Interesting accounting topics for book club

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Hi everyone,

We are beginning a book club in my firm in March as a sort of team meeting in a chilled environment. What sort of topics have you been reading recently that have interested you, and are a bit outside normal accountig reading e.g. brexit, COVID impacts. I want topics that will be useful to junior staff as well as experienced managers who have heard it all! Some topics I have thought about already are New accounting technology in 2021, the upcoming budget (a bit boring), the future accountant (how different will they have to be?), what does a high performing and efficient accounting team loo like, and top money saving tips for your clients

All suggestions please! Not only will they be good for the book club, but maybe I will actually be genuinely interested to read some of your articles, topics or podcasts. 

Many Thanks, stay safe everyone!

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By spilly
26th Feb 2021 18:32

This sounds like the dullest book club ever. Are you really expecting staff to engage enthusiastically with it?

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By Hugo Fair
26th Feb 2021 22:14

Although one of the suggestions could be interesting ... "what does a high performing and efficient accounting team loo like?"

I'm not sure which is more intriguing, the concept of a team loo - or what it would like (to receive)? Unfortunately most of my follow-on suggestions will fail the Aweb checker as well as any remnant of good taste that I retain.

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By thomasallen629
26th Feb 2021 23:23

I am not the organiser of it, no I do not want to do it but I have to so I was looking for some helpful advice. Thanks a lot for your input though Spilly

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By paul.benny
28th Feb 2021 14:47

I sympathise with your position.

I'm wondering whether your masters/mistresses expect people to read and discuss these books during billable hours or their own time?

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By Hugh Simpson
26th Feb 2021 20:47

Anonymous?
This is a great way to put your firm at the forefront.
I am looking forward to hearing more.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
27th Feb 2021 01:32

Dust of the articles from the 70s and 80s re Accounting in an Inflationary Environment as post Covid most of the western World may well need that knowledge, a snappy title like " Stop the printing presses, The SSAP16 Redemption " might be good fun. Or you could always try "Modigliani, Miller and the leveraged valuation" if the first topic is too dry.

A fun packed evening is guaranteed if your employers will send a cocktail making kit complete with a minimum of two 70cl bottles of at least 40 proof to each member of staff's home , it could then be the most fun any accountant has had for a very long time.

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By adam.arca
27th Feb 2021 08:54

Yeah!

CPP vs CCA: riveting stuff.

M&M: that’s a blast from the past, some unhappy days there.

The OP could also consider any university level economics textbook: let’s make these 99 completely unrealistic assumptions just so we can make this point about the elasticity of demand (or whatever).....

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
27th Feb 2021 14:41

Or add one subtract one IS:LM analysis; you can add one letter and/or remove one letter to create as many 3-5 letter words with the letters you then have available e.g, add an E for LIMES (the E ,to be clear, is not a drug reference)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
28th Feb 2021 07:16

Quote:

Yeah!

CPP vs CCA: riveting stuff.

Did anyone ever submit current cost accounts ? They must've been a nightmare to justify at an Inland Revenue investigation.

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By Hugh Simpson
28th Feb 2021 11:01

Perhaps concocting a LadyBoy cocktail:
A pint of lager, a gin and tonic and a Baileys irish cream.
Ah-haa!

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Melchett
By thestudyman
27th Feb 2021 07:56

If you want the fastest way to close the book club, bring up the topic of MTD.

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Jane
By Jane Evans
27th Feb 2021 11:40

What a weird title for a technical discussion group, how to drain enthusiasm in one minute.

If you want some books that are readable try

• The Signs Were There (company failures) by Tim Steer. Quick to read.
• The Joy of Tax by Richard Murphy
• The Great Tax Robbery by Richard Brooks
• The Tax Raiders (about Rossminster) by Nigel Tutt

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By WhichTyler
27th Feb 2021 12:36

The 2008 crisis is covered well in John Lanchester's 'Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay' and 'The Big Short' by Michael Lewis

Tim Shipman's All Out War is great on the political machinations behind Brexit

Any thing by Tim Harford is good but 'The Undercover Economist' and ' The Undercover Economist Strikes Back' are good at making micro and macro economics come alive

Kate Raworth on Doughnut Economics might be interesting as a challenge to 'business as usual'

None of these are about accounting (apart from bits of the first two). They are more about human behaviour which is a bit more engaging...

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By hfiddes
01st Mar 2021 15:59

Well books I've enjoyed reading including McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by Misha Glenny and Barbarians at the Gate by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar :)

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