9am Lowdown: Management accountants see salaries grow

Good morning, here is this morning’s 9am Lowdown

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Management accountants see salaries grow

Management accountants have seen salaries grow twice the national average, according to research from CIMA.

CIMA members have seen their average earnings reach £64,011 in 2016. Even those in the process of gaining their qualification are earning 22% higher than the national average wage, earning an annual salary of £33,638.

Furthermore, members and students expect their salary development to grow, with 94% surveyed anticipated a salary boost in the next 12 months.

Andrew Harding FCMA, CGMA, managing director of CIMA, said: “For three years in a row, management accountants have been paid more than twice the national average, revealing their enduring value to businesses.”

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Leadership hopeful pledges wealth tax

Labour leadership contender Owen Smith intends on introducing a ‘wealth tax’ on the richest 1% and reinstating the 50p tax rate, he announced in a speech yesterday.

Smith hinged his leadership campaign on these “equality busting” pledges which he claims will raise £3bn. According to the BBC, Smith’s wealth tax plans would be a charge of 15% on unearned income. The leadership hopeful also proposes to overturn CGT and inheritance tax cuts and to stop corporation tax cuts.  

Announcing his plans, Smith said: "It's time we asked the very wealthiest in our society to start paying more.”

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HMRC cleaner hopes strike 'embarrasses' the department

A worker who cleans HMRC’s offices hopes their strike earlier this week has “caused some embarrassment to the department”.

“It is really hard to swallow when HMRC says it has no responsibility to make sure we’re treated fairly, especially when we spend our working lives emptying its bins and cleaning its toilets. What makes it worse is that this is the government department responsible for making sure employers pay the minimum wage,” the anonymous worker wrote in The Guardian.

The workers employed by subcontracting chain ISS are asking to be paid the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended salary of £8.25 an hour. The worker has lost two hours a week since the National Living Wage, which means that can no longer claim tax credits.

“Although we’re angry with ISS, most people I speak to just think this is what a lot of these big companies do – that’s how they make their money. It’s HMRC we’re really furious with,” wrote the worker.  

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