ICA CONFERENCE - Tax specialists' work blossoms
Over-supply of chartered accountants will not stop growth, says taxhead.
Demand for tax specialists will continue to grow, despite the predicted over-supply of chartered accountants, the English ICA’s tax faculty’s head claims.
Peter Hobbs told delegates at last week’s conference that tax planning advice from chartered accountants would still be very much in demand, even though most tax compliance will be automated or carried out by unskilled workers.
He said the number of chartered accountants is predicted to increase by 35,000 to 147,000 by 2008.
Outsourcing, Hobbs believes, provides the profession’s major opportunity for growth.
He said: ‘Tax compliance for individuals may well be taken over by companies such as H&R Block, but corporate compliance will provide a market.
‘However, the amount of time that has to be given to corporate work will not make it profitable unless firms have three to four years of man hours tied up in it.’
Opportunities exist, but chartered accountants face challenges from other tax professionals. Lawyers have the ‘lions’ share’ of merger and acquisition activity, while the CIoT staked its claim in its recent annual report, seeking to be the primary professional qualification preferred by trainees and employers.
Institute tax faculty members were also warned of the creeping threat of regulation. Hobbs warned that other countries’ tax professionals, including those in Germany and Australia, were already regulated, while European counterparts were actively discussing the issue.