As the very good friend of someone with mental health issues... ... I can confirm that CABA ran away very very quickly and did absolutely nothing when presented with an ICAEW member who desperately needed their help.
I've always felt that... ...I'm in the wrong business. I've found accountancy soulless, tedious and full of arbitrary pomp and circumstance. I've been relentlessly squashed by the regulators whenever I have dared to put my head above the parapet and I have tried several times to get out.
The trouble is, I am good at what I do, it pays well and I can't face starting again at the bottom of something else which may prove to be equally as futile once I get into it.
I try hard to talk everyone out of any of the non medical professions and live for my holidays and the weekends.
Did this years ago Didn't seem to make much difference except when one particular client made a complaint and said to my regulator that I was over charging him and used my website as evidence.
Although the regulators claim they don't get involved in fee disputes, they seemed to like having a bash at me whenever they can and although the complaint was eventually dismissed, I decided the pain of it could have been avoided by not having specific prices on my site.
Have a look at sanebox It's a decent email management program that learns from your email history and does the filtering and organising and filing for you.
I have some big names who struggle to pay the bills.
One rang me from Waitrose saying his card had bounced and could I pay the groceries bill for him till next pay day.
Yes, most footballers have a gambling problem. I'm sure a few have drug issues (although I've not seen that) But they all live too big.
They buy fleets are brand new cars that they swop within months
They buy houses for their whole family and run those houses
They give allowances to their whole family
They give big presents to everyone
They have no concept that it will ever end.
I have one young "go-getting" player at a very big club who is a very young 19 who earns £10k net per month, but all he has for himself is £400.
He live in a bedroom of the house his Mom made him buy (with a huge mortgage) for her and his 7 brothers and sisters. He is bled dry and he is miserable... so he then gambles and the cycle gets worse... I feel quite sorry for this kid.
As snotty as this sounds, the trouble is they are just kids from the council estate who get too much too young and with whom no one will say no.
But then if I was in their place at their age, I would have probably done the same, hell I struggled to cope with the success of my first accountancy practice when I was in my 30's buying and Aston Martin and a £2mill house!
My answers
As the very good friend of someone with mental health issues...
... I can confirm that CABA ran away very very quickly and did absolutely nothing when presented with an ICAEW member who desperately needed their help.
I thought the same...
I do £2.5m, if they want to give me £10m, I'm outta here.
Ive never heard of x4 fees. Tenon at its hight paid x2 and look what happened there.
Will be very interested to watch this over the next few years
Another shooting star!
Not plateauing know!
Having been in this industry
This is good news for the small suppliers, but will be of most benefit to the big boys.
Even on third pass audits we'd routinely find six figure promotional payments outstanding from 5 and 6 years previously.
Big business are simply too complex and things are always slipping through the net.
The ultimate cost is always then passed on to the consumer.
Delegator
I look pretty, but do nothing - about right!
I've always felt that...
...I'm in the wrong business. I've found accountancy soulless, tedious and full of arbitrary pomp and circumstance. I've been relentlessly squashed by the regulators whenever I have dared to put my head above the parapet and I have tried several times to get out.
The trouble is, I am good at what I do, it pays well and I can't face starting again at the bottom of something else which may prove to be equally as futile once I get into it.
I try hard to talk everyone out of any of the non medical professions and live for my holidays and the weekends.
Did this years ago
Didn't seem to make much difference except when one particular client made a complaint and said to my regulator that I was over charging him and used my website as evidence.
Although the regulators claim they don't get involved in fee disputes, they seemed to like having a bash at me whenever they can and although the complaint was eventually dismissed, I decided the pain of it could have been avoided by not having specific prices on my site.
Have a look at sanebox
It's a decent email management program that learns from your email history and does the filtering and organising and filing for you.
I look after 122 professional footballers...
And can support the XPro survey.
I have some big names who struggle to pay the bills.
One rang me from Waitrose saying his card had bounced and could I pay the groceries bill for him till next pay day.
Yes, most footballers have a gambling problem. I'm sure a few have drug issues (although I've not seen that) But they all live too big.
They buy fleets are brand new cars that they swop within months
They buy houses for their whole family and run those houses
They give allowances to their whole family
They give big presents to everyone
They have no concept that it will ever end.
I have one young "go-getting" player at a very big club who is a very young 19 who earns £10k net per month, but all he has for himself is £400.
He live in a bedroom of the house his Mom made him buy (with a huge mortgage) for her and his 7 brothers and sisters. He is bled dry and he is miserable... so he then gambles and the cycle gets worse... I feel quite sorry for this kid.
As snotty as this sounds, the trouble is they are just kids from the council estate who get too much too young and with whom no one will say no.
But then if I was in their place at their age, I would have probably done the same, hell I struggled to cope with the success of my first accountancy practice when I was in my 30's buying and Aston Martin and a £2mill house!
Steve
To make the race to the bottom work...
... You need scale
It's what makes Asda and Tesco cheap
None of us have the scale to do this.
Why not operate nationally?
SJD do, starting from a kitchen table
I do starting from an office in a northern town?
Pick a business you like being around and become an expert in it. I love boxing, so I am making myself the guru of boxing accounts and tax
Sure if GP stuff falls in dead through the door, I'm not turning it away, but what gets me up is being around the boxing world.