Garry Carter gives ICB Bookkeepers an A+ in this light-hearted look at how we're all performing during the lockdown...
Lockdown term report
Because of COVID, my report is based on a portfolio of evidence. Some have had a good start to the year and coped well but others need to take a little more care and could do a lot better. GC
A big hand for ICB bookkeepers
It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Well I have to say how impressed I am with ICB’s tough members. What you are being called upon to do during COVID-19 was totally unexpected and unlike anything most of us have ever witnessed in our lifetime. But you are being magnificent. It isn’t easy but the survival instinct has certainly kicked in.
I’ve had the great pleasure of talking to even more of you than I would normally, and I get the overwhelming impression that you are busier than ever, looking after clients who, without you, would be flailing around in a mess.
You are all essential and frontline and I certainly think of you all every Thursday evening when I’m clapping the NHS and other frontline workers. You have swiftly added SEISS, CBILS, BBLS and CJRS to your repertoire, not to mention home-schooling and living twenty-four hours per day with a partner under your feet, and who amongst us had ever heard of furloughing before this? ICB Bookkeepers have once again risen majestically to the top. No fuss. No drama. Comments like “all done”, ‘easy”, “client happy” and “client has received their money” show that you’ve certainly mastered the situation.
Gold star. Another good report. Excellent work (A+)
COVID-19 a bad spell for accountants
I have read in several recent articles, however, that accountants are struggling to help their clients get what’s due to them. I wonder why? Could the answer lie in a recent email I caught sight of, that really made me chuckle. Those of you who have heard me speak at Branch meetings, on the Inspire Tour, or at Summit, will probably have heard me complain that some other bodies will allow people into membership simply because they know what a bookkeeper is or, better still, are able to spell it. So you will imagine my amusement when I read the email, which was from the head of a ‘professional’ body who referred to both ‘accountnat’ and ‘’acciuntant’. Maybe it’s time for some of them to be furloughed too.
Could do better. Not trying hard enough (C)
Sermon from the Mount
Avid listeners to my (almost) daily programme on ICBTV will doubtless have heard me ribbing the ever-present, ever-ebullient font of all knowledge, Jacquie (seagull lady) Mount, because she had upset someone who heads up one of the HMRC panels on which she
represents ICB. He had taken umbrage at Jacquie for daring to question how much information can be reported to members and when. I am pleased to say that Jacquie stood her ground and won the day. Probably not surprising, therefore, that Jacquie was invited to represent ICB and the bookkeeping profession alongside HMRC at this weeks Sage and Accountex webinars.
Likes to talk a lot but good to have around. Excellent effort that is getting her noticed (A)
OPBAS doing a good job
Our AML governing body, the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (thankfully acronym-ed to OPBAS) has released its second annual report since taking on the thankless task of drawing together the disparate bunch of twenty-two professional body supervisors from the accountancy and legal sectors, and pulling them together into a well honed, effective and co-operative group. Their first report, twelve months ago, highlighted many shortcomings across the bodies and was used to show that an oversight body was needed. And whilst many of us felt that the report was used to paint the bleakest picture possible, this latest report shows how effective they have been and what improvements to supervision have been made. The report is very comprehensive and although the examples of change and good practice have been anonymised, I am sure ICB is mentioned twice: Once where it says that one professional body had to change its rules to allow instant fines rather than subjecting transgressors to a disciplinary panel: And the other is about a professional body that unearthed suspected criminal activity and has co-operated with law enforcement. The full report is here;
https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/opbas/supervisory-report-progress-themes-2019.pdf
However, a review of the OPBAS report released at the end of April by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI),whilst generally praising their efforts and success in turning around the professional body AML compliance landscape, says that they now need to take a more robust stance and censure those not meeting the required standards. Helena Wood, Associate Fellow at RUSI and author of the report concluded that “…OPBAS’s virtue of patience could soon become a vice’. She went on to say that perhaps it is time to now “…publicly name those not meeting the required standards…”. OPBAS, Wood says, “…has an even more powerful tool in its armoury - the power to recommend to HM Treasury that a supervisor is removed from the list of supervisory bodies…”. Wood concludes that “Whilst OPBAS’s firm but fair approach has been enough to shift the dial so far, it is clear the anonymous ‘outliers’ require a more uncompromising approach”.
Much improved but now needs to build on this success (B+)