the number of lessons you’ll find in each issue. Some will directly help you with either your studies or career goals. Others will teach you more about the accounting sector and the direction that it’s heading in, and the additional tools, skills and experience you’ll need to thrive in a rapidly changing world. We will summarise all of these lessons at the back of each issue.

AAT students will play a crucial role in determining the topics we cover: everything in our Q&A section addresses study and career questions from real students. You’ll also have the chance to interview high-profile accountants as part of our ‘Meet the mentor’ series.

So enjoy the very first issue of your new magazine.

We hope you learn a thing or 20.

20 © 2018.

Published on behalf of the Association of Accounting Technicians by: Think, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH T: +44 (0) 20 3771 7200 E: aat@thinkpublishing.co.uk Editor Mark Rowland Group art director Darren Endicott Chief sub-editor Charles Kloet Publisher Kieran Paul Advertising Michael Coulsey +44 (0) 20 3771 7232 michael.coulsey@thinkpublishing.co.uk Richard Ellacott +44 (0) 20 3771 7242 richard.ellacott@thinkpublishing.co.uk Printed by Wyndeham Southernprint, on UPM Ultra silk 70gsm, an FSC® paper certified as coming from well-managed forests.

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YOUR 20 TOOLS Q&A 1

What if I choose the wrong job?

Page 7 2

Should I ask my boss for study support?

Page 9 3

What are the best bookkeeping acronyms?

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10 Page

7

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4

Which accountancy firm is most fun?

Page 10 5

Do I need to speak to my employer about my health problems?

Page 13 6

How can I learn to love assessments?

Page 15 7

I’m great with numbers, but terrible at writing. Help?!

Page 17

18 Page

LONG READS 8

Can accountants change the world?

In today’s tech-driven landscape, accountants are more important than ever. Here’s how accountancy is shaping the way we live and work Page 18 9

Four ways tech is improving lives Technology fuels modern accounting, but it’s also driving social change. Here’s how Page 24 10

Apprenticeships: smashing stigmas Employers and students love apprenticeships.

So why don’t parents and teachers?

Page 30

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The career ladder is broken We need to redefine success, argues 20’s editor Page 38 12

Meet the mentor An AAT student meets an inspiring accountant Page 42

2.0: MODERN WORK 13

Will every accountant have a drone?

Big accounting firms seem to think so...

Page 51

42 Page

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Office etiquette: the tea round Making cups of tea is a minefield...

Page 53 15

Should you go freelance?

The gig economy can be lucrative Page 55 16

Will your next classroom be virtual?

Virtual reality is the next big thing for training Page 56 17

51 Page

58 Page

2020: Shane Lukas Technology may make your job more creative Page 57 18

Should you use your own phone for work?

Here’s what you need to know Page 58 19

To-do list The best events, and 20 lessons to take away Page 61 20

Needs an accountant How HMV and EMI came to grief Page 66

66 Page

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24/01/2018 13:59

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Q&A

CONTACT US Facebook: @youraat Email: info@aat.org.uk Twitter: @YourAAT

MOVIESTILLSDB

Facebook page without being paid.

“I knew it wouldn’t be a quick fix, but I needed to do it,” he says.

Choose wisely You may be working in finance and accountancy already, but thinking about where you can go with your new qualifications.

So how do you make sure you choose the right role?

It’s worth thinking about the career path you want to follow as you qualify. There are many paths open to people with accounting qualifications beyond the obvious roles in industry and practice.

Characters in sitcom The Office are dissatisfied in To name a few paths taken by their jobs – as are 47% former AAT students, you could of the UK workforce become FD of a brewing company, a partner of a firm that specialises in tattoo artists, the MD of a record label, or the head of HMRC. In other words, you can do pretty much anything you set your mind to.

The trick is to know what it is you want to do.

BY CHRISTIAN KOCH, SECTION EDITOR “If you’re looking for something different, take time to really understand it,” says Simon North, “I was running this group online Bleary-eyed and weary-legged, co-founder of career support and constantly helping other Phil Toomer arrived for another specialist Position Ignition. people,” he remembers. “People 12-hour shift at the same Yorkshire There are plenty of ways to kept asking ‘Are you a tutor?’, factory where he’d worked as a conduct research about a career path because I apparently had a way of print assistant for the past 18 years. explaining things. [Three years later] – some obvious (such as internet He wanted a new job, but he was research) and some less obvious (like I was offered a job.”

37 years old with few qualifications the advice we’ll share here). But, Toomer is now an AAT online and a family to support. As far as mainly, it’s about matching up your tutor, and he hasn’t looked back: Toomer could see, he’d be fixing the interests with your career priorities.

“I had a secure job where I’d been factory’s machines all the way to “Before you know it, you will have for years. To walk away from that retirement. Thankfully, he turned built a detailed map,” says North. was very scary. But now? I love out to be wrong.

If you’re the job I’ve got.”

Toomer signed up for an AAT passionate about For Toomer, it distance-learning course after “I HAD A SECURE charity work and was a long, hard researching his career options and JOB. TO WALK the roles meet your discovering accountancy best suited road to his current AWAY FROM THAT salary expectations, role; he spent his skills and interests. Eager to WAS VERY SCARY. for example, that non-work hours learn more, Toomer joined an AAT BUT NOW? I LOVE might be a good studying hard student Facebook page, eventually MY JOB” path for you. If and running the becoming group admin.

01

What if I choose the wrong job?

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Q&A

you’re thinking about specialising in media finance but doing so would require you to up sticks and move to London or Manchester, that might give you pause for thought.

It’s also worth reaching out to people who do the jobs you’re interested in and asking them some questions about their role. That will give you a realistic idea of what you should expect from that kind of work, the skills and experience you need, and potential next steps. You could also enquire about job-shadowing possibilities or temporary roles, such as maternity cover, as a way of gaining experience.

Or you could also take the plunge and join the 15% of the workforce who are currently self-employed.

“Thanks to digital technology, you can now set yourself up straight away,” says North. To provide self-employed accountancy or bookkeeping services, you will need to be licensed, however.

Another consideration is how much of a leap you actually

want to take: is it the job you want to change or the company you’re working for? You might want to take a different role at your current employer, or it may be that your employer is the problem, rather than the work you’re doing.

“Do some soul-searching,” says North. “Find out what’s ticking you off. Is it the work? The commute?

Your colleagues? Your boss? If it’s not the work itself, you might be able to do something about it without leaving.”

If it’s your line manager or commute that’s getting you down, you could always request a move to another department or office.

If it’s money, enquire about other salaries in your organisation and ask for a pay rise. Even if you do dislike your day-to-day tasks, it could be

WITH THE ‘JOB FOR LIFE’ SEEMINGLY DEAD, TOOMER URGES ANYBODY STUCK IN A JOB THEY DON’T LIKE TO TAKE A RISK AND FOLLOW THEIR DREAMS: “YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD”

Make your experience count Training for a new career can be expensive, but there are options if you’re worried about the cost. A government-subsidised professional and career development loan is available to help pay for courses and training (the amount you’re allowed to borrow ranges from £300 to £10,000). Once you start your new job, there’s every chance your salary could return to entry-level too. “[Low wages] are the reality,” says North. “But, if you are serious about the job, you’ll catch up over time. If you’re 22, you’ve still got four years’ experience on 18-yearolds, with some really good core skills.” To avoid starting on the bottom rung, remodel your CV by highlighting your transferable skills (perhaps in the front section, rather than in your career history).

worth staying put temporarily: fresh opportunities may open themselves up to you.

“If you work for a large organisation, you’re probably unaware of other jobs available in the company,” says North. “If you’re involved in something social, like a five-a-side football team, ask people who don’t work in your department about their role. You might find something you like.”

Follow your dreams With the ‘job for life’ seemingly extinct (today, the average person will change jobs five to seven times in their working life), Phil Toomer urges anybody stuck in a job they don’t like to take a risk and follow their dreams: “You’re never too old. Just go ahead and put yourself forward.”

Phil Toomer turned his career around, and so can you

TAKE IT FURTHER Watch our video about Toomer’s journey on AAT’s YouTube channel: bit.ly/Phil-Toomer

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Q&A

What are the best acronyms for remembering bookkeeping formulas?

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Should I ask my boss for study support?

BY DAVID WHITSON-BLACK, LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST, CAMPBELL DALLAS Should employees be fearful of asking their boss for study support? Definitely not. Most firms encourage it. If the qualification is going to make you better at your job and develop your skills, then who’s going to argue? Email to find out whether your boss is available, and then go and see them.

When somebody comes to me asking to do AAT qualifications, I expect them to have done research.

They need to know what the course entails, and how it will benefit them. Also, be prepared to answer questions: why do you want to do it?

We’d never automatically decline anyone. Someone would only have to argue for study support if there weren’t a clear benefit to their job and career progression, although some firms may have budgetary constraints. If you’re unable to approach your manager or they’re unwilling to consider training, don’t give up. Your firm might have workplace mentors or a personal development officer who can

offer advice and help you build a business case. Otherwise, try the HR department. If the benefits to the firm are clear, they will consider it.

We’ll talk about what the qualification is; how many classes need attending; what amount of time needs to be set aside; when to do the exams; and any support needed. We’ll make sure the employee is well equipped and has all the information they need.

The opportunities after getting qualifications are too big to miss out on. Your salary and career prospects will increase. If you’re dedicated and put in enough hard work, study can open many doors.

One final thing: be a little patient.

It can take a week or a bit longer, but generally no more than a few weeks, to hear back about being accepted to go on the course.

FIND OUT MORE Campbell Dallas (@CampbellDallas) is an AAT-accredited accountancy firm based in Scotland

If there’s one thing that trips people up when they first start learning about bookkeeping, it’s how you classify different business transactions and where you place them in a ledger. But there are a couple of simple acronyms that can help make remembering all that easier.

1. DEAD CLIC When inputting into any given ledger, it’s important to remember that Debits increase Expenses, Assets and Drawings, while Credits increase Liabilities, Income and Capital. In other words: DEAD CLIC. 2. PEARLS If you’re still unsure where different transactions live in the ledger, try to remember PEARLS: Debit Credit Purchases Revenue/ Expenses reserves Assets Liabilities Sales Keep both of these in mind when working on the books, and it’ll soon become second nature.

THANKS These acronyms were provided by self-proclaimed ‘acronym queen’ Julie Hodgskin FMAAT

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24/01/2018 13:59

Q&A

04

Which accountancy firm is most fun to work for?

“Work hard and play hard.” Is that really the secret to success? We asked four accountancy firms to explain why ping-pong tables and fancy dress encourage better team spirit, more collaboration and greater creativity.

1. The fancy-dress firm:

THE WOW COMPANY, HAMPSHIRE

When we started The Wow Company in 2004, we wanted to revolutionise the profession, as we thought accountancy practices needed to be more vibrant and deliver more. We also aimed to create a place where people wanted to come to work.

Fourteen years on, I believe we’ve achieved that.

If you look at our Facebook page, we’ve done all manner of stuff in

the office – crazy golf, movie nights, 1970s fancy dress. During Halloween week, two out of five days were fancy dress. At Christmas, everybody wears their pyjamas for an office sleepover, watching festive movies.

I’m proud of the team we’ve built.

The staff want to hang out with each other. You’ll find 60-year-olds and twenty-somethings eating together at lunch like a family, or hanging out at Southampton’s ‘escape rooms’ after work. Many staff belong to one of our clubs too; we’ve got walking, running, fitness and book clubs.

We spend so much time at work – why wouldn’t we want to spend it in a fun, fulfilling environment? For me, there’s no other way. I believe this is how business should be done.

Peter Czapp, co-founder and director

2. The freebie-focused firm:

CRUNCH, BRIGHTON

Living by the sea brings out the fun in people, and that permeates through Crunch too. Walk into our Brighton office and you’ll find loads of funky decor, with communal workspaces encouraging staff to get off their butt and walk around.

Most staff are under 30, and the benefits are awesome. Everybody gets a half-day holiday and a bottle of wine on their birthday, while we

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Q&A

3. The ‘Cooper Parrydise’:

PKF COOPER PARRY, DERBYSHIRE

PKF Cooper Parry is bullish about staff wellbeing

As soon as you walk into our office, you can tell it’s different.

Maybe it’s the running track (great for walking meetings).

Or maybe it’s the Segways and scooters. Or the trampolines.

We’ve renamed it ‘Cooper Parrydise’ – there’s a real sense of ‘hygge’ (the Danish word for a special feeling or moment) here.

Instead of strip lighting, there are hanging pendants and columns wrapped in knitted socks. It really energises you. Wellbeing is a massive part of who we are.

Neuroscience tells us you need to give your brain time to recover, which is why we have a 7pm to 7am email curfew and give staff unlimited holidays. Nobody takes advantage – we have to persuade people to take their statutory minimum leave.

Staff also get a day off on their birthdays. They get presents when they get married, and those having

a baby get a spa day before the little one arrives (animal lovers also get presents if they have new puppies, say). We have beauticians, hair stylists and masseurs visit the office too, so we don’t have to fit in those appointments outside of work.

Last summer, we took over a farm for a teepee-fest, while our wanderlust-themed Christmas gathering had a ‘moonshine saloon’, ice bar with polar bears and penguins, and Spanish tapas table.

We emphasise fun, but there’s a serious reason behind it. It helps us attract the right staff – we often get people leaving Big Four firms to join us. It also helps us keep staff, as they’re happy once they’re here.

We’ve seen increases in employee happiness and engagement, plus a reduction in employee absence.

It’s a no-brainer, really.

Rachel McCann, head of talent and engagement

4. The hipster start-up:

IHORIZON, LONDON

have a 15% discount at our local pub, even at weekends.

There’s a real ethos on wellness at Crunch, with massages, yoga classes and kick-boxing lessons.

We get free breakfasts, with staff coming in 15 minutes early to talk to each other. Then we have regular events such as summer parties in the park, wine-tasting and go-karting. But we work hard too!

We never set out to be cool. Most of our clients are in the start-up space around London’s Tech City, so the people we hire and the culture we’ve established lend themselves to that environment.

That’s why our office includes features such as tech-inspired graffiti, ping-pong tables and a fully stocked fridge (for Friday beers).

Music plays constantly on the Sonos system, while there are picnic tables in the office too, where staff have lunch together.

We have quarterly get-togethers at locations such as the New Forest, where we have company updates and drink too many beers. We also have the ‘Epical Award’, a monthly ceremony where we hand out prizes such as Amazon vouchers to staff who have been truly epic.

Our culture truly allows people to flourish and be the best they can be.

Ben Schaefer, sales team manager

Pratik Sampat, CEO

Funky decor reflects the fun spirit that Crunch aims to foster

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18/01/2018 14:02

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23/01/2018 14:11 14:17

Q&A

05

Do I need to speak to my employer about my health problems?

The expert response

BY GEMMA LUTHER, AAT STUDENT When it comes to health in the workplace, honesty is always best.

I suffer from supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), which causes increases in heart rate. It’s a birth defect, but I didn’t notice it until I collapsed at 19. My heart was beating at 234 beats a minute (the average is 60–100). I ended up having an operation and had to give up college and my weekend job. It was a pretty rubbish time in my life.

It was during one of my first jobs at a small family firm that my SVT flared up again. I collapsed at work and ended up in hospital, where I received a phone call. It was my boss, telling me I’d lost my job. He said that, because my role involved printing labels and

THE ‘HR PERSON’ TURNED OUT TO BE THE MOTHER OF THE PERSON WHO SACKED ME

taking them to the warehouse, it was physical and I wasn’t needed any more. Apparently, I wasn’t protected, because I’d only been there six months (see ‘The expert response’, right). I sent a letter and spoke to the ‘HR person’, but she turned out to be the mother of the person who sacked me.

For my next interview, I was open about my SVT. The company I currently work for couldn’t be more supportive. When I have hospital check-ups, I can take as much time as I need. When I collapsed due to a chest infection, my employer was able to explain my condition to the paramedics.

I’d always recommend being upfront about health problems.

If anything serious happens, your employer will know what to do.

Don’t risk your life.

ABOUT GEMMA Gemma, 24, is accounts assistant at Pound Gates

CONTACT US Facebook: @youraat Email: info@aat.org.uk Twitter: @YourAAT

BY SIAN HUGHES, PEOPLE VISION HR Gemma would have grounds for a claim of disability discrimination.

Before dismissing her, her employer should have found out more about her medical condition and explored whether adjustments could have been made to her duties to allow her to continue working – whether those labels could be printed elsewhere, say. Her employer would only have a defence to a claim of disability discrimination if they could show Gemma could not do her job and there were no adjustments to her job that could have helped her.

Employers aren’t allowed to ask about health-related matters until they’ve offered you a job. You shouldn’t be asked to complete a medical questionnaire as part of an interview or application either. But employers will normally ask you to complete a health questionnaire once you’ve accepted a job. You should then disclose any health conditions. If you don’t, you can’t criticise your employer for not supporting you if anything goes wrong. Plus, you could be accused of filling in the form fraudulently.

Depending on your condition, HR may speak to you about any support that could be given, such as counselling. They may also seek consent to speak to your doctor or occupational health adviser, and may talk to you about letting a first aider know. If you’ve got a nut allergy, say, staff should be warned not to leave products containing nuts on tables.

Companies can’t do this without your permission, because it’s a breach of privacy.

FIND OUT MORE Visit pvhr.com (@PeopleVisionHR) 13

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18/01/2018 14:02

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Q&A

06

How can I stop worrying and learn to love assessments?

THE AAT TUTOR Don’t cram during the month before the assessment The synoptics are at the end of each qualification but, if you leave revision until the end, you’ll be scuppered. Revise as you go along instead.

Engage with the material as you learn, week by week You need more than six hours of course materials a week. Get into the habit of spending six hours studying in addition to that.

Revise the things you don’t like We tend to do what we feel comfortable with. Instead, seek out what you don’t like doing.

Among the best things students can use to revise are the examiners’ reports, which are available on aat.org.uk. These focus on what students struggle with, plus common pitfalls.

There is no best way to revise I handwrite revision notes and sticky notes, but I know students who watch YouTube videos, have mind maps stuck on walls, and record notes and listen to them while commuting. Do what works for you.

Gill Myers has taught the AAT accounting qualifications since 2004

THE MEMORY EXPERT Visual, audio or experience?

We learn in one of three ways – seeing, hearing or experiencing.

I need to picture and visualise things to understand them, so I write notes in different colours or try to see if equations resemble funny characters. If your modality is hearing, try making a little song or sound based on the formula.

It’s much better than repeating the formula. Why? Because you’re thinking about it.

Play at being teacher As the synoptic nears, get into groups of three or four and take turns to ‘teach’. You learn so much by teaching, as you’re conversing and talking about the subject.

Don’t forget to sleep The brain processes information overnight, so get a good night’s sleep. If you pull an all-nighter before an assessment, you won’t give your brain a chance to integrate the information. This creates the physiology of fight or flight, which shuts down part of the memory and creates assessment stress.

Michael Tipper has written numerous books on memory. Check out michaeltipper. com or tweet him @MichaelTipper

THE STRESS COACH Banish negative thoughts As assessments near, many students think they’re going to screw up. If you have these thoughts, challenge them. Think: what evidence do I have for this? And: is this thinking really helpful? You’ll soon find there’s little evidence to support such thoughts. Try replacing them by repeating positive, helpful statements, like ‘I know I’ve studied really hard’.

IF YOU PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER BEFORE AN ASSESSMENT, YOU WON’T GIVE YOUR BRAIN A CHANCE TO INTEGRATE THE INFORMATION Use your cranium’s crystal ball Visualisation is a really helpful technique. Imagine yourself being confident during and after the assessment, and also receiving your results. Engage all your senses.

What noises will you hear when getting the results? What will you be smelling or wearing? Make it as vivid as possible.

Deep breaths If you’re feeling stressed before the assessment, try a mindfulness breathing exercise. Take a deep breath in, saying to yourself ‘This is my in breath’, and then ‘This is my out breath’ on the way out. Repeat for up to 20 minutes, and it will slow your breathing down and lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

Sarah Connell runs mindingme.co.uk

We’re all different, so find a way of revising that works for you

CONTACT US Facebook: @youraat Email: info@aat.org.uk Twitter: @YourAAT

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How to revise for the synoptic assessments Adam Ruston-Shaw, AVADO AAT tutor

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Synoptic assessments are sat towards the end of each qualification and are taken at specific times of the year, so you need to ensure you’re ready for them. They contribute the most to your grade for the entire qualification, so it’s crucial to get them right.

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of examination: ensure you start your revision with plenty of time to prepare (at least four weeks before the assessment date); revise in small chunks (approximately 45 minutes to an hour each session); take short breaks in between; and revise in a suitable environment, with minimal distractions.

When it comes to the synoptic assessments, these specific pointers should help you get on the right track: 1. Ensure you are competent in the unit assessments. Review elements of these prior to your revision for the synoptic. Don’t be afraid to go back and ask your tutor if there’s anything you didn’t quite follow the first time around.

2. Practise sample papers to familiarise yourself with the style and types of questions that will come up. Complete mock assessments and get as much feedback as you can on where to improve.

3. Remember: the assessments are not just about completing calculations. It is essential you understand the principles and analyse the scenario appropriately. You will need to bring in elements from different units and apply them, just like in the real world.

4. Go through the assessment criteria and learning objectives. Ensure you have adequate knowledge and understanding of each one. Focus on areas you are not completely confident in so that they don’t trip you up on the day.

At AVADO, we have our own dedicated synoptic area that focuses purely on this assessment, providing you with all the resources you need to succeed. So make sure you give yourself the best chance in your synoptic assessments by preparing in the right way, giving you the confidence on the day to relax and do your best.

19/01/2018 09:56

Q&A

07

I’m great with numbers, but terrible at writing. Help?!

PROFESSIONAL WRITING CAN BE TRICKY TO MASTER. AAT TUTORS GILL MYERS AND CATH LITTLER BREAK DOWN THE RULES OF GOOD WRITING

Accountancy isn’t just about punching in numbers; you’ve got to explain complicated concepts, such as accruals, or why profit isn’t the same as cash. As with all technical subjects, this can be intimidating to the nonaccountants whom you deal with on a daily basis. Especially when dealing with time-poor individuals, you need to be able to get to the point quickly and clearly when it comes to your writing.

These are the nine points to follow to master good writing.

Some are our own, but the last five come from George Orwell, the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. His writing rules may date back to 1946, but they still ring true today, no matter what you’re writing.

putting together your final report.

This allows you to constantly edit and rewrite. It really helps with spelling and grammar too.

4. Mention the obvious Assume your reader doesn’t know anything. Write clearly so that anybody can understand you.

3. Speak as you write Read your words in your head and imagine saying them out loud.

5. Avoid clichés Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech that you are

NO MATTER WHAT YOUR WRITING ABILITY, THE TRUTH IS THAT, AS WITH ANY SKILL, YOU’LL GET BETTER THE MORE YOU DO IT used to seeing in print. They clutter up your writing, and are overused to the point of being boring.

6. Keep it snappy Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out, always do so.

7. Keep it ‘active’ Never use the passive voice where you can use the active – so ‘he beat’ (active) rather than ‘he was beaten’ (passive). This will make your writing clearer.

IKON IMAGES

1. Practise, practise, practise You may or may not be intimidated when it comes to report-writing but, no matter what your writing ability, the truth is that, as with any skill, you’ll get better the more you do it.

Make time to write, and review your work to see how you might be able to improve it.

8. Ditch the jargon Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or jargon if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

2. Make a draft Use Word (or whichever software you have) to write a draft before

Writing for synoptics In the synoptics, you’ll be writing reports and emails.

While you won’t be penalised for spelling or grammatical errors, examiners need to

understand what you’re saying.

Read through what you’ve written before clicking ‘finish’ and try to structure your answers as follows:

point, evidence, example and then explanation.

Remember: the examiner isn’t after reams of words. They want something easy to read and coherent.

9. Break the rules Orwell said: “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.” What he meant is that no rules are hard and fast in writing. Ignore the rules if doing so makes what you’re writing easier for the reader to understand.

ABOUT THE TUTORS Gill Myers and Cath Littler have taught the AAT accounting qualifications since 2004 17

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08

THE MOST

IMPORTANT

JOB IN THE

WORLD Accountancy is no longer just about spreadsheets and compliance – it’s also about business strategy, community impacts, joined-up thinking and economic stability. Here, four accountants explain how they’re making a difference in 2018 Words: Annie Makoff-Clark Illustration: Neil Stevens 18

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The accountant’s world is changing.

Accountants have evolved into business advisers and motivators – and sometimes even career coaches and cheerleaders.

Yet, more than that, accountants are inspiring businesses to do things differently.

They aren’t just improving lives for individuals and their families. They’re helping businesses move towards a sustainable, ethical approach. And more efficient, innovative processes mean that accountants now have more opportunities than ever before to make a difference to the world.

Public speaker, strategist and chartered accountant Steve Pipe is certainly passionate about the difference accountants can make to people’s lives. “Accountants are capable of

changing clients’ lives and the lives of everyone their business touches,” he says. “Our skills as accountants can help clients get better data and better data analysis, and help them make better business decisions. Collectively, accountants help create a better world through the economic success of their clients. They’re using their core skills with numbers to help businesses, one decision at a time, one life at a time, one pound at a time.”

Inspired by the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (agreed in September 2015 to help end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all), Pipe has created a new initiative for accountants and their clients.

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MORE EFFICIENT, INNOVATIVE PROCESSES MEAN ACCOUNTANTS NOW HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES THAN EVER BEFORE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE WORLD The free Get and Give a Million app helps clients reach a turnover of £1m using practice management resources and advice, while encouraging them to give back, either through charity donations or work with local communities. It links with the UN’s sustainable development goals to provide accountants with a list of initiatives that they can engage with.

For Pipe, there’s a strong business case for being socially responsible. Research carried out by global market insight company Nielsen showed that 66% of consumers would pay more for products and services from companies that were making positive social and environmental impacts. More recently, US-based Cone Communications revealed that 76% of consumers would boycott a product or service that didn’t reflect their values.

The millennial effect Research shows it’s millennials who are driving this trend. As a generation, they are hyper-aware of social and ethical issues, and actively seek to work with, and buy from, companies that share their values.

In the Nielsen study, 72% of millennials globally said they were willing to pay more for products from ethical companies; another Cone Communications study revealed that nine in ten millennials would switch brands for a more ethical one.

“Accountants are starting to recognise the importance of all this,” says Pipe.

“The Big Four have already made a massive commitment to the UN global goals and they’re big on corporate social responsibility [CSR]. But the new trend is that now smaller accounting firms are recognising this as well. The future of your practice will depend on whether your values and ethics resonate with millennials and subsequent generations. They are your future customers, team leaders and members, so you need to get it right.”

To find out more about the main trends that are driving the industry to make a positive difference, we spoke to four accountants with very different approaches.

INTEGRATED REPORTING: CARING CAPITALISM Veronica Poole, global IFRS leader and UK national head of accounting and corporate reporting at Deloitte Integrated reporting [IR] has gained a lot of traction in recent years, although it is not yet mandatory in the UK. It’s about joined-up thinking, responsible business behaviours, innovation and telling it like it is.

It recognises that a business relies not just on financial and manufactured capital, but also on broader resources, such as human capital – its employees.

An integrated report brings together data about an organisation’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects across the whole commercial context, as well as social and environmental aspects. Integrated thinking, where all areas of the business talk to each

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OUTSOURCED ACCOUNTING: FULL FINANCE TEAMS FOR ANY BUSINESS Garry Mumford, founder of Insight Associates

other, rather than operating in silos, is key here. IR encourages organisations to think about how all their resources are creating value. It also takes into account intangibles that offer value, but are not traditionally measured – brand value and intellectual property, say.

IR fosters a move away from short-term behaviour and a blinkered focus on financial capital to a long-term consideration for broader value creation. IR, therefore, aids businesses in rebuilding trust with the market while delivering a host of benefits to the organisation itself. It’s more than just cold, hard numbers – it’s about the impacts that a business is having on the world. It’s a clear, positive message to stakeholders.

CSR lies at the heart of integrated reporting. But companies that just bolt a CSR report onto their annual report may not be considering how broader social and environmental factors are embedded in their overall strategy. They’re missing the integrated-thinking part.

We have worked with the International Integrated Reporting Council and are encouraging clients to adopt IR. We’ve published a book on the subject, and offer a number of resources to clients. It’s early days, but businesses are starting to wake up to the fact that non-financial capital does, ultimately, affect financial success.

We provide an outsourced finance function – a freelance FD and a finance team who will assist with both the bigpicture and day-to-day workings of a business from a financial perspective.

In the past, outsourcing was seen as a way of saving money. Attitudes have changed. People now realise it’s more about harnessing skillsets that wouldn’t otherwise be available. Outsourcing finance functions means businesses can tap into several people’s time and experience, rather than having to permanently employ one or two people and expect them to be a jack of all trades.

Smaller corporates may need a fully fledged accountant but not be able to afford one full-time. They may employ a bookkeeper, but can’t afford an accountant. Bookkeepers alone provide a valuable service to companies, but you need a full finance team to really grow and develop. What we’re offering are tried and tested systems and strategies that are highly regulated and good value for money.

It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning: I make a big difference to the businesses I work with. We are very much a part of each business.

We really get to know them and their processes, and we’re with them in their offices on a regular basis. It’s worlds apart from the accountant who visits once or twice a year and just prepares the accounts.

In fact, we’re very proactive in our approach. We help our clients budget properly, plan for their financial future, and do a deep analysis of the company’s financial position and prospects. We also provide the day-to-day accounting and bookkeeping work, so clients needn’t worry about that either.

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‘GROWTH ACCOUNTING’: IF YOU’RE WORKING IN PRACTICE, YOU HAVE TO BE MORE STRATEGIC Alex Falcon Huerta, CEO at Soaring Falcon Accountancy

CHARITY: IF FIRMS WANT THE BEST TALENT, THEY MUST GIVE BACK Mike Lloyd, managing partner at Haines Watts Small businesses are at the heart of our economy – there’s no doubt about it. But operating in your own little bubble is becoming less attractive to potential employees, who, research shows, want to be part of a company that gives something back.

As an audit, accountancy and advisory specialist for charities and the not-for-profit sector, our extra work with the charitable sector is proof that we genuinely care. We do a lot of charity work because we care about doing good, but, in this day and age, it’s also good business sense – it appeals to potential clients and employees alike.

If an employer cares about their local community, they are more likely to care about their employees. And, if an employer sees themselves as part of their community, that will make them more attractive to candidates. It creates a caring office culture and brings visibility and PR opportunities, which can lead to more business.

This year, we’ve raised money for Prospect, a hospice that cares for people with life-limiting and chronic conditions. We also fundraise for Macmillan Cancer Support, and we’re currently accepting donations for the local food bank.

The truth is that raising money for charity, however little, shows you’re a company that’s aware of the world you’re operating in. A business is always part of a community. Embracing that builds strong and lasting relationships, and draws people to you.

When we set up Soaring Falcon Accountancy in 2015, we wanted to use the cloud to automate back-office functions, such as data entry, filing and admin It’s helped us to focus on finding clients who want to grow their business, and to work with them strategically to put a sensible growth plan in place. If they grow, we can grow.

Our entire remit is around business efficiency and growth. Traditional firms can spend hours processing invoices or working on compliance issues, which are necessary but don’t really add value. Technology has let us become streamlined and automated, so we can focus instead on helping clients grow.

It also enables us to take on clients globally; we’re not limited by location. With the cloud and tools such as Skype, we can deliver the same level of service to everyone.

The world has become a small place. The possibilities are endless. If you can support just five global businesses to grow, they can support their local communities or other, smaller businesses. There’s a snowball effect.

As part of our strategic approach, we do a lot around business recognition to inspire and motivate. We recently hosted a client awards night to recognise business excellence.

We’re also running workshops in schools to challenge the stereotype that accountancy is boring and to encourage more people to consider it as a career option. This has been my biggest motivation; we need to educate a new generation in new ways of accounting.

We need people to finish school and be job-ready. That’s not just important for the accountancy profession, but for future generations across all sectors.

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That the world is unequal brooks no argument. According to a report from Oxfam last year, announced at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, a handful of men rule the world.

The report says that the world’s richest eight people possess the same wealth as the poorest 50%.

The Davos event also saw the launch of the WEF’s annual global risks report. It found that wealth inequality and the continuing polarisation of society were ranked first and third respectively in the trends that will affect our world over the next ten years. Surely it’s time to redress the balance?

Futurists (usually with a vested interest) claim that we will be saved by technology. Others are not so sure.

Author Yuval Noah Harari says in his book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow that humanity is at a crossroads, a vital junction where we may have the ability to end death and become gods ourselves.

Technology is going to benefit the few, he argues, and we may even create a world in which superhumans and humans coexist, rather like Homo sapiens and Neanderthals did thousands of years ago.

But not everyone shares such a pessimistic view. Technology is also doing considerable good. Here are four examples from around the world that show technology being used as a force for positive change.

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4 WAYS TECH IS MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE Technology, like accountancy, offers huge potential to take on the world’s numerous inequalities – as these inspiring stories show Words: Monty Munford 24

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AFRICA

GETTY IMAGES

MOBILE AND BIG DATA ARE EXTENDING LIVES

Mobile money platform M-Pesa launched in Nairobi, Kenya, a decade ago, as a seemingly innocuous pilot scheme to help people without bank accounts move money through technology. According to the Global Findex Database, 66% of sub-Saharan Africans do not have a bank account, freezing them out of financial services.

Today, M-Pesa services 19 million unique users per month and a staggering 43% of Kenya’s GDP flows across its platform. Kenya is also one of the most ‘banked’ countries in Africa: 75% of adults have a bank account.

M-Pesa has unleashed the potential of millions of people who were previously hamstrung by centralised systems.

Infamously described as “the dark continent” by The Economist ten years ago, even that publication has had to backtrack. The innovation being shown by entrepreneurs across Africa, notably across sub-Saharan Africa, has been nothing short of miraculous.

The mobile phone has been the technology that has raised living standards and even life expectancy (up by an amazing eight years since 2007). It has opened up opportunities to create more cost-effective tools for healthcare, education and entrepreneurship.

Advances in health innovations are not just down to the proliferation of mobile phone apps, however.

In Rwanda, Zipline is an extraordinary company that is using lightweight drones to deliver emergency blood and medicine around the country’s capital, Kigali. It has delivered more than 2,400 blood units since the project’s inception in October 2016.

In Uganda, to the north-east, one of the most important health products is a jacket for children that helps to diagnose pneumonia, which is frequently misdiagnosed as malaria.

MamaOpe measures lung power, heart rate and body temperature. It stretches across the whole chest and flanks of a patient. The jacket is connected to a mobile device via Bluetooth and sends the medical data directly to an off-site health worker, who can diagnose whether a patient has pneumonia or malaria.

More established companies, such as IBM and Philips, are also doing vital work, via data and health centres respectively. The result is a virtuous circle of investment, global media exposure, entrepreneur entry, and innovation.

The next decade will surely belong to Africa. Nowhere else on the planet is technology making such an incredible impact, transforming and lengthening lives.

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Boston is using technology to tackle income inequality

NORTH AMERICA

GETTY IMAGES

TECH IS BRIDGING THE RACE GAP On the other side of the world, in North America, tech innovators are trying to tackle income inequality. Boston is one of many so-called smart cities in the US that are using technology to address this divide.

The city has just announced an Economic Mobility Lab, established in the Mayor’s Office, to focus on bringing income equality closer. According to a 2016 study of 100 US cities, Boston was the most unequal. The top 5% of the population earned 18 times more than the bottom 20%.

Around 20% of Boston’s population live in poverty – something that hasn’t changed for decades. Perhaps unsurprisingly, income inequality occurs along a racial divide between white and black people.

The Economic Mobility Lab will work with all city departments to collect rich demographic data on all of Boston’s citizens.

This will then allow it to examine the impacts of institutionalised racism and what city policies can do to change them.

According to a recent study by Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies, in 2020 white households will own 86 times more wealth than black households, and 68 times more wealth than Latino households.

Average black and Latino households will lose nearly 18% and 12% of the wealth they held in 2013, while average white household wealth will rise by 3%.

Such ongoing inequality is already creating severe societal problems, in the face of which Boston’s Economic Mobility Lab may be a drop in the ocean.

But, at the local level, smart cities, by collecting, analysing and interpreting data, can make a difference. Perhaps this data-led approach can be applied to the whole country in time.

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EUROPE

TECH LIFELINES IN THE REFUGEE CRISIS

TECHFUGEES WAS SET UP IN A BID TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS THAT THE MASS MIGRATION OF IMPOVERISHED PEOPLE ENTAILS

Europe has been straining under a huge refugee crisis that has underscored massive economic inequality across the continent and created a social divide.

Techfugees was set up in London in 2015 to bring together people from the tech ecosystem in a bid to solve the problems that the mass migration of impoverished people entails.

Various workers in the technology industry formed a voluntary team to create a series of non-profit conferences and hackathons, and work with a global network of collaborators.

Most solutions have involved the development of apps, such as NativeNet, which offers basic Greek lessons, information resources in several languages and the opportunity to advertise skills and experience to potential employers.

These initiatives have helped solve communication issues, open up job markets and provide relevant legal information that helps refugees gain employment and find a way out of the camps.

Other projects, such as the Refugee Info Bus, are bringing internet access to refugee camps so that people have access to vital communication tools, helping them to find and catch up with loved ones, and giving them a vital connection with the world outside the camps.

Today, there are more than 15,000 members of the organisation, proving that it is not only technology that can overcome income inequality, but also the people who work in the technology industry themselves.

In October last year, the Techfugees Summit 2017 event in Paris brought together more than 500 participants from 37 countries, of whom one in five were refugees themselves.

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24/01/2018 15:53 11:06 14/12/2017

SOUTH AMERICA

A TECH-LED EXIT FROM FAVELAS

Rodrigo Baggio is improving local children’s technological literacy

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the juxtaposition of glamorous beaches, such as Copacabana, and the claustrophobic conditions in the city’s favelas provides a stark illustration of the divide between rich and poor. Brazil may be the ninth-biggest global economy, but its economic inequality is among the highest in the world.

One social entrepreneur, however, has been using technology in an attempt to bridge this gap. Rodrigo Baggio was raised in one of Rio’s privileged families, based closer to the beach than the favelas.

A self-confessed geek, in 1995 he left his business career to set up the Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI) and use his knowledge of computers for the greater social good.

CDI works with local community groups to improve the technological literacy of

people in favelas. Instructors are brought in from the local community and receive training from CDI in how to teach the basics of software, arming people with the skills to do things for themselves.

The CDI courses typically involve two several-hour sessions per week over a three-month period. The students, usually in their teens or early twenties, learn skills involving word processing, accounting programs, spreadsheets and computer graphics.

There are now 820 CDI-affiliated computer centres and more than 6,500 cybercafés that serve 1.3 million low-income people across Brazil and 13 other countries.

By 2014, CDI had helped 1.58 million people get into work.

GETTY IMAGES

INSTRUCTORS ARE BROUGHT IN FROM THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AND RECEIVE TRAINING FROM CDI IN HOW TO TEACH THE BASICS OF SOFTWARE

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UNIVERSITY I THE ONLY JUST ONE OPTION Apprenticeships are a win-win for both talent-hungry businesses and ambitious students. So why are they stigmatised by teachers and parents?

10

WORDS: NIC PATON PHOTOS: ROB WHITROW AND LOUISE HAYWOOD-SCHIEFER

In theory, UK employers should have no trouble when it comes to changing the perception that apprenticeships are second-best to the ‘gold standard’ of a university degree.

The UK Trailblazer apprenticeship programme (which has allowed employers to develop bespoke schemes and standards) and the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy have given employers, especially those with a pay bill of more than £3m, a clear incentive to offer and promote attractive apprenticeship schemes.

At the same time, with university tuition fees in England now £9,250 a year and interest rates controversially set at 6.1%, more and more young people are questioning whether the value of a degree outweighs the cost. Indeed, in August 2017, Labour MP Frank Field went so far as to argue that young people have been “mis-sold” the benefits of university and should consider apprenticeships instead.

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Y IS “I DIDN’T WANT TO DO ANOTHER THREE YEARS OF JUST STUDYING, SITTING IN LECTURE HALLS. FOR ME, THE ATTRACTION OF AN APPRENTICESHIP WAS THE FACT THAT YOU WERE LEARNING BUT ALSO WORKING”

GEMMA FOSBROOK CHOSE AN APPRENTICESHIP OVER UNIVERSITY – AND HAS NEVER LOOKED BACK

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But there is still a disconnect between the benefits of apprenticeships and perceptions of them among schools and parents.

“There is quite a high-profile narrative about going to university and debt. As a result, people are thinking about whether university is right for them,” says Fiona Aldridge, assistant director of research and development at the Learning and Work Institute. “But changes around perception will often be a bit behind the curve. School destination data, say, is still based on going to university, rather than doing an apprenticeship. Most often in schools it will be teachers who are advising pupils, who are themselves likely to have gone to university.”

School performance is also, in part, based on success rates in GCSEs and A Levels. These can affect schools’ funding and the talent they attract (be it teachers or students). As a result of legacy and government policy, schools are naturally geared towards promoting university, as opposed to BTECs or apprenticeships.

If schools are one barrier, parental preconceptions are another. AAT research found that almost twothirds (63%) of UK parents do not understand what apprenticeships are, and a third think they are for less academically gifted students. But, especially against the backdrop of the fees debate, is this now changing?

A change is gonna come “I think there’s been significant change in the past few years, but there is still some way to go. Certainly, we have no shortage of applicants for our apprenticeship programmes,” argues Ben Jackson, head of early years talent at Deloitte. “But we did some internal research recently around parental attitudes, and what was interesting was the lack of any really deep understanding of the opportunities apprenticeships now offer. That is one of the biggest hurdles to clear – the perception that apprenticeships are for blue-collar, lower-paid roles.”

“The challenge is always how we, as just one employer, can get out there to speak to people,” says Rob Gill, graduate, undergraduate and apprentice recruitment manager at Jaguar Land Rover. “Parents, teachers and peers are the three key influencers in these decisions, but there is no formal mechanism by which we can speak to parents, even though we work with a lot of schools.”

In November, AAT published a white paper, How Businesses Can Engage More With Apprenticeship Schemes, that sets out five core ways that businesses can make apprenticeships more attractive to school-leavers, parents and other employers. The most relevant points for parents and teachers are redevelopment of careers advice in schools, which hasn’t evolved with the working world, and the creation of online hubs that give detailed information on apprenticeships and what they entail.

Among the biggest advocates of apprenticeships are the students themselves, who often battle teachers and parents’ preconceptions before they head down the vocational path. We spoke to three apprentices about their journey down the ‘alternative’ route.

Becca Fay

Rather than going to university after her A Levels, Becca Fay, 22, did an apprenticeship at a property investment firm, studying the AAT Foundation Certificate in Accounting and Advanced Diploma in Accounting. In 2016, she moved to Lincoln accountancy practice Streets Chartered Accountants, where she completed her Professional Diploma in Accounting. She is now working towards becoming chartered with ACCA. “There was definitely an expectation at my school that, if you were doing A Levels, you would just go on to university,” she says. “My school did not give out much information at all around apprenticeships or alternatives to university, or offer that much support.

“To an extent, my parents probably had that attitude too, especially as my brother had already gone. But I knew quite early on that I wasn’t interested in university.”

When Becca sat down and told her parents she wasn’t going to university, they were concerned. “Like all parents, they had high hopes for me, and so their main worry was that I’d end up in some dead-end job,” she recalls.

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“I HAVE NO REGRETS. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE DONE A LEVELS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO GO ON TO UNIVERSITY”

“I don’t ever recall apprenticeships being highlighted during Becca’s school years,” says her mum, Pearl. “She’d always said she didn’t want to go to university, but at the back of my mind I did think this might change. At the same time, there is no point in trying to push a child into something they don’t want to do.”

Pearl had always thought of apprenticeships as being only for manual workers, such as electricians. She wasn’t aware of the variety of schemes available: “I suppose I should have known better but, if you’re not told otherwise, how could you know?”

“When Becca showed me the apprenticeship on the college website, I immediately saw it as a great opportunity,” says Pearl. “It’s definitely been the right thing for her.”

Once Becca’s parents realised her mind was made up, they got behind her. “There was no argument about it,” Becca explains. “I have no regrets. Just because you have done A Levels does not mean you have to go on to university.”

Becca particularly loved the fact that she could apply her skills practically on a daily basis: “I was able to almost immediately implement the skills I’d learned in my day-to-day role in the workplace. And I was earning while learning.”

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Shaun McSorley After A Levels, Shaun McSorley, 23, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, did a manufacturing apprenticeship with car firm Aston Martin, rather than go to university. He completed his training in July 2016 and has now joined his father’s business, working as a general manager with travel firm Travel Options.

“Going to university was something my school actively encouraged and measured, so it was just presumed that that was what people did,” he says. “I wanted to do mechanical engineering and went through UCAS, with my top choice being Liverpool, followed by Oxford Brookes.”

During his A Levels, Shaun went on a Headstart course at Warwick University, which allows students to experience being at university for a week. One of the days involved a visit to the Aston Martin factory: “I found it incredible – really inspiring.”

Shaun didn’t get a place at Liverpool, but got into Oxford Brookes. Still, he couldn’t quite shake the experience at Aston Martin.

So he decided to skip university and go for an apprenticeship at the company.

“When I told my parents that I was applying for Aston Martin’s apprenticeship programme, as well as university, the main question was ‘Why?’” he says. “No one had really talked about apprenticeships before, and there was this preconception that it was something for ‘trades’. But it was really just a question of their getting their heads around it as an idea.”

“When Shaun said he was thinking of an apprenticeship, we were worried he was going

to miss out,” says his mum, Judy. “But, when he didn’t get the place at Liverpool, his gut was just telling him that Oxford Brookes, while a good university, was not for him.”

Shaun got his conditional offers and was weighing up his options while on holiday in Majorca when Aston Martin called him and offered him an interview. He had to cut his holiday short. “It did show my parents how serious I was about it,” he says.

Judy confirms that Shaun’s determination was what swayed her on the idea of his doing an apprenticeship. “The fact it was a wellknown name also helped,” she says. “Shaun deferred his university place, so we also knew that, if it didn’t pan out, he could still go.”

Aston Martin offered Shaun a place on its four-year apprenticeship scheme two days before he got his A Level results, but gave him time to think things over. He’d spend a fifth of his time studying, and the rest learning on the job and taking practical workshops, which was very different to university.

“I got the grades to get into Oxford Brookes, but it had very much been my second choice,” he says. “I decided to go for Aston Martin. For me, it was 100% the right call. It was a great experience and opened lots of doors.”

“Parents can feel that an apprenticeship means your child is somehow not good enough for university,” adds Judy. “But Shaun’s experience has changed my view. It was very hard work, with the benefit of real work-life experience, great mentoring and continued education. It is not an easy alternative.”

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SMASH STIGMAS What needs to be done to change mindsets around apprenticeships?

“PARENTS CAN FEEL AN APPRENTICESHIP MEANS YOUR CHILD IS SOMEHOW NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR UNIVERSITY. BUT SHAUN’S EXPERIENCE HAS CHANGED MY VIEW”

Students who are dead set on an apprenticeship can change the views of parents and teachers, but what about pupils with no knowledge of apprenticeships?

Something needs to be done to improve careers advice in schools and educate students, parents and teachers. The view of AAT, recruitment managers and training providers is that, if anyone can change minds about apprenticeships, it’s employers.

“All businesses have a role to play in getting information to students,” says AAT CEO Mark Farrar. “They also need to engage with parents. In my view, this is best done digitally, which is where business and government must work together.”

The accountancy sector is leading the way when it comes to engagement with schools and parents, Farrar says. Many apprentices have done great things, and often go back to their schools to promote apprenticeships to new generations.

“They have respect and a good reputation in the companies they work for,” says Farrar. “It is a cracking example of how apprenticeships can be used to obtain the higher levels of education and professional standing simply by using a different pathway. That information needs to be highlighted to parents.”

Other sectors are making inroads as well.

Jaguar Land Rover actively promotes all its apprenticeship schemes. “Our apprentices go in to talk to Years 11-13 about what they do and the day-to-day life of being an apprentice,” says Rob Gill. “Even if, say, they’re an engineering apprentice, they’ll talk about the breadth of what they’re doing and learning. And, when you go to school events, you find parents may not be aware of apprenticeships and what they can offer.

They are normally pleasantly surprised.”

“There are some really good opportunities out there. It is simply about helping parents to understand what a good apprenticeship looks like, and what is going to be the best option for their child,” Fiona Aldridge adds. “It is about showing that this is going to be a good return for them.”

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18/08/2017 PM 24/01/20189:45 15:18

Gemma Fosbrook After leaving sixth form in Hereford, Gemma Fosbrook, 21, did an AAT apprenticeship in accounting and business with Herefordshire Housing. Since summer 2016, she has been working as practice accountant at local optician BBR Optometry.

Gemma’s teachers assumed that pupils would go to university; there was no encouragement to weigh up any other options. But, for Gemma, not going to university was always an option.

“After having done GCSEs and then A Levels, I didn’t want to do another three years of just studying, sitting in lecture halls,” she says. “For me, the attraction of an apprenticeship was the fact that you were learning but also working.”

Gemma reached out to a local college, which helped her find an apprenticeship at Herefordshire Housing. When she told her parents, they were really supportive from the start.

“When my sister went off to uni, there had been some discussion around debt,”

she says, “but that wasn’t really the issue, although having experience and a qualification without incurring any debt was obviously a bonus.”

“I was totally behind Gemma,” says her mum, Amanda. “I didn’t go to university myself, so I knew you didn’t have to go down that route to have a good career.

I could see it was a good way of earning money while being trained on the job, even though there wasn’t going to be the guarantee of a job at the end of it.

“Gemma was pretty clear in her mind that this was what she wanted to do; she had made that decision. In many respects, I think apprenticeships are increasingly going to become the way forward as an alternative to university.”

It helped that the apprenticeship was only for one year – if it didn’t work out, Gemma could always apply to university later. But doing an apprenticeship was the right decision for her: “I am really glad I didn’t go to university.”

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THE CASE AGAINST

REACHING FOR THE MOON Most career coaches and business books define success as reaching a lofty leadership position. But there’s more to it than that, argues Mark Rowland

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11 Here’s a truth people rarely acknowledge: not everyone can be, or even wants to be, a leader. On top of that, being part of the pack doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t stand out from it.

This doesn’t meet the definition of ‘success’ peddled by most career coaches and motivational speakers. Their definition reflects a society that is increasingly driven by the idea of ‘reaching for the moon’ – stretching yourself as far as you can in pursuit of a spot at the top of the career ladder.

Indeed, if you look at the market for business books, you get the impression that becoming a leader is all people aspire to in their careers, but the research just doesn’t back that up.

A few years ago, CareerBuilder and Harris Poll undertook a survey of US workers to determine what proportion wanted to become a leader. Just 34% said they wanted to, and most of those wanted to stop at the middlemanagement level. Only 7% were interested

it for longer, with scant regard for the content or the meaning of what we’re doing. Self-development has become an end in itself.”

Philosopher Alain de Botton says something similar in his book Status Anxiety: “With most businesses shaped like pyramids, in which a wide base of employees gives way to a narrow tip of managers, the question of who will be rewarded – and who left behind – typically develops into one of the most oppressive of the workplace.”

The career motorway The phrase ‘career ladder’, which suggests that every move you make must be a step up or down, rather than sideways, doesn’t really represent how people actually progress in their careers. In fact, your career is more like driving on a motorway: you may want to drive in the fast lane and overtake everyone else, but you may also find that,

LUCIANO LOZANO (IKON IMAGES)

“IN AN ACCELERATING CULTURE, WE’RE SUPPOSED TO DO MORE, DO IT BETTER AND DO IT FOR LONGER, WITH SCANT REGARD FOR THE CONTENT OR THE MEANING OF WHAT WE’RE DOING” in director-level roles. When asked why they didn’t aspire to be a leader, 52% said that they were happy at their current level.

But the pressure to keep on developing, to continuously move onwards and upwards, is hard to escape. The rate of change in the workplace, the online tools we use and the ongoing aftershocks of the financial crisis have created an ultra-competitive working culture in which it seems everyone is expected to continuously strive for improvement.

In his book Stand Firm, psychology professor Svend Brinkmann writes that people in the modern workplace are urged to be ‘always on’ and always looking for the next opportunity: “Standing still is the ultimate sin. If you stand still while everyone else is moving forwards, you fall behind. Doing so these days is tantamount to going backwards.”

For Brinkmann, this behaviour is counterproductive and potentially damaging, encouraging burn-out and increasing anxiety: “In an accelerating culture, we’re supposed to do more, do it better and do

eventually, moving across into a slower lane suits you better.

So it’s about time we redefined what ‘success’ actually means. A third of respondents to the CareerBuilder survey shunned leadership roles due to a lack of work-life balance. And a 2016 Deloitte survey of millennials found having a good work-life balance was the top priority when assessing a potential job, followed by progression opportunities. Remote working and flexible hours came third. Fourth came ‘A sense of meaning in my work’, and tellingly most of the other answers were variations on that theme: ‘The impact it has on society’, ‘The quality of products and services’, ‘A strong sense of purpose’, and so on.

What do you really want?

We often don’t stop to assess what we actually want out of our careers. Take AAT Past President and licensed member Henry Cooper, who spent time working on a rapid growth plan for his practice, only for a career coach to point out to him that it wasn’t what he actually wanted.

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Left: by venerating leadership positions, we’re creating unhappy workplaces, says Alain de Botton Right: Svend Brinkmann wants us to resist the self-improvement craze

“IT’S ALL ABOUT KNOWING WHAT YOUR NEEDS ARE AND WHAT YOUR END GAME IS, AND FINDING A DIFFERENT WAY TO GET THERE” “That was a real eye-opener for me,” Cooper says. “The coach was from a sales background, so I was expecting him to give me stick for not being ambitious enough.

But he had a strong understanding of what my needs were.”

The experience transformed Cooper’s definition of success into something more personal, he explains: “It’s all about knowing what your needs are and what your end game is, and finding a different way to get there.”

Another AAT member, Alan J, spends half his working hours doing pro bono work.

Having overcome several hardships in his life, including a devastating car accident in which he lost the use of his legs, Alan feels it is important to give something back.

“I’m on borrowed time. I don’t take myself too seriously,” he says. “When you have something happen to you, you realise it’s not just about you as an individual. If I can help someone as I have been helped, I’m happy.”

For Alan, using his skills to help others is a key part of what defines success for him.

And he’s not alone. I speak to a lot of AAT

members about their careers, and the vast majority are motivated by doing something fulfilling, from the single mother who wanted to give her children something to strive for to the Syrian refugee applying his accounting skills at a charity providing aid.

Natasha Penny has two reasons to get out of bed in the morning: helping people grow their businesses, and showing her daughter that it’s possible to have a fulfilling and balanced career. “It’s always a balancing act, especially as a woman, and I think I’ve set an example of what you can achieve, and that you can have both. I’ve been able to have a good family life and a good career,” she says.

So make a list of all the things you want out of a job, and write them in order of priority.

The result might surprise you.

Four lessons I’ll conclude with a personal anecdote. From a very young age, I knew what I wanted to do with my life (I wanted to be an author) and threw myself into pursuing that goal. As I got older, my career expectations became more

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LEADERSHIP MAY OR MAY NOT BE IN YOUR FUTURE. WHAT MATTERS IS THAT YOUR CHOICES MATCH YOUR PRIORITIES

52%

OF EMPLOYEES ARE HAPPY AT THEIR CURRENT LEVEL

34%

OF EMPLOYEES WANT TO TAKE UP A LEADERSHIP POSITION

Natasha Penny (second from front) is driven by helping others, not just by money and status

7%

OF EMPLOYEES HOPE TO REACH DIRECTOR LEVEL

realistic; by my mid-teens, my heart was set on becoming a journalist.

Early in my career, I chased rapid career progression, because I felt I was supposed to. I worked through lunch and stayed late most nights, and I did step up the ladder very quickly. But I also took on too much too fast, and burned out. It got so bad that I lost my love for the work that I’d been passionate about since I’d learned how to write. I made a step out of journalism and into digital product development and social media management. A couple of years later, I returned to journalism, older and wiser, with my passion renewed.

That experience taught me a lot about myself and how I should approach my career.

It governs my decision-making today. The following lessons may be useful for you too.

First, care less about other people (without being a jerk). It’s easy to get caught up in what you think other people’s perceptions are but, if other people work all hours and never switch off, it doesn’t mean you have to, as long as you do your work and do it well.

I guarantee those people don’t give you as much thought as you think they do.

Second, if your current role is eroding what made you passionate about your career, do something about it. What’s the reason for that loss of passion? Your boss? The work itself?

Are you spending too much time at work? All of those things are fixable. If you can make a change within your current role, great.

Otherwise, it may be time to find a new job.

Third, a sideways move can be as fulfilling as a vertical one. Making a move into a different role at the same level could expose you to fresh challenges and experiences that will prepare you better for the next rung of the ladder – if you want to take another step up.

Fourth, don’t move for the sake of it. If you enjoy your work and are happy with your work-life balance, why move into a different role? If the idea of taking on more responsibility excites you, go for it. But, if you’re saying yes because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do, maybe it’s not the right move for you.

So perhaps a leadership role is in your future and perhaps it isn’t. What matters is that your choices match your priorities. The secret is knowing what those priorities are.

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MEET THE E N T O R 12

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Words Christian Koch Photography Paul Musso

Every issue, 20 will be pairing one AAT student with a big name in finance, accounting or leadership. First, entrepreneur and qualified accountant Paul Lindley chats to Foundation Certificate student Bianca Maconchy 43

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Bianca Maconchy meets Ella’s Kitchen founder Paul Lindley

Bianca Maconchy has thrown herself out of almost 500 planes. She first learned how to skydive during military service in her native Romania. She’s also worked as a skydiving organiser, doing jumps everywhere from the Arctic Circle to southern Italy. It’s quite an adrenaline rush. There’s only one other activity that gives Bianca a similar buzz: creating spreadsheets.

“I love spreadsheets!” she exclaims.

“I create spreadsheets for fun!” In fact, she’d like more opportunity to work with Excel, which is partly why she spends 90 minutes studying AAT every night after her day job as an administrator for a fitness-club chain in Oxford. Her current role involves invoicing and profit and loss statements and, having taken to that element of her work, she wants to take her accounting knowledge further.

Ultimately, her aim is to start her own business; as with her skydiving hobby, she wants to take a leap into potentially risky territory. The problem is that she doesn’t know where to begin or whether she’s got the leadership skills to be able to run a business. What does she need to do?

Fortunately, 20 magazine was able to bring in somebody to help: Paul Lindley, qualified accountant, and founder and CEO of multi-million-pound baby-food company Ella’s Kitchen. He realised that his baby daughter, Ella, would eat healthy food after he turned mealtimes into silly games. Aware of parents’ concerns about child nutrition, he combined both ideas into an all-organic baby-food range with fun, colourful packaging. By 2013, Ella’s Kitchen was the UK’s largest baby-food company, turning over £50m a year.

The pair arrive at a chilly yet elegant London studio. Within seconds, Paul’s asking Bianca questions about her job aspirations, her family (Bianca is married, and the mother of toddler Amélie), and what it’s like to jump from a plane at terrifying heights. “It seems like I should be the mentee,” he says. “It sounds like you’ve got it all sorted out!”

With the meeting off to a flying start, they both sit down to chat. From thinking like a toddler to determining when you need to take a leap into the unknown, here’s what they discussed.

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Bianca: When you do a job you love, you don’t view it as work. Should I pursue something I’m passionate about or a more comfortable career path?

Paul: When I started in accountancy at KPMG, I knew it wasn’t my passion, but it was setting me up to pursue my passion.

I saw it as a stepping stone, a way of getting a qualification. Then I got a job as Nickelodeon’s financial controller. The CEO there was also my mentor, and saw the potential in me to be commercial as well as financial. So I wasn’t just looking after accounts and processing; I was also involved with business strategy and negotiating contracts with Sky. So at Nickelodeon I moved from being an accountant to thinking about consumers

“WHEN I STARTED IN ACCOUNTANCY AT KPMG, I KNEW IT WASN’T MY PASSION, BUT IT WAS SETTING ME UP TO PURSUE MY PASSION. I SAW IT AS A STEPPING STONE, A WAY OF GETTING A QUALIFICATION”

PAUL LINDLEY CV 2004-present Founder and chief executive, Ella’s Kitchen 1995-2004 Financial controller to deputy managing director, Nickelodeon UK 1990-1995 Manager, KPMG

BIO Lindley started his career as a chartered accountant at KPMG, where he worked for five years before making the move from practice to industry, starting as a financial controller at Nickelodeon UK. He rose to deputy managing director at the company, before his thoughts turned to starting his own business.

He founded Ella’s Kitchen, named after his daughter, in 2004.

The idea came out of his own efforts to make his children eat healthily. The company has since grown into a global brand.

Along with his work as chairman of Ella’s Kitchen, Lindley has published a book, Little Wins: The Huge Power of Thinking Like a Toddler, and launched campaigns to improve children’s health in the UK, which have earned him an honorary doctorate from the University of Reading. In 2013, he published an influential report on children’s health, Averting a Recipe for Disaster.

Lindley has launched his own charity, The Key is E, with Emmanuel Jal. The initiative aims to better the lives of children in Africa by improving education and opening up opportunities for budding entrepreneurs.

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and becoming a marketeer. Those two things [accounting and marketing nous] gave me the confidence to set up my own business, along with passion. You live one life – enjoy it! You don’t want to look back when you’re old, thinking: ‘I worked somewhere for ten years and didn’t enjoy it.’

Bianca: So you needed your accountancy background when setting up Ella’s Kitchen?

Paul: Yes. For the first time, I was putting things into practice using my money, such as filling out VAT returns. Because it was my money, I had to work out the best ways of spending it.

Bianca: You mentioned your Nickelodeon mentor. Where would you get advice from if you don’t have that person?

Paul: ‘Mentor’ is a funny word. You tend to think of a senior person and somebody more junior. I don’t think it needs to be like that. I could learn so much from you. Your partner or friend could be your mentor – as long as they understand what’s driving you. I wouldn’t have been successful with Ella’s Kitchen if it wasn’t for my wife; having somebody to talk to about stresses or ideas is key.

Bianca: I love the company I work for, but I feel there’s not much for me to learn unless I move forward. What would you do if you felt you couldn’t progress?

Paul: I think you’re in a good position; you feel you’re in a work culture that’ll listen to you. Have a conversation with somebody, such as a manager or HR person, and ask: ‘Where am I going?’ At Ella’s Kitchen, we try to have an honest conversation with people.

Sometimes, it’s time [for staff] to leave. When you employ somebody, you know they won’t spend 30 years with you. Some will only spend two years there before moving on. I think we get the most out of that person if we help them move on. It saves dishonesty, stress and the shock of leaving.

Bianca: Have you ever found yourself at a similar crossroads?

Paul: I loved working at Nickelodeon. But, towards the end of my nine years there, I’d be

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Every issue, we’ll be revisiting our mentees and mentors to see what they’ve learned from each other, and the changes they’ve made in their lives and careers as a result. Keep an eye out for the next chapter of Bianca’s story in the next edition.

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in a meeting and somebody would say: ‘I’ve got a brilliant idea: we’ll try this, this and this.’

And I’d be thinking: ‘We tried this five years ago and it didn’t work. Maybe I shouldn’t be here any more. I’m not being fulfilled.’

I wanted to move, and I knew I was going round in a circle. But I had an idea, and I thought: ‘I’ll just regret it when I’m on my deathbed if I don’t act on that idea. Or, even worse, somebody else will have done it!’

Bianca: I’m also unsure about the right [accounting] position to go for. How do I choose the right path?

Paul: What drives you to become an accountant? What drives you to look after your daughter, be with your husband, do your skydiving and then have the energy

“MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR AAT TRAINING. IT’LL BENEFIT YOU IN WAYS YOU DON’T REALISE NOW. THERE’S A DISCIPLINE WITH WORKING WITH NUMBERS AND A LOGIC WITH SPREADSHEETS. NUMBERS ARE THE CODE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING AND WHY PEOPLE BUY THINGS”

to learn from webinars in the evening? If I was managing you, I’d be very impressed by that.

But I’d also want to know what drives you. The thing I always ask myself and others is: ‘Why?’ When I started Ella’s Kitchen, I wrote down the question ‘Why?’ and the things I wanted to achieve. None of them was to make myself rich.

Bianca: You’ve recently written a book, Little Wins: The Huge Power of Thinking Like a Toddler. Should I start viewing my career through my daughter’s eyes?

Paul: My advice to anybody is to think like a toddler. Your daughter is 19 months old.

Right now, she has so much imagination, freethinking and self-confidence. When we learn to walk, we fall over 500 times. At some point in the past year, your daughter has mastered that with a determination and ambition that is ridiculous when you think about it. As adults, we tend to fear failure and get into comfortable routines. We don’t aim high enough because we worry we’ll fail.

But, Bianca, you’re a skydiver – a natural risk-taker! Many people in accounting fear risk because they live by the numbers.

Bianca: What do you recommend I do now?

Paul: In the short term, I’d worry you’re going to run out of energy! It’s important to take time out to reflect and evaluate. Secondly, write down your long-term vision of where you want to go. I wouldn’t get too hooked up on ‘In two years’ time, I need to pass this exam; in four years’ time, I’d like to be employed in this senior role’. As long as you’ve got broad direction, plus energy and confidence, you should find that you’ll be alright. I think you’re an entrepreneur who’ll set up your own business one day.

Bianca: I hope so!

Paul: Make sure you use your AAT training.

It’ll benefit you in ways you don’t realise now. There’s a discipline with working with numbers and a logic with spreadsheets. But numbers aren’t everything – they’re the code to understand what’s really happening and why people buy things.

Bianca: I love numbers. I could spend hours creating spreadsheets!

Paul: I love spreadsheets too – the moment when you get an error in there.

Bianca: Oh, I love errors!

And, with that, 20 leaves the pair to discuss the finer points of spreadsheets.

BE THE MENTOR Want to be 20 magazine’s next mentor or mentee?

If so, email mark.rowland@thinkpublishing.co.uk 47

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AAT to ACCA Take the next step

If you’re AAT qualified and looking to become a chartered certified account, look no further than ACCA. Find out more at accaglobal.com/aat

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Soar towards a new world of opportunity Claire Bennison, head of ACCA UK tax, accounts and audit. I know many clients have selected me because I am ACCA-qualified. It adds credibility but, most importantly, I have been trained to understand their requirements as a business. It proved both practical and tough. Moving on from AAT, it’s given me the perfect platform to flourish.”

We’re still early in 2018: a time to think about next steps. You might be considering your career path and the skills and experience you need to follow it. Perhaps, like Alex, you want to open your own game-changing practice.

Alex Falcon Huerta (above) speaks about her innovative accountancy practice, Soaring Falcon Accountancy, on page 23. Alex has embraced new technology, which has allowed her to take her business from a local firm in Bedford to a truly global client base, without the overheads of a large, multinational corporation. Behind her entrepreneurial spirit and drive are two organisations: AAT and ACCA. Alex completed her AAT assessments in 2003 and became an ACCA member in 2007. In 2015, she set up Soaring Falcon Accountancy.

She says her success is down to her studies with AAT and ACCA: “The ACCA Qualification has supported me in a number of ways. It was a great blend of work and study, and I learned so much about the fundamentals of

Fast track Once AAT-qualified, you can fasttrack through the ACCA Qualification and become a professionally qualified accountant. We’ve worked with AAT to make this next step clear and direct.

Your previous studies may entitle you to exemptions from some ACCA exams, enabling you to accelerate your studies. If you’ve achieved your AAT Professional Diploma in Accounting, you can move straight to paper F4 Corporate and Business Law, free of charge. AAT-qualified accountants can count relevant work experience towards the three-year practical experience requirements, even if that experience was gained before registering with ACCA. This means your work experience while studying with AAT will help you on your way to becoming an ACCA member.

The ACCA Qualification is designed to meet businesses’ needs around the globe. Take your next step via ACCA and open up a world of opportunities.

ACCA: A QUALIFICATION FOR A CHANGING WORLD In October 2016, we announced the new, groundbreaking design for the Professional level of the ACCA Qualification, which is being replaced by new Strategic Professional exams from September 2018.

We know from the employers we work with that they will always need the best professional accountants with the best technical skills. But they are now looking for more. They need forward-looking, strategic thinkers with a blend of business and finance skills. They need excellent communicators with ethical integrity.

This is what the ACCA Qualification offers the AAT graduate. It’s important that the ACCA Qualification remains relevant and up to date, so that ACCA-qualified professionals continue to be valued and respected around the world.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PROGRESSING TO ACCA, PLEASE VISIT ACCAGLOBAL.COM/AAT

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MODERN WORK 2.0

MODERN WORK

/ EDITED BY ANDREW LOWRY

Will every accountant have a drone?

At first, drones seemed scary and expensive.

Then they became the toy that kids got last Christmas – and immediately piloted to oblivion. The next stage for drones is to join the workforce...

Section highlights Will every accountant have a drone?

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The rules of the tea round

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Should you go freelance?

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Training in virtual reality

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Why you shouldn’t fear tech

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Using your own device at work

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In fact, drones are entering the workplace at an enormously fast pace.

Many headlines have been focused on their use for delivery services, but they are already having a huge impact in sectors like accountancy too – something that is likely to become more pronounced.

“The only real limitation to what a drone can do is the equipment you put on one,” says Tomasz Firek, CEO of Ireland’s Versadrones. “A camera is easy, and very common, but every week we are approached with new challenges to find solutions for. It’s actually pretty simple: you’re combining

technologies, rather than creating a new one, so, if the equipment is small enough or can be miniaturised enough to be carried by a drone, that’s all you need to do. People across a range of industries are being enormously creative and developing use cases that would have seemed like science fiction not long ago.”

We have take-off PwC is a case in point.

In 2016, it decisively entered the $127bn (£95.7bn) drone market, opening a drone centre of excellence in Poland.

“There’s this image of accountancy as merely

rearranging things on a spreadsheet,” says Elaine Whyte, a former engineer and now PwC’s UK drones expert. “But remember: the data on these spreadsheets needs to come from somewhere, and that’s where drones come in.”

RFID (radio frequency identification) sensors are ideal for fitting to drones.

With those in place, drones go from being a novelty to being a crucial part of the accountant’s toolkit.

There are many industries, for example, where taking an accurate inventory can be difficult, time-consuming, or both – agriculture, mining or car manufacturing, say.

“THE DETAIL IN THE DATA THAT CAN BE GATHERED

BY DRONES IS FAR MORE GRANULAR. YOU’RE LITERALLY GETTING A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW” Elaine Whyte

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DRONES 2.0

MANNERS FOR THE MODERN COLLEAGUE

#1 The tea round Above: Drones enable 3D mapping of landscapes...

Left: ... and real-time monitoring of construction projects

progress made can be gathered incredibly quickly.

“Delays are common on projects like this,” says Whyte, “and litigation is common. Drones allow an accurate picture of progress to be taken, one that can be monitored in almost real time. Investors can be kept happy with information that shows things are being done to plan, and the impact of changes can be monitored. All of this was difficult only a few years ago. Now it’s almost routine.”

The tea round is one of the pillars of any respectable workplace – and every company has its own rules and rituals when it comes to producing mugs of hot, milky, brown liquid. You must learn these customs quickly once you’ve joined a new company or forever be branded “not a team player”.

Despite variations in the ritual of the round, there are some rules you can expect to be upheld fervently almost everywhere (below). Familiarise yourself with these rules at the earliest opportunity and ensure you deliver a tray of correctly brewed cups of tea from the start. You might just get through your first day.

The personal touch

FIND OUT MORE Keep up to date with developments in accountancy at aatcomment.org.uk

1. Never mix up those who take sugar with those who don’t. It will be held against you.

Forever.

2. One person will have a specific

method by which you must prepare their tea. Do not disappoint.

3. Anyone who accepts a cup of tea but never makes a round will

pay. Only bosses can pull this off.

4. The Captain America mug belongs to someone in IT. Use it and they will hunt you down.

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The efficiency savings that drones offer are clear.

“It’s not just time-saving,” says Whyte. “The detail in the data that can be gathered is far more granular. You’re literally getting a bird’s-eye view, gaining insights that may not be obvious from the ground.

Also, work doesn’t have to stop while a stocktake is being done, which has obvious benefits.”

Large infrastructure and construction projects have also been benefiting from the combination of the latest 3D-mapping technology and drones. A completely accurate picture of resources deployed and

However, drones won’t make management happy on their own. As Whyte suggests, information is useless without someone to interpret it. While drones can gather data, you need human input to guard against fraud, for example.

“You need reliable human eyes on the information to interpret what the drone picks up,” says Whyte.

“There is always a small risk of fraud, regardless of the setting, and the importance of talented people doing the auditing is made more, not less, important by having so much data.”

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82% of AAT Green Room participants told us that technology is having a major impact on accounting roles, or will do so in the next five years.

Want to share your views?

Join AAT Green Room, our online research community where you can give your opinions on both AAT and the world of professional accountancy.

aatgreenroom.org

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18/01/2018 18/01/2018 10:39 15:56

FREELANCING 2.0

Should you become a gigging accountant?

The gig economy is here to stay – at least for the foreseeable future – and accountancy is ideally placed to benefit.

Accountants can work in any industry or location, and opportunities exist for all specialisms and experience levels. Surely conditions are perfect for freelancing?

Well, yes and no, says freelance finance director Rob Ford. He counsels caution before you take the plunge.

“It’s like setting up any business,” he says. “You need a strategic approach that has been thought through. It’s not something you can wake up and do on the spur of the moment.”

Are you experienced?

Choosing the right experience level at which to take the plunge is key. “I’d advise getting some solid company experience under your belt first, if anything else because you can piggyback on the company’s reputation as you get yourself

established, not to mention the experience and network you gain,” says Ford.

Indeed, as in so many walks of life, who you know is just as important as what you know, if not more so. “Word of mouth is crucial,” says Ford, “and you’re only as good as your referrals. You need to treat yourself as a business, and market yourself like one. I bought a database of Manchester’s fastest-growing companies and sent a brochure – not a CV – to every one.

Growth rate is a useful metric here – established companies are likely to have their own finance teams already, while a growing company may not have one but may need one.”

Going into business for yourself can bring enormous rewards – day rates can be generous indeed. But don’t go crazy. “You do need to be careful, as you can feel rich with all this money flowing in, but what about when your six-month contract runs out?” says Ford. “And this income will have to be taxed, of course.”

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“YOU MAY FEEL RICH WITH ALL THIS MONEY FLOWING IN, BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR CONTRACT RUNS OUT?”

SHARE YOUR STORY Tweet us about your freelance experiences: @YourAAT 55

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2.0 VR TRAINING

Will your next classroom be virtual?

Virtual and augmented reality are among the hottest technologies around. Initially used for games and marketing stunts, companies are now starting to explore the technologies’ full potential.

Their usefulness as a training tool is obvious when it comes to high-risk jobs such as mining, surgery and space exploration. With products such as Google Cardboard turning any smartphone into a virtual headset for less than £5, applications are being explored by office-based organisations too, including

accountancy firms. For example, those daunted by public speaking can use the Android app Public Speaking for Cardboard to practise in front of virtual audiences of different sizes.

Virtually indispensable One use more directly connected to accountancy is simulation of company audits (such as inventory checks). Such simulations offer various degrees of detail – some trainers get very creative in ‘casting’ employees – but they can all be effective in delivering ‘experiential learning’.

Four chores improved by virtual reality Going to the dentist

1

In a study called The Soothing Sea: A Virtual Coastal Walk Can Reduce Experienced and Recollected Pain, researchers explained how virtual reality can be used to reduce pain during dental surgery, by immersing the patient in nature. The type of virtual content matters, with coastal nature being better than urban.

Giving a presentation

2

Virtual reality app VirtualSpeech offers several courses to help

people become more confident in delivering presentations, networking and developing leadership skills. The app allows people to practise their speeches in front of realistic audiences from their desk or sofa.

Shopping at IKEA

3

A trip to IKEA is not always the most enjoyable experience – bickering families are as synonymous with the brand as Swedish meatballs. But now you don’t need to go. IKEA’s virtual showroom app, IKEA Place, allows you

to virtually try out the company’s furnishings in your own home. Other retailers are likely to follow suit, according to Bernard Marr, writing for Forbes: “Rather than visit a physical showroom, customers leading increasingly digital lives will simply put on a headset and appear in a virtual one.”

Meetings

4

Icelandic start-up Mure VR has created

Breakroom, an app that lets you complete your usual work tasks in a refreshingly different virtual environment of your choice, from a tropical island to a European café. This technology could also be used to virtually attend conferences and events without having to travel. Who knows – you may soon be able to buy tickets for virtual attendance at conferences and events alongside traditional tickets.

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VR TRAINING 2.0

CAMERAS DIDN’T KILL OFF PAINTING – AND TECH WON’T REPLACE YOU SHANE LUKAS, AUTHOR OF WHAT’S NEXT FOR ACCOUNTANTS

VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATIONS CAN BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THEORETICAL IDEAS AND REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS No matter what stage you are at in your career, you may lack real-world experience of auditing and other disciplines. Virtual reality simulations can bridge the gap between theoretical ideas and real-world applications.

How to spot oversights, monitor inventory and navigate the intricacies of organisational charts can be tricky to teach in traditional ways; virtual reality solves that problem.

The University of the West of England, Bristol has trained its accountancy students with the help of a virtual electronics firm.

And North Carolina

State University created a virtual beer company because “the students understand beer”.

Beyond learning Virtual reality also has applications beyond training. Software company Intuit has designed an interface that allows users to ‘walk’ through a forest where the trees represent different aspects of a business, such as sales and customers.

It’s a lot more sci-fi than a spreadsheet.

HAVE YOU GONE VIRTUAL? Share your experiences with AAT on Twitter: @YourAAT

Until the 19th century, artists were in very high demand. The only way people could preserve an image of themselves was by commissioning an artist to paint or draw a picture for them.

Then the camera was invented, which was seen as a huge threat. Many artists felt that their career was over. However, about a third saw the opportunity to become truly liberated.

These conditions saw the birth of impressionism. Artists were painting images in very different ways. Each expressed their personality and individuality in their paintings.

Artists were no longer undercutting each other to effectively produce the same thing. Each produced work that would appeal to a minority – their ideal client.

Technology has put accountants in a similar position: not all will stop producing compliance work – the equivalent of like-for-like paintings – but others are using technology to liberate them from such work.

Instead, they’re now breathing life into the numbers. They’re taking time to talk to clients in more detail, explaining what those numbers mean and how different the business would be if they changed.

So technology is automating accounting tasks at an ever increasing rate. Does that mean accountants are going to go out of business? No. This is simply a time to repurpose those skills with numbers.

HEAR SHANE SPEAK Shane Lukas will speak at the AAT Annual Conference. Get your tickets here: aat.org.uk/conference

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Should you use your own phone for work?

If you’re training as an accountant, it’s likely you’ll have grown up with a device in your hand. However, some firms have been better than others at adapting to a world where not all work is done on a company computer or phone. But these days it’s almost inevitable that you’ll do some work on your own device, even if it’s just sending a few emails on the train home.

Currently, 31% of accountancy firms in the US have a bring-your-owndevice (BYOD) policy, with a number of practices using apps for bookkeeping and auditing services, among other things. We don’t have a figure for the UK, but, given changes to dataprotection laws, firms will be forced to dispense with informal arrangements and bring in BYOD policies.

Don’t worry – this doesn’t mean the company you work for will suddenly want to delve into your private WhatsApp groups (although we’re sure you have absolutely nothing to hide).

What they will want, however, is a clear agreement on what information is yours and what information is the company’s, and for you to take sensible security precautions – for example, using strong passwords and not leaving your phone lying about in crowded pubs.

The need for a specific policy is clear: accountancy is one industry where security is more important than most. “There aren’t many situations where a company’s employees can have so much sensitive data consolidated in one place where it can potentially be outside the company’s control,” says Jonathan Hassell, president of 82 Ventures, a technology consulting firm. “People may object to allowing their employers a degree of control, but there’s really no way around it – the potential for things to go wrong, even if everyone involved has the best intentions, is too great.”

There are a few precautions that you may not see coming. Employers

The six best devices to use at work 1. iPHONE AND iPAD

2. MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO

3. SAMSUNG GALAXY S8+

Apple supports plenty of office and productivity apps for keeping track of workloads and meetings, such as Google Docs, Slack and Evernote.

It also syncs its calendar with your email, keeping you on schedule.

The Surface tablet has a reputation for being great for presentations on the go, primarily due to its high-resolution screen and processing power. It’s not as cheap as the Asus Transformer or Amazon Fire ranges, though.

Described by TechRadar as “the best business phone in the world”, its software and processing power, and its 6.2-inch display, give it an edge. Samsung says its Knox security makes it as secure as a BlackBerry.

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BYOD 2.0

EMPLOYERS ARE LIKELY TO WANT SOME SAY OVER WHICH APPS CAN CO-EXIST WITH COMPANY DATA ON A PERSONAL DEVICE are likely to want some say over which apps can co-exist with company data on a personal device, for example. “If the latest Twitter version, say, is known to have a vulnerability in its integration with the mail app, it would be sensible not to use it,” says Hassell.

“There are a lot of ways in which the behind-thescenes interactions between apps can be non-secure, so it’s sensible to limit app downloads to ones that are totally trusted. A lot of this is common sense.”

Pay for my device But BYOD schemes aren’t all about solemn agreements not to wipe work information or sell it to competitors: one of the big advantages for employees is that a device that’s used for work is a legitimate work expense.

This fact has been used to all kinds of creative ends by freelancers on tax returns, and it also means that it’s fair for your employer to chip in towards the cost of a device that you, after all, are using to make them money. “Any objections to data-security

procedures tend to go out of the window when this comes up,” says Hassell.

Whether it leads to employers subsidising line rental or paying for new laptops, BYOD schemes can offer real benefits for people early on in their careers.

They could also mark an end to the age-old IT issue of unloved and poorly maintained equipment becoming knackered because nobody takes care of it. “If you’re using your own devices, it’s more likely that they’ll be kept up to date, and the problem of the computer that’s neglected because nobody wants to take ownership of it could disappear,” notes Hassell.

In summary: many BYOD policies are just formalising what’s been going on for years anyway, but don’t be shocked if colleagues are surprised about your using your own phone for work.

And it’s probably still best to keep risqué selfies for another phone.

FIND OUT MORE Discover more employment trends on aatcomment.org.uk

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4. ONEPLUS 5

5. LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON

6. AOC PDS241

The affordable OnePlus 5 phone made a massive impression in 2017.

Keep an eye out for the OnePlus 5T in coming months. The company’s ‘cheap and cheerful’ reputation is under threat from the Honor 9.

Laptop magazine rates this top for US business students, owing to its superb display, trim shape and great keyboard. It’s not cheap but, if you’re going to make a serious investment in your future, this is worth investigating.

It’s all very well having a great laptop, but what if you want to work on dual screens? Monitors can get pricey, but this one is well regarded, relatively decent value and looks sharp. Check compatibility with your laptop first.

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23/01/2018 14:16

TO-DO LIST 2.0

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To-do list

TAKE YOUR STUDIES UP A STEP WITH THESE EVENT AND BOOK PICKS FROM THE NEXT THREE MONTHS

February

Get your CV in order Getting your first accounting role can be tricky. This free webinar (at 7.15pm on Thursday 22 February) with The CV & Interview Advisors will show you how to showcase your relevant skills and experience on your CV, and help you secure those all-important job interviews.

REGISTER HERE bit.ly/AATCVWebinar

Learn how to be your own boss Join Henry Cooper, licensed accountant and AAT Past President, on 17 February in London. Accompanied by AAT staff, Cooper will help you find out more about the realities of setting up in practice and becoming an AAT licensed bookkeeper or accountant. The seminar will cover how to create a successful business plan, how to attract clients and create pricing strategies, and information on the support AAT can offer.

REGISTER HERE bit.ly/FebBYOB

Want to start your own practice?

Henry Cooper knows how it's done

March

April

The fourth edition of forensic accounting expert Howard M Schilit’s popular Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports comes out in March. Schilit, a pioneer in the field of forensic accounting, first published his book in 1993, but has since updated it to reflect technological changes in the sector. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in forensic accounting, this book is essential reading.

Investigative journalist and former tax inspector Richard Brooks dug deep into the global workings of the world’s biggest accounting firms for his book Bean Counters: The Triumph of the Accountants and How They Broke Capitalism, which aims to reveal the global economic influence these firms quietly wield. Expect some criticism from Brooks, who isn’t known to pull punches, in a book that provides a great insight into outside perceptions of corporate accounting.

PICK UP A COPY Financial Shenanigans will come out on 30 March

GET YOUR COPY Bean Counters will be released on 5 April

Get your head around financial shenanigans

Understand the power of the Big Four

AAT Annual Conference

As the role of the accounting and finance profession moves towards advisory and consulting activities, it's essential to know what skills you need to stay relevant. This year, the AAT Annual Conference will dedicate an entire workshop stream to boosting your skills as a business strategist, adviser and leader.

Technology is a game changer for accountants, as artificial intelligence and automation reshape traditional accounting roles. Understanding new technologies and data analytics is important for business growth and professional development. The conference will offer a variety of technology and innovation workshops so that you can pick one to suit your needs.

You'll also have the opportunity to meet and chat with like-minded professionals who face the same industry challenges as you.

If you’re able to attend the conference, you’ll get a real insight into the latest trends and issues facing the accounting sector.

TICKETS Book your tickets here: aat.org.uk/conference

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24/01/2018 24/01/2018 15:17 11:37

Planning ahead

AAT’s 2018 ‘Bookkeeping Weeks’

Excel master Deb Ashby will run a series of webinars covering everything from the basics of spreadsheet creation right through to complex formulas. The hour-long webinars will take place at lunchtimes and evenings over the next few months. The dates are: • ‘Excel tips and tricks for beginners’, 6 February, 6pm • ‘Complex formulas in Excel’, 23 April, 12pm • ‘Excel: working with IF statements and LOOKUPs’, 8 May, 6pm • ‘Building interactive dashboards in Excel’, 5 September, 12pm

Starting in February, AAT will run three ‘Bookkeeping Weeks’ to help you brush up on your knowledge.

Last year, activities included Facebook Live discussions, e-learning modules, quizzes, flash cards and careers advice.

This year’s Bookkeeping Weeks are: • 5-11 February • 7-13 May • 5-11 November

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Excel webinar series

MORE DETAILS Visit aat.org.uk/aat-events

MORE INFORMATION Visit aat.org.uk/BKweek

CONTACT US If you are publicising an event, get in touch: Facebook: @youraat Email: info@aat.org.uk Twitter: @YourAAT

Study playlist

Daniel Plumb is an AAT student and financial manager at LimeGreen Accountancy These are the five most-played songs on my revision playlist. They’re all instrumentals, as I find songs with lyrics distract me.

1. Eric Coates, By the Sleepy Lagoon What could be better than revising on a desert island? That’s where this piece takes me. It helps me unwind when I’m finishing up my revision. It’s such a beautiful piece. Eric Coates was a British composer, and he was inspired by looking out on Bognor Regis, of all places.

2. Miles Davis, So What Miles Davis and Charles Mingus were both favourites of my mum. I can remember listening to them as a child. Jazz helps me to focus.

3. Charles Mingus, Reincarnation of a Lovebird Charles Mingus recorded this piece more than once. All versions are slightly different. I listen to the one on The Clown album. Mingus wrote the song for his friend Charlie Parker, who died a couple of years previously.

4. NEU!, Hallogallo NEU! are a recent discovery for me. I love this song’s metronomic, relentless beat. It aids the absorbing of exam material – it’s almost revision by hypnosis.

5. Maurice Ravel, Bolero Like the NEU! track, this has a hypnotic feel to it. I love the recurring motif, which repeats over and over.

Win Bose QuietComfort 20 earphones!

These noise-cancelling earphones (worth £250) look and sound great – and we’re giving a pair away.

TO ENTER: Email aatprizedraws@thinkpublishing. co.uk, stating ‘BOSE20’, with your name, address, AAT membership number and phone number.

The closing date is 30 April 2018 at 11.59pm. For terms and conditions, visit aat.org.uk/accounting-technician 63

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2 .0 TA K E AWAYS

4

THINGS TO TAKE AWAY THIS ISSUE Q&A

1

4

6

Fun at work can help with your productivity and wellbeing.

Taking a break might not seem productive, but you need that time to really absorb knowledge.

If you have the chance, play ping-pong

Page 10

Cramming doesn’t work

Page 15

5

It always pays to be upfront about your health Addressing an issue with your employer quickly can prevent problems later on.

Page 13

2

7

Approaching your boss about training may seem risky, but the lost opportunity if you don’t is far greater. Page 9

Structure your answers in this way in your synoptics to ensure clarity.

Don’t fear your boss

1

3

Choosing the right role is as much about your interests and personal priorities as salary and experience. Page 7

... but they do help with memorising key details.

So do visual cues.

You need to enjoy your work

64

Acronyms might be out of fashion...

Page 9

Point, evidence, example, explanation

Page 17

LONG READS

2.0: MODERN WORK

13

8

See drones as your future business partners

Change can seem difficult... ... but you have to embrace it. It won’t stop just because you ignore it.

Drones will do the donkey work so that you can spend more time interpreting the results.

Page 18

9

Mobile tech is extending lives... ... by allowing cheaper healthcare and education, and opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Page 24

10

Page 51

14

Tea rounds can build strong team bonds... ... as long as your brewmaking skills are on point.

Page 53

15

The gig economy demands a good contacts book

Engage with your old school

Don’t rush in without a plan.

Some teachers and parents are biased about nonuniversity paths. You can prove them wrong. Page 30

Page 55

11

Care about the right things It’s easy to get caught up in what other people think. But it’s what you think that matters.

Page 38

16

Strolling through ‘financial forests’ is a thing...

VR could completely change the way we work.

Page 56

17

Accounting can be creative... ... especially as we can spend less time on data entry.

Page 57

18

Build a wall between work... ... and your personal life, especially if you use the same device for both.

Page 58

19

There are seven major ways... ... in which companies cook their books, according to the author of Financial Shenanigans.

Page 61

20

Don’t be complacent What works now won’t always work – EMI and HMV found this out the hard way.

Page 66 →

18

12

When it comes to failure, think like a toddler Toddlers fail over and over again, but they never give up. Page 42

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2.0 NEEDS AN ACCOUNTANT

20

HMV and EMI

as album sales fell, and it was in the world. HMV’s star continued HMV has had a store on Oxford purchased by private-equity to rise in the 1980s and 1990s, but Street in London for 97 years. The company Terra Firma in 2007. By the seeds of its downfall were sown composer Edward Elgar opened 2010, huge artists, such as Paul in 1998, when EMI spun off HMV its first Oxford Street store in 1921, McCartney, were jumping ship and, as part of HMV’s merger with book when the company was known in 2011, the label was taken over by chain Waterstones. as His Master’s Voice and sold Citigroup. The bank lost £800m, The connection between record gramophones, sheet music and and Terra Firma £1.5bn. In 2012, the production and record distribution records released under the HMV had given both brands a competitive label was broken up and absorbed label. At the time, the brand was at

by Universal Music Group. advantage in the preceding decades. the forefront of the music industry.

Around the same time, HMV was Now they were going it alone in a A decade later, the brand merged struggling as it tried to play catchrapidly changing industry. with the Columbia Gramophone up with digital music platforms, Neither brand had done enough Company, forming EMI. such as iTunes. In 2013, it appointed to protect itself from the digital The two brands, EMI and HMV, Deloitte as its administrator, owing music revolution. EMI made a huge would dominate the British music millions to its suppliers. mistake when it sold off consumer industry for decades, one handling Restructuring company music production, and Hilco bought HMV’s debt the other selling music NEITHER BRAND HAD DONE its lenders, and then to consumers. They are ENOUGH TO PROTECT ITSELF FROM from organised a deal that indelibly linked to UK THE DIGITAL MUSIC REVOLUTION allowed it to save the HMV music history – The brand, and keep 141 out of Beatles used the inits 222 stores. The company’s modern electronics company Thorn, leaving store studio at HMV Oxford Street Oxford Street outlet was gone, but it reliant solely on records to make to record a demo, which ultimately Hilco restored the original 1921 store, got them signed to EMI. At the time, its money. “EMI was left exposed complete with its old neon sign. by the idea that, as long as records this was a huge gamble – nobody HMV has lived on as a symbol of the kept selling, it would continue to be in the record industry felt ‘guitar music’ had a future – but it paid off. profitable,” Brian Southall, author of UK’s musical history, rather than the innovator it once was. So it’s perhaps The Rise & Fall of EMI Records, told In 1984, HMV moved into a new fitting that HMV expects 2017 to a US radio show. flagship store on Oxford Street, have been its biggest year for vinyl The label experienced a long, minutes away from the old one. It music sales since the late 1980s. slow decline throughout the 2000s, was then the biggest record shop

GETTY IMAGES

The one-time giants of the British music industry were joined at the hip for decades. When they split, they both fell on hard times

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