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Any Answers: Do accountants know it's Christmas? By Nichola Ross Martin

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15th Dec 2006
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It seems that Scrooge may be alive and well and working in a business near you, if you consider the results of a poll and survey published this week.

The poll was performed on a completely non-scientific basis to find the answer to our Any Answers Question of the Week. We asked the employers “What do you give your employees for Christmas? We asked the employees: What does your employer normally give you? To save any embarrassment, we are not mentioning any names.

The findings
There was a clear split between the generosity and “fun element” of Christmas between accountancy firms and other businesses, and then some real contrasts in each.

Christmas bonuses
Goldman Sach’s clever employees, who are now, it is reported, referred to as the “have and have yachts”, are in-line of hefty Christmas bonuses of over £300k per head this year. Things are not so bad at all in the city. By contrast, UK employees of a major water-utility company are being offered £0 this year, by their cheery bosses (2005 £20).

If you work on any form of commission basis you are obviously more likely to have some form of bonus at Christmas, but that depends on results, not generosity. A major recruitment firm is paying £0 if you have not made your target, contrast to that to a small restaurant chain in Surrey (who I actually phoned in error) which says that it is paying each member of full time staff £50. Pretty generous, on the face of it, or is this just a share of the Christmas tips?

Party time
Most accountancy firms have a Christmas meal and these seem to be split between lunchtime and evening. Several employees with whom I talked admitted that they did not stay around very long at the office bash, and I found evidence that some firms do not even bother with parties. It seems that they favour “a quick embarrassing drink” in the pub, or worse still in the office.
One sole practitioner told me that he always included some of this small business clients at his annual Christmas lunch, as otherwise he would have the one trainee, a secretary and a freelance bookkeeper – if he was lucky.

One firm in Birmingham told me that they no longer gave their staff turkeys as so many were vegetarian and lived alone. One of the managers from the same firm said that they usually had a great Christmas evening bash, so the picture in the Midlands is not quite as bleak as it might have otherwise seemed!

The funniest answer came from one our longest serving members who gave the very cryptic response of “ I only have one employee and she is also my love interest, so this doesn’t really apply to me.” – A good way to save pennies, I am sure...

Gifts
As to Christmas gifts, the good old “Secret Santa” wins hands down amongst office staff, but employers need to ensure that staff do not give offensive presents, as these may create a huge amount of trouble by invoking harassment claims. Gift vouchers are really popular amongst employers as they are so easy to administer, followed by bottles of wine and chocolates. One accountant said that they had stopped doing Christmas puddings because they were offensive to employees who were on diets. The madness of the modern era!

The more “official” survey results
These come from the Chartered Management Institute’s annual ‘Christmas Outlook’ survey which apparently shows that bosses resent the outlay and fear repercussions from excessive celebrating.

The survey of 468 managers shows that 72% of organisations hold Christmas parties for their staff – slightly down on 74%, last year. This apparent demonstration of "thanks" hides negative feelings about Christmas celebrations in the workplace, with 1 in 3 managers expressing concern about disruption to work and 36% suggesting the party season has become too long.

Across the UK, the Institute’s research shows that organisations in London (84%) and the South-West (80%) are more likely to be holding Christmas events. Only 58% of Scottish organisations will be having an end-of year party, but the lowest was East Anglia (57%).

Away from work, the survey also asked respondents to name the festive music they dreaded most and the ‘must see film’. A minority claimed that they did not dislike any festive music, and 17% said named Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’, 11% identified Cliff Richard’s songs, especially ‘Mistletoe and Wine’, and 1 in 10 cited ‘Jingle Bells’ as their most hated Christmas song. The most popular films to relax to this holiday season were named as ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, ‘Casino Royale’, ‘White Christmas’ and ‘The Snowman’.

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By AnonymousUser
21st Dec 2006 09:56

Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year 2007
To all staff of accountingweb and readers of this website :

Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year 2007

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By User deleted
15th Dec 2006 14:02

My experiences
I have worked for 2 Big 4 firms. One gave out a bottle of champagne to each member of staff every Christmas (plus the usual department Christmas meal) the other only had the Christmas meal.

One year 100 bottles of champagne (across the whole firm) had a ‘golden ticket’ attached to them. The ticket was a free weekend break anywhere in Europe to the value of £1,000. Having been there all of 3 months, I managed to pick out one of these special bottles. As a result, my wife and I had a weekend in a suite at the Savoy all paid for by the firm. I will admit that my heartbeat went up a few notches as I got to the desk to check out and expected the woman to say ‘That will be £850 please’!

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By User deleted
15th Dec 2006 17:02

Nothing
When I worked for one of the final four (for three year post qualifying) we got nothing at Christmas and actually had to pay for our own departmental Christmas do which nobody wanted to go to but was compulsory!

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By User deleted
15th Dec 2006 15:06

Just don't do a Christmas party
Please don't do it you'll never know what might happen.

Better still, if you do, please don't invite me.

Can we call that a deal?

The CEO

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By troubleshooters
15th Dec 2006 15:30

Remember your trainee days
As an accounts junior I always enjoyed the office parties. It gave me chance to meet up with staff and friends from other offices who I rarely saw and get to dance with the secretaries from head office.

Strangely, as the company I worked for grew so it seems did the partners desire for profit and the christmas party was axed along with the christmas bonus.

I also always had to work at least one day between christmas and new year because the partner at my office liked to work during those days and needed someone to answer the phone. I wanted to be at home with my family and celebrating with friends and not sat alone in an office with very little to do in these pre-self-assessment days. No clients were working, I was.

So now as a sole-practitioner I make sure my small workforce get a christmas gift, a bonus (even if only a modest one), a lunchtime meal and drinks which usually lasts through to the evening and a full week and a half to 2 weeks much needed holiday to spend with friends and family before welcoming them back to the madness that is January!

I would like to think they appreciate it as much as I would have. Maybe I will ask them next week when they are suitably lubricated!

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By OperaJohn
15th Dec 2006 17:13

Scrooge
Worked for an accountants in Birmingham (Fletcher & Co) when I was younger; the chairman decided that all his staff had to come in on New Years Day, this would have been around 1986.

I missed the whole of December and part of January as I had the Flu (proper Flu and not man flu :o) ) then went down with measles.

Had I been well enough to attend work, I would not have turned up on principle, can employers get away with this?

As for Christmas parties at work, I give them a wide berth, too many things can go wrong.

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By AnonymousUser
21st Dec 2006 09:02

Merry Christmas Nichola Ross Martin
Enjoy and happily every after, NRM.

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