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One colleague telling another that he is an accountant
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Is accountancy a dirty word?

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22nd Feb 2017
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A quick survey of websites suggests that The Big Four seem embarrassed to acknowledge that their core business is accountancy.

Not so many years ago, life was simple and intelligible. Firms that had associations with such bodies as the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales would be referred to and would describe themselves as “accountants” or “chartered accountants”.

Their core business would be known by the equally recognisable term of “auditing”, while another lucrative strand of business was called “insolvency”.

If any layman lands on the websites of The Big Four and most other firms just below that level, they are likely to be rather confused. Looking at the homepages will leave readers none the wiser. There are lots of buzz terms such as “standing out from the crowd” and “building a better working world” but nothing that explains to the man in the street what it is that these august organisations actually do.

For whatever reason, it is incredibly hard to discover the sphere of business in which they operate. Not one of the top five firms of accountants even refers to the fact that a large number and probably a majority of their staff and partners have accountancy qualifications and that this presumably still their core offering.

Similarly, with the exception of Deloitte, there is no mention of auditing anywhere near either the homepage or the often well-hidden About Us one.

This branding policy becomes even more apparent when a spokesperson from any one of these practices is quoted in the media.

Take a simple example, earlier this week somebody from PwC was in the news and they were described as "the leading professional services firm" with no mention of our esteemed trade. The same applies on their supermodel-laden website.

In many ways, this is a sign that life has moved on and shows that accountants want to use different descriptions to sell their wares.

However, it is a little sad. When I qualified as an accountant, I was filled with pride and desperate to tell everybody that I had entered an esteemed profession.

Now, it appears that I should be hiding this qualification from the general public and certainly potential clients unless I want to scare them off.

One wonders how long it will be before the Institute changes its name and Monty Python has a remake to poke fun at boring professional services firms.

Indeed, I heard a rumour from my editor that 31 March will be the last time that you hear the title AccountingWEB, since on the following day we are to be re-christened. Pop back on 1 April to find out the jazzy new name.

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By PeterFerrigno
22nd Feb 2017 12:16

Ah, but if the outside world assumes that by being an Accountant one could actually prepare a set of accounts, it's probably safer that they don't advertise themselves as such.

Most trained Accountants working in Big 4 firms don't actually prepare accounts, and haven't done for years.

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FT
By FirstTab
22nd Feb 2017 13:29

Accountancy is a kosher word.

Tax avoidance schemes touted by the big accountancy firms (Pin Stripe Mafia) to fill their deep pockets - very very very DIRTY.

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By cheadle
26th Feb 2017 10:04

SpidersWeb

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By deg2yq
26th Feb 2017 10:36

Well there will not be many small accountancy firms left by the time HMRC gets halfway through rolling out its oppressive initiatives that result in extra admin work that we accountants cannot charge for, as well as increased investigations etc.

Not to mention how the PSC/Contractor market has been destroyed in public services and beyond. Let's not forget about the 'we will do it for you personal account'.

I have given up the fight , we will keep plodding along just about meeting costs , and our marketing will continue rolling along as it has. But forget about expanding or increasing marketing presence. We are now looking at new outside accountancy business opportunities.

The writing is on the wall, the small accountancy firm especially the general accountancy practice , will be extinct sooner rather than later.

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