“Accountants” claiming to be chartered

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Yeah I know social media is the pits but im getting more than a little [***] off with people claiming to be chartered accountants when they are not. 

I checked two today and neither were chartered nor certified. At best one of them had a bookkeeping qualification. 

And it's these scumbags who shout the loudest giving [***] "advice" which make us all look like [***] idiots. 

Replies (29)

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
06th May 2021 18:14

Classy. Id tell your representing body as they tend to go in quite hard, but only if they know about it......

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By legerman
06th May 2021 19:09

I'm quite impressed as to how you managed to get the sweary words past the swearbot.

Definitely worth informing the relevant body(s)

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Replying to legerman:
Routemaster image
By tom123
06th May 2021 20:25

Because they are good old Saxon words, rather than mealy mouthed Californian ones.

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Replying to tom123:
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By Hugo Fair
06th May 2021 21:53

FWIW it's actually a neat (double) trick:
1. Add characters to the 'bad' word so that it's incorporated within a bigger 'word' (that appears not to be recognised by the oh-so-clever AI); and
2. Make those additional characters out of anything but normal text characters so that the human reader doesn't struggle to recognise the 'bad' word on its own.
For additional cheeky points, you can ensure those additional characters look like a censored string (like sticking two-fingers up at the not-so intelligent software)!

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
VAT
By Jason Croke
07th May 2021 07:51

I mentioned the Guy Richie movie Sn@tch the other day here and that got censored.

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Replying to Jason Croke:
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By Hugo Fair
07th May 2021 19:34

And yet your bastardised version has been 'translated' into an email address ... just because the software has an inflexible 'rule' regarding the @ character appearing anywhere within a string of text!
I wonder why so many people aren't fervent believers in the infallibility of artificial intelligence (let alone the Gadarene rush towards digital Armageddon)?

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
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By legerman
08th May 2021 10:29

Hugo Fair wrote:

FWIW it's actually a neat (double) trick:
1. Add characters to the 'bad' word so that it's incorporated within a bigger 'word' (that appears not to be recognised by the oh-so-clever AI); and
2. Make those additional characters out of anything but normal text characters so that the human reader doesn't struggle to recognise the 'bad' word on its own.
For additional cheeky points, you can ensure those additional characters look like a censored string (like sticking two-fingers up at the not-so intelligent software)!

I don't know whether it still works but years ago you could use an ASCII character that acted as a space but in text it appeared as the full word, but bypassed the swearbot.

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Replying to legerman:
A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
08th May 2021 09:17

I got away with [***] the other week

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Replying to Arthur Putey:
A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
08th May 2021 09:17

or was it buggered?

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By SteveHa
06th May 2021 20:02

I'm more annoyed at the quoted “Accountants” as someone QBE, with more than 32 years experience, and more professional ethics than many who post on here have.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By DaveyJonesLocker
06th May 2021 20:07

Exactly. Insurers offer professional indemnity for QBE so you can be an accountant without quotation marks. Chartered, not, of course.

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Replying to SteveHa:
Slim
By Slim
06th May 2021 20:32

No need to be annoyed, you don’t need to be qualified to be a good accountant.

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Replying to SteveHa:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
07th May 2021 08:07

To be fair to the OP, someone that is going to claim a qualification they don't have is not likely to be the good sort of unqualified.

But I quite agree. A decent QBE will beat a qualified person that has only done the exams every time. It's how you apply the knowledge, not how you acquired it, that matters.

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By carnmores
06th May 2021 20:44

caveat emptor

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Replying to carnmores:
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By I'msorryIhaven'taclue
06th May 2021 21:41

I've come across one or two who display an "ACCA Approved Employer" badge that would fool most buyers. I have a sneaking suspicion I've come across a similar raft of would-be AAT members in practice, not dissimilar in style over substance.

The ICAEW used to have a link to a list of people masquerading as members, circa 2012, which I'm unable to locate immediately from my kitchen. It was on my work desktop recently when D.P. was doing the rounds here, pretending to be all sorts of Hell's Angels and things.

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
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By Mr_awol
11th May 2021 12:28

I'msorryIhaven'taclue wrote:

The ICAEW used to have a link to a list of people masquerading as members, circa 2012, which I'm unable to locate immediately from my kitchen.

Misdescribers list:
https://www.icaew.com/about-icaew/find-a-chartered-accountant/beware-of-...

Interestingly Crunch are on there - off to add this info to the relevant thread

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Replying to I'msorryIhaven'taclue:
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By Paul Crowley
11th May 2021 12:53

Crunch appears as a firm who signed an undertaking

Yet they keep getting nominated for awards?

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Replying to Paul Crowley:
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By Mr_awol
11th May 2021 13:00

Paul Crowley wrote:

Crunch appears as a firm who signed an undertaking

Yet they keep getting nominated for awards?

The might be great for all i know. For all i know they might also have been ICAEW before, changed structure, etc and genuinely forgotten to take a logo off of a single page of their website. I just thought it topical that they were on the list when i looked for it.

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By carnmores
11th May 2021 13:24

Franchise

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By carnmores
06th May 2021 20:46

caveat emptor

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By The Dullard
07th May 2021 16:31

99% of "Accountants" with or without the qualifications are completely fuching useless, IMO, any way.

They hand these qualifications out with the hundredth purchase of packets of cocoa pops. So, it's really not worth getting sweaty about.

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Slim
By Slim
07th May 2021 18:08

As an example yesterday someone wanted a chartered accountant to do their ltd company accounts, then quick as a flash you get "I'm a chartered accountant (there not) I'll do that for £15 a month(!!!) you don't need to worry about blah blah blah and they proceed to give terrible advice.

I find them claiming to be an accountant just as annoying but that's not a protected term.

I'd like to know how they manage to do it for £15 a month when you have insurance, AML etc oh wait.

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By Ken Howard
07th May 2021 19:19

I'm more concerned about all the qualified/chartered accountants plying their trade on internet sites such as people per hour and fivvr who don't have practising certificates nor insurance. They're typically employees of accountancy practices doing moonlighting on the side for ridiculously cheap fees.

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Replying to Ken Howard:
Slim
By Slim
07th May 2021 19:45

A fair point, it isn't only employees moonlighting though

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By Selaen
10th May 2021 16:20

Have you been in the depths of TikTok? Because you know, they are not (making a wild assumption here) in the same profession as most of us here. They are "accountants". Rather than accountants.

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Replying to Selaen:
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By Paul Crowley
11th May 2021 13:02

If a person goes to TikTok to find an 'accountant' then they get what they deserve. Not the kind of client I am looking for.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
11th May 2021 12:59

Frankly given how spelling and punctuation are both departing the 21st century (I got told this morning that neither matters anymore) just refer to yourself as a Chattered Accountant, 95% of readers will be none the wiser.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By Dib
11th May 2021 13:28

I seem to recall that, many moons ago, a firm I worked for signed an audit report off as [Firm Name] Chartered Accucunts or similar. Another firm used the phrase "Profit/(loss) arising on disposal of fixed assets". One might see that the omission of the first 'i' in 'arising' could cause some mirth. Unfortunately it happened all too often.

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Replying to Dib:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
11th May 2021 17:17

I often find myself typing acocuntant. In error, I mean

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