Accountant: the name of the game

The campaign to secure protection of the description ‘accountant’ by the CCAB bodies could be misguided.

What concerns me is that the proponents may not have thought through the consequences if the campaign were successful.

At the ICAEW’s national practitioner forum last week we debated various questions as regards the future of general practitioners.

One perceived threat is the facility for qualified people to describe themselves as ‘accountants’. Indeed, some ICAEW members have chosen to continue acting as accountants despite resigning from the institute as they don’t perceive that membership provides sufficient ongoing benefits.

I have an alternative view borne of many discussions with the public. Most non-accountants assume that all accountants are tax advisers.

Why does anyone, other than company directors, typically appoint an accountant? Does the client really care about their accounts or are they more interested in obtaining help and advice with their tax?

Private investors, the retired and many other clients do not even have accounts in the conventional sense. Yet the majority of such taxpayers turn to accountants for help.

With apologies to the Chartered Institute of Taxation (of which I am proud to be a fellow), the concept of a ‘tax adviser’ as distinct from an ‘accountant’ has yet to enter the public consciousness.

Even if only qualified accountants could describe themselves as such, it is inconceivable that they would be solely able to provide tax return completion services and tax advice. This would mean that chartered tax advisers would be precluded from practicing their profession. That’s a fanciful idea and there is equally no prospect of CTAs agreeing to be described as accountants.

Instead, the public would quickly become much more familiar with the distinction between an accountant and a tax adviser than is presently the case. And given the choice between a specialist in preparing accounts and one specialised in advising on tax, which would they choose to appoint?

Attempts to distinguish qualified and unqualified accountants will increase awareness of the difference between accountants and tax advisers. And if that happens I fear that qualified accountants would lose more than they gain.

Mark Lee is the founder of TaxAdviceNetwork.co.uk