BEING ever-so-slightly unfit I approached Accountancy Age's five-a-side tournament (sponsored by Robert Half) with trepidation. Rightly so, it turned out, as I departed the event with sore legs.

But in all seriousness, a great time was had by all. Frighteningly organised and fit teams from the likes of Macintyre Hudson, Frank Hirth, Haines Watts and the ICAEW, took part in the compo at T47 near London Bridge.

Accountancy Age's team lost in the semi-final for the 'plate' ie Loser's Cup, which was won by Robert Half.

But the top trophy, glory, medals etc went to BDO. Who, let's face it, if you play in pink you've got to be good.

Congrats to all, and thanks for coming along!

PS: Daren't not forget to mention our charity for the event - Kids Company.

ED HUNTER made himself look a bit silly on The Apprentice last night.

The PwC/ICAEW qualified accountant was the first of the 16 bluff business bombasts  unceremoniously booted off the show.

There is certainly an argument that he did the image of the profession no favours in terms of his attitude to his qualification (wants to move away from accountancy as quickly and as far as possible).

He also talked of being a businessman, entrepreneur, which was nothing to do with being an accountant. Again, not great PR for an industry that should play a vital role in steering the course of businesses through stormy waters to great riches.

Hunter also let himself down by failing to realise that a big market for his orange juice would be the breakfast pre-work market...

But we're talking about Hunter here, rather than the show in general.

The most interesting thing to come out of last night's show was Lord Sugar's defence of the profession.

Hunter had failed to use his accounting skills in the task, said Sir Alan. He pointed out that the majority of senior businesspeople and executives come from an accounting background. Even the ICAEW was moved this morning to point out that it remains the most popular breeding ground for future CEOs with 14 of the FTSE 100 chief execs qualifying with ICAEW, compared with 11 last year.

If anything, it felt to me as if Sir Alan was making an effort to convince the TV audience that he was most let down by Ed because he had a great skillset at his disposal, tools that should have given him a head-start on the others.

Overall, I thought The Apprentice was a good advert for the profession - albeit a net gain.

Picture credit: BBC/Talkback Thames

Twitter's been fun. Got to know, chat to, some really interesting advisors over the past few months.

Recent weeks have seen some new followers (or Disciples of Kev, as I prefer them to be known) from firms and accountants I've never heard of before. That's a good thing, and definitely one of the advantages of social networking.

Another advantage is finding out some of the more about what number-crunchers do outside of the day job.

Step forward Mark Benfield and Robert Bradley, whose Twitter biogs had me laughing out loud (or should that be LOL?).

With just hours in between them following me, I wondered if they'd both conspired to outdo each other in the description stakes.

Firstly Mark Benfield of inbusinessaccountants.com:
@MarkLeeBenfield
Owner of InBusiness Chartered Management Accountants. Business adviser. Bass guitarist in Cream Of Clapton tribute band. Wolves fan. Amateur chef.

Then Robert Bradley of Bradley and Associates:
@rjbradley
Accountant to Owner-Managed Businesses and High Net Worth Individuals, Business Writer, Speaker & Mentor, Karaoke Singer, Salsa Dancer, Husband, Son and Friend.

Genius stuff guys - although their Twitter postings haven't exactly matched their hype so far. Come on gang, live up to your Twitter bio!

I'M ABOUT to treat myself by plowing through the Aussie government's discussion paper on the implications of extending privilege to tax advisers in certain circumstances.

But I couldn't help but stop and point out the second sentence in financial services minister Bill Shorten's foreword for the doc, where he describes the accountants as "the consiglieri of suburban prosperity".

"What a cool turn of phrase", was my first thought. My second thought was, "hold on, that sounds a bit dodgy". A consigliere means advisor or counsel, but is the generally accepted term for a Mafia boss's right-hand man.

More an unfortunate turn of phrase. In fairness, he adds that accounting is a "profession of high ethical standards".

All is forgiven Bill.

Nice to see that numbercrunchers have looked beyond the solar panels on their calculators, showing the wherewithal to nail down senior executive roles.

Robert Half's survey of FTSE 100 CEOs finds that nearly half come from financial backgrounds, compared to under a third in 2008.

Accountancy Age hacks keep a close eye on the ebbs and flows of the executive job market, at the listed level. Recently, it has seemed that there have been fewer accountants appointed to CEO than in the previous couple of years when steady ships were required.

In comparison with 2008 I'm not surprised that more financially-literate execs have been appointed CEOs. But have we peaked?

You would expect that growth would see more operational, shop-floor and entrepreneurial appointments to the big boss role. Yet today's GDP figures show that things are still very wobbly.

Fewer FDs will win the top roles, proportionally, going forward. However, with the economy in choppy waters they will continue to be a popular choice for the appointments committee.

And in all fairness, a finance qualification has always proved a good backbone for aspiring executives.

PS. I know this isn't strictly on topic for me, what with this being a practice-related column. So sue me.

I REALLY enjoyed Antony Federer's opinion piece pushing advisers to think about getting more involved in business support in their region, but it left me with one concern.

The Rayner Essex partner claims that the government's "peeling away" of regional business support structures could present an opportunity for advisers to fill the vacuum, citing his firm's new venture with the Herts Chamber of Commerce.

However, my main worry is that the hole will be too big for them to fill on their own. Beyond chambers of commerce, where else can the firms turn to? Without the structures in place, it leaves plenty for the firms to whip up from scratch.

Perhaps regional firms need to band together, or institute district societies can step up to the plate.

If you're involved in any local initiatives, or are just interested in the issue, drop a comment in below.

DOES THE accountancy profession really embrace social mobility?

ACCA seems to think so.

A new report, Climbing the ladder: ACCA and social mobility, finds that skills training for 16+ers will be the key for attaining gainful employment and driving the economy.

The government should also deal with the perception gap between academic and other types of qualifications.

That's hard to argue with. There's no doubt that the accountancy profession admirably provides multiple routes to entry into firms, business and the public sector.

But to suggest accountancy is a virtuous and pure meritocracy is pushing it, to say the least.

The glass ceiling is still firmly in place, despite efforts to chip through it by the likes of PwC with its new 'comply or explain' regime.

The middle-aged, middle-class, white male still dominates the upper echelons of most firms.

So let's bear that in mind for balance's sake, alongside the profession's ability to enable wide access for the most apt young'uns.

GOOD WORK by Tax Advice Network chairman Mark Lee, who has spotted a Treasury note that declares, from this Budget onwards, all tax policy changes will included within one document.

Tax advisers might see this as taking out some of the 'fun' of poring through the Red Book for the detail.

But somehow, despite the Treasury's good intentions, I can't see them doing away with this tried and trusted routine for the tax profession.

We also don't know how big the doc will be anyway...still, don't hold your breath that it will contain everything you'll need to do your job. I'm sure advisers won't want too much changed in their Budget day routine anyway.