Recently I was sent a link to an online collection of 101 jokes about accountants. I got a little excited. Surely it would contain plenty of new jokes I could share more widely through my other blog: The lighter side of accountancy and tax.  In fact I was very disappointed. The collection was dreadful. Over the

One of the talks I presented at Accountex in November 2012 was titled: Harnessing the power of social media for career success. Much of this talk was an adaptation of my more general articles, blogs and talks on social media. However, there were a number of completely new elements including some key tips re facebook -

With Accountex around the corner you might think this piece is aimed at accountants planning to attend what looks set to be the biggest and best exhibition and conference accountants have seen in the UK for many years. It is. But the ten tips are equally applicable whenever you attend conferences for accountants and tax

There was a depressing piece of news in the November 2012 issue of Economia (The ICAEW's replacement magazine for 'Accountancy'). President Mark Spofforth reports on research undertaken by Oxford Brookes University that contains some salutary lessons for anyone promoting the accountancy profession as a career choice: "Accountancy is boring, offers little intellectual stimulus and makes virtually no

This post is a post-script to a couple of posts I originally wrote for the TaxBuzz blog. As I no longer update that blog I have to comment here. And, yes, I HAVE to comment. Two people with whom I worked some years ago have been found guilty and imprisoned for their part in a fraudulent tax

If we focus only on what we can get from a networking situation we are likely to be disappointed more often than not. On the other hand if we focus on how we can help those we meet two things happen. Firstly the pressure is off and it’s easier to enjoy the event. Secondly we

Accountants are all too used to being characterised as 'boring'. Maybe some fit the sterotype. In other cases the epithet is more down to the perceived boring nature of accounting and auditing. One reason so many accountants are seen as boring is precisely because we enjoy doing the boring old stuff that clients don't like

The so-called baby-boomer accountants, born in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, are now reaching (normal) retirement age. For many of them the question of whether they can afford to retire is at the forefront of their thoughts. Some members of the profession have long been making pension contributions or investments intended to ensure

I've been on twitter since 2007 years and have watched my twitter follower numbers gradually increase over this time. I think it's fair to assume that my 5,300+ [edited Dec 2013] followers each fall into one or more of the following categories: Interested in me/my tweets - and forming part of my target audience of

A new report (at the time of writing) suggests that most of the biggest firms are wasting their time and are not creating enough of a buzz through their social media activities. The report from Flagship Consulting (a PR consultancy) "used a number of tools" to "measure brand activity" across twitter, facebook and firms' websites

It seems that many accountants have experienced one form of local networking group and either decided that they like it or that it's not for them. That's fair although it would be a mistake to assume that all such groups operate in the same way. And it would also be a mistake to assume that

I imagine that some accountants are concerned that clients may have complaints in the light of the latest media stories about tax avoidance schemes. Such complaints will rarely be justified and would only arise due to some of the misleading reports of the way that Jimmy Carr, Take That and other celebrities have used the

The ICAEW's new membership magazine, Economia, has introduced a novel idea. They have teamed up with PeerIndex to identify and list the "The top most influential Finance accounts on Twitter". And I'm currently ranked at number 38 which is flattering. Sadly though I doubt the veracity of the list and thus can take no real delight

A couple of non-tech savvy friends recently confirmed my view about the media stories that reference twitter. "Why would anyone get involved with that stuff?" they asked. They were visibly shocked to learn that I was 'into' twitter and that I help accountants to understand this 'new' facility. I offered to explain. I knew there

Last year I awarded a (notional) prize for what I considered to be the  best Budget night 'commentary' that I saw the following day.  The winner, and runner-up to a lesser extent, stood out among the dozens of 'me too' pieces that were, frankly, not worth anyone's time and effort. Many years ago the Chancellor's

In my last blog post I suggested that accountants who tweet using their firm's name are missing a trick. Twitter is a social media platform that is suited to building personal engagement. It is less effective when used as a broadcast media and this is typically what we expect of and experience with corporate twitter

Yesterday's short intro seminar on 'Networking for accountants who don't like networking' seemed to be well received. Much of the content was drawn from my previous talks on the subject of Networking - and from the related posts on this blog. I did however update the slides and add one under the title: 'What's not

The following six 'client fundamentals' are highlighted in Robert Craven's book: Grow your service firm. I've added my interpretation of each of them in square brackets. 1 - Don't waste my time [Don't keep me waiting at the start of scheduled meetings. Also when explaining issues, in writing or face to face. Doctors manage well

When it comes to the provision of business advice, I've previously suggested that accountants serving business clients, fall into one of four categories: 1 - It's a no-go area: The accountant's business experience is limited and perhaps they don't feel that confident with the idea of providing business advice. 2 - Personal experience: The accountant