Inexperience explains watchdog’s lack of practice empathy

Inexperience explains watchdog's lack of practice empathy

Society of Professional Accountants chairman Peter Mitchell says the Professional Oversight Board's lack of experience was the reason the watchdog called for more small practice regulation

The Professional Oversight Board’s knowledge gap unbalanced their 2010 report, I believe as in response to the question I asked of POB they have admitted that none of their current board members has a significant background in the SME sector of the accountancy profession.

This is a concerning shortcoming, as the POB has little understanding how clients first select an accountant.

POB maintains that the existence of the professional accounting bodies’ monitoring and quality assurance schemes is one of the key reasons why clients choose a qualified accountant over an unqualified one.

As many smaller clients cannot distinguish between a qualified or an unqualified accountant, and have not had heard about our quality assurance schemes, it is not surprising that POB’s ‘key reason’ appears wide of the mark, when what clients actually want is a recommendation for someone who would do a competent up to date job at a reasonable cost to sort out their tax and provide any accounts to support this.

Professional accountants continue to moan that their profession is not protected against the ‘unqualifieds’ but, until the CCAB bodies collectively chose an alternative title to identify professionally qualified accountants – and market it extensively to educate the general public – a process that would take several years and be very costly – we have to put up with this somewhat irritating competition.

However, having put great store in this ‘key reason’ the POB compared this finding against the reported number of ‘breaches’ arising from monitoring visits. This was also unfortunate as it appears that recent enthusiasm to report small, harmless, technical breaches was interpreted by POB as evidence that practice standards were slipping – and needed tightening up!

“More monitoring please” POB recommended – which to implement is bound to add to our costs – is unjustified and hardly in keeping with the government’s mantra about reducing regulation.

In seems to the SPA that should this quango be spared in the current round of government cuts, it would do well to rethink how it tests data gleaned from the SME sector before publishing its ‘findings’ – perhaps by strengthening its board with a member from the Federation of Small Businesses or similar representative body. Meanwhile how will the CCAB bodies deal with this challenge – will they kowtow or do a Nelson?

Peter Mitchell is chairman of the Society of Professional Accountants (SPA)

 

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource