Introducing AAT's short courses: AAT Essentials Posted 06/26/2012 by Stuart Waterman & filed under Run your business. AAT has recently launched a range of one-day courses that provide short, sharp, key skills training for business professionals. Each AAT Essentials short course is designed for business people without an accounting and finance background, and provides practical, straight-talking training. Whether you’re an AAT training provider looking to broaden the range of courses you offer, or an employer thinking of investing in your workforce’s development, AAT Essentials courses offer a flexible way to provide the accountancy skills vital to modern business. The knowledge-based AAT Essentials courses are now available to training providers to purchase and deliver in classrooms. Each course covers essential subject matter in a style that allows non-accounting business people to fully understand accountancy matters. Subjects offered through AAT Essentials include: Making sense of financial documents Budgeting for the small business Maintaining cash flow, keeping your business healthy Finance for non-financial managers. Each AAT Essentials course is delivered in around seven hours, and if you’re an AAT training provider you’ll be provided with all the materials needed to deliver the topic – delegate notes, PowerPoint slides and tutor guidance. More information, including contact details and downloadable course overviews: AAT Essentials – short courses
Top tips for studying AAT Level 4 Posted 06/22/2012 by Rachael De Bose & filed under Professional Diploma, Students. Like with most qualifications, Level 4 of the AAT Accounting Qualification is considered the hardest. In the first of a series of posts, VQ Learner of the year, Rachael De Bose, shares her experience of Level 4 and offers some tips for success. I was thrown in at the deep end. I researched for a qualification on the internet that would up-skill me as soon as possible, because it was essential that I got to grips with my new responsibilities as soon as I could. AAT fitted the bill. I didn’t fail any modules, but I was seriously dedicated: I studied extremely hard (most, if not every, evening). My organisation paid for the qualification, but I got no time off so I knew my social life would be put on hold whilst I obtained the qualification. The great thing about AAT is it’s all based on practical learning, which means if you don’t have experience if you put in time and effort you can still succeed. I found Unit 10 (now called Internal Controls and Accounting Systems [ICAS]) the hardest out of all the Level 4 units. No surprises there, I guess. I found there was so much information to learn and digest that it’s easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed. It’s hard because you have to think so much more and you have to put your thoughts and reasons into words. While this is essential in accounting, it was a new skill to learn as we didn’t have to do this for any units in Level 2 and Level 3. Luckily I didn’t need too much support, it would have been difficult if I did because there isn’t anyone else working in accounts/finance in my office. Luckily my tutor was great and I could connect with him easily online and on the phone. Top Tip: Don’t put it off. I did all three levels in a short space of time because it was essential for my job. I think it’s important to not have a break and to keep studying so everything is fresh in your mind. As soon as I passed an exam, I would immediately start revising for the next one. I didn’t allow myself time to worry and procrastinate. I would also recommend starting your ICAS project early, don’t leave it right to the end. Finally if you need help, seek it – social media means that people can direct you to useful resources which certainly come in handy if you’re studying through distance learning. Rachael De Bose Rachael De Bose is an office manager at QSS (construction company). In 2011 Rachael was informed that the bookkeeper at QSS would be leaving and she’d be required to take on this role. Rachael studied AAT through distance learning and completed all three levels in eight months, all whilst working a 45-hour week.
How do you follow up after a job interview? Posted 06/22/2012 by Stuart Waterman & filed under Interview tips. This and further questions are tackled by AAT career coach Aimee Bateman in her latest two videos. Check them out below. Catch up on all Aimee’s videos with this AAT Career coach YouTube playlist. 1. When an interviewer asks about my biggest achievement, does the answer have to relate to my work history? 2. Why doesn’t my recruitment consultant return my calls? 1. I went for an interview and have heard nothing from the employer. What should I do? 2. Is it OK to state my previous business ownership experience in my CV?
When tax bites back Posted 06/19/2012 by Steven Perryman & filed under News. Ever wondered ‘what is tax?’ Many celebrities have. And now is a good time to be asking. Only this week Jimmy Carr has been named as the largest beneficiary of a Jersey-based accountancy arrangement said to shelter £168m a year from the taxman. He’s not the first celebrity to get embroiled in a tax row, as Steven Perryman discovers Tax. It’s a short word with big impact. And it will never have a higher profile than right now. Earlier this year we had the trial of football manager Harry Redknapp’s for tax evasion and this week The Times has started a series of exposes on tax avoidance. As has been well documented, there is a fine line between tax avoidance and tax evasion. Just ask Tony Blair. The former Prime Minister came under the spotlight earlier this year for paying only £315,000 of tax on earnings of £12m. The surprisingly low amount has been attributed to his company channelling millions of pounds through a complicated web of companies. The fine line between right and wrong is nothing new. Former Labour chancellor Denis Healy once famously said that the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion was ‘the thickness of a prison wall’. Timely words more than 20 years on, given that from earlier this year individuals will no longer be protected from receiving both hefty fines and prison sentences if found guilty of tax offences. So in honour of all this, here are some of our favourite – and most famous – tax cases: Sport 2012: Harry Redknapp Harry Redknapp appeared at Southwark Crown Court alongside co-defendant Milan Mandaric, currently Sheffield Wednesday FC chairman. Both men faced two charges relating to payments of $145,000 and $150,000 alleged to have been made by Mandaric to Redknapp when they were chairman and manager respectively at Portsmouth FC. The money was alleged to have been paid into a Monaco bank account opened by Redknapp. After a long, public trial both men were cleared of any wrongdoing. 1987: Lester Piggott In 1987 the champion jockey was sentenced to three years in prison after failing to declare income of about £3m. Piggott, whose fortune at the time was estimated at £20m, was said to have used different names to channel his earnings into secret bank accounts in Switzerland, the Bahamas, Singapore and the Cayman Islands. The judge said that Piggott had ‘even misled his own accountants’. The nine-times Derby winner was prosecuted in what was then the biggest individual income tax-dodging case ever brought in the UK. The sentence was thought to be the highest to be passed for a personal tax fraud. Piggott resumed his riding career when he was released from jail and retired in 1995, having won more than 4,000 races. Other notable mentions include boxer Chris Eubank, who was declared bankrupt for owing £1.3m in unpaid taxes. Not forgetting newly-crowned PDC world darts champion, Adrian Lewis, who has had to use his £200,000 winners cheque to pay off his tax bill. Twice. Film & TV 2009: Nicolas Cage Three years ago Cage reportedly owed $6,617,550, including three old claims filed between 2002 and 2004, as well as $6,257,005 in back taxes from 2007. Cage blamed the negligence on his former financial manager and said that he was just a victim. Cage’s manager, on the other hand, said it was his client’s reckless spending habits that caused the situation. Regardless of whose fault it was, the IRS and state of Nevada took ownership on Cage’s multimillion-dollar Las Vegas home in November 2009, subsequently selling it for $4.9m. Leaving Las Vegas indeed. 2008: Kerry Katona Katona was declared bankrupt at the High Court in London after failing to pay the final £82,000 of a £417,000 tax bill. Rather predictably Katona blamed her accountant, not her excessive spending, and decided to storm his offices in a rage. The resulting confrontation ended in much screaming and throwing of hot tea. Katona was subsequently arrested on suspicion of assault and spent eight hours in a cell before being released on bail. Other notable mentions in this category include comedian and feather-duster impresario Ken Dodd, who in 1989 was charged with 11 counts of tax evasion. He won the resulting court case. More recent cases include Lindsay Lohan, who still owes a reported $93,000 in income tax from three years ago. As celebrity website TMZ notes: ‘if Lohan refuses to pay the debt … the government can go after anything that belongs to her … including homes, cars and bank accounts … assuming she has any of those things.’ Hall of fame 1931: Al Capone In spite of a number of alleged bloody and brutal crimes, Al Capone, one of the most famous gangsters of the 20th century, was eventually sent down for tax evasion. The man who for years was the US public enemy number one was pursued for four years by Elliot Ness and his squad of ‘Untouchables’. But in the end it was a former accountant, Frank J Wilson, a special agent for the US Internal Revenue Service, who avoided the attentions of Capone’s gunmen and snaffled the boss of the Chicago Outfit. Capone was sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion in 1931. And Wilson? He went on to become chief of the US Secret Service. 2006: Walter Anderson He may not have the celebrity status of some of the others, but American Walter Anderson is responsible for one of the largest cases of personal tax evasion ever. The former telecommunications executive hid his earnings in a web of aliases and offshore bank accounts. In 2006, he admitted hiding $365m worth of income in the 1990s. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined nearly $400m in back taxes, penalties and fees.
How to find clients when starting a business Posted 06/12/2012 by Psyche Coderre & filed under Run your business. Starting your own business can be daunting, with finding clients the first major obstacle. AAT member in practice, Psyche Coderre MAAT, says the solution to the conundrum may be closer to home than you think. One of Hollywood’s most famous accountants, to the chagrin of the rest of us, is Rick Moranis’s nerdy Louis Tully from the 1980s classic Ghostbusters. In one famous scene, Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) is surprised to pass Louis’s flat and hear the sounds of a lively party. The punchline is that Louis isn’t actually more popular than he appears – all the party guests are his clients, and he’s entertaining them at his expense. But what if it’s the other way around, and your clients are your friends? When you start as a member in practice (MIP), you need to find clients somewhere. Old-fashioned advertising, or listing in the Yellow Pages, generally isn’t fruitful. People want an accountant they trust, and for many, no one fits that bill better than an accountant they know. I moved to London in 2002, and received my MAAT qualification in 2009. In the interim, I settled firmly into the goth scene, having been a part of this subculture since the age of 17. My scene involvement included DJing, promoting club nights and the occasional live gig – in addition to clubbing at weekends and frequenting goth-friendly pubs. Over the years, I met hundreds of alternative people from every walk of life. Out of these hundreds of people, a sizeable number were in a position to need an accountant. These included independent contractors, self-employed artisans, ex-pats with foreign income issues, and the people who ran the pubs and clubs I frequented. As I gained my AAT Accounting Qualification, it seemed obvious that they might prefer someone like-minded to do their accounts, so I’d have a good shot at a ready-made market for my services. I was used to marketing to goths, having spent hour upon hour handing out flyers for my gigs and club nights. Could handing out business cards be so different? Fortunately, I did find several friends who were keen to keep their accountancy budget in the goth community, and a small core of loyal customers emerged. Then they began recommending me to their friends. I built a website and made a Facebook page for Death and Taxes (what goth could resist an accountant whose logo involves the Grim Reaper and whose slogan is ‘Keeping you in the black’?), but it was mainly personal recommendations – as most MIPs discover – that helped build my practice. Working with friends has its strong points. As I was starting, my first clients – and oldest friends – became guinea pigs. For example, my first company formation was for an IT consultant I’d met at London club night Slimelight in 2002. It failed the first time and I had to resubmit. Thankfully, as a friend he was far more forgiving of my inexperience. Of course, he was also receiving mates’ rates. Another upside of working mainly in a particular community is that I’ve become well-known as ‘the goth accountant’. Someone in the scene might not need an accountant now, but if they find themselves in receipt of an unwelcome letter from HMRC, or decide to quit their job and become self-employed, they know I’m here. And, of course, people who struggle to combine an alternative appearance with a professional career can easily connect with me and my purple hair. They know I wouldn’t negatively judge a self-employed lighting engineer with dreadlocks and multiple facial piercings, a tattooed burlesque dancer or a fetish-themed club night. Or a shorthaired, suited City IT consultant whose colleagues know nothing of his favoured weekend hangouts… Confidentiality can be an issue when your clients come from the same social group. I have to be careful using examples of what other – unnamed, of course – clients have experienced in case the person I’m speaking to recognises who I’m talking about. And an unfortunate side effect is that I’m often unable to leave work at home when it’s social time. It’s rare that I go to an event or party without a couple of my clients in attendance. I’ll be dolled up for a night of partying and get sucked into a conversation about someone’s VAT return. But I can’t complain because it’s just as likely I’ll get an introduction to a new client. I like to think that if I had a party and invited all my clients, most of them would already know each other – and it wouldn’t be very different from any other goth gathering in London. Psyche Coderre MAAT Psyche has a degree in political science from the University of North Carolina and worked as a journalist before moving to the UK. In 2002 she moved to London and began work as a housing finance officer. She set up her own business, Death and Taxes, in 2008 – just two months after completing the AAT Accounting Qualification. This article first appeared in the May/June 2012 issue of Accounting Technician magazine, the membership magazine of AAT. AAT members can access exclusive magazine content online.
Relocation, relocation, relocation Posted 06/11/2012 by Caroline Smith & filed under Career. Finding a job and moving house are two of the most stressful things you can do, but what if you do them both at the same time? AAT member Caroline Smith did just that when she relocated to the Isle of Man from Yorkshire. She shares her experience and offers tips for making a move a success The thought of changing job, whether by choice or forced upon you by circumstance, can be very daunting. Eight years ago, I found myself in this position. Following redundancy, my husband was relocated from our native Yorkshire to the Isle of Man. Admittedly, the idea of moving away for a couple of years and living somewhere different had some attraction to my sense of adventure. We already knew a few people there and it was an ex-colleague of my husband that had offered him the job. So, in some ways it didn’t feel like such a big move, although we didn’t have much time to think about it. Neither of us knew very much about the Isle of Man. However, after a visit and talking to a few people we knew, we were left in no doubt that as beautiful as it is, it is very expensive. Having to ship many things in and take into account economies of scale (the population is about 80,000) makes for expensive living. In our first winter, we paid in a four-month period for gas alone what we had paid for both gas and electricity in a year in Yorkshire. Also, we did not want to sell our house in Yorkshire as we were expecting to return after a few years. Financing a new property from scratch is expensive wherever you are and property prices were similar to London. Finding paid employment became crucial for me. I had only recently completed my AAT studies and so I hoped this would make finding work easier, although I would still need a work permit. While this was not necessarily going to be a problem, it would mean that a Manx person would have the right to be offered any job first. Having the AAT Accounting Qualification would narrow the field down and, ultimately, I was the only person who applied for the job I now have. As it happens my background is in manufacturing which is suitable for my role, but there was perhaps a little luck involved as the Isle of Man economy is largely based on finance and financial services. Prior to having confirmed employment, I had been concerned that I could be at a disadvantage. Once I took my place in the office there were all the usual things you find in a new role. You have to work out who everyone is and where they fit into the company; you need to know the ‘house style’ for documents and how to use the computer system; and most importantly, you need to know the drinks rota. On the Isle of Man, it was also necessary to get used to a myriad of accents. Scottish, Welsh, Irish and South African are all well represented along with the local Manx, which is similar to a Liverpool accent. Also, names can be very strange to a ‘comeover’ as people like me are called. In one of my early days I made the mistake of thinking that I would easily be able to find a sales account in the name of Quayle as it is so unusual. Wrong. It’s the most common name on the Island. And as for some of the strange road names (how do you pronounce Droghadfayle?). In terms of accountancy there are a few differences as well. The main one is tax and I’ve lost count of the number of payroll software companies that have cold called to sell me their product without realising that we have different tax bands, rendering their product useless. Personal allowances are approximately twice that of the UK and the upper tax rate is 18%. Overall there is a tax cap at £115,000 and inheritance and capital gains aren’t taxed at all. It is easy to see why people assume the Isle of Man is a tax haven. In reality though, only a handful of people benefit from the tax cap, and the high cost of living means that even if you are earning twice what I was earning in Yorkshire you could still be struggling. Salaries do tend to be higher for the same or similar job though. There are some frustrations to living on this Island. Most things have to be shipped in, which increases costs and causes delays. During bad storms this winter, restricted sailings left the supermarket shelves half empty and some mail order companies don’t deliver at all. The small population means competition isn’t always great. Service with a smile isn’t always available and finding a reliable tradesman isn’t always easy. However, if you do need to put an extension on your house you will only pay 5% VAT. Also, obviously, the relatively low population means that it isn’t possible to support a large shopping centre and the joke is that we suffer from “chairman’s wife syndrome.” AKA acute stress brought on by lack of shopping opportunities. The weather may be harsh, and at times you may feel isolated, but on a clear sunny day, a walk on Douglas Promenade or a trip up the mountain where you can see England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, are things that money just can’t buy. It looks as if this ‘comeover’ could well be a ‘stopover’. If you are thinking of making a big move, my top tips are: Do your research: you may need certain legal papers or to contact the relevant embassy/consulate Make sure your professional qualifications are acceptable Investigate the housing market and make sure you can afford a suitable property Take into account how well you cope with any extra travel Think about whether any job offer will pay you enough to meet the costs of living If possible speak to someone who has already made the same move When you do make the move don’t be tempted to return home every weekend-you will never settle Don’t be surprised if you find it stressful! You can search for AAT jobs all over the UK on the dedicated AAT jobs website. AAT members have access to a careers section of the AAT website which offers a wealth of tips and advice.
How to kickstart your career by volunteering Posted 06/06/2012 by Steven Perryman & filed under Career. Volunteering has never had a higher profile. As well as doing some good, it can also have a positive impact on your career. Steven Perryman explains all It is apt that this year’s Volunteers’ Week – which runs until 7 June – kicked off over the same weekend as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Not only has the Queen handed out some 750 awards for voluntary service during her 60-year reign, but thousands of volunteers gave up their time over the weekend across the country to help her celebrate – including organising street parties and local events. And that’s not all. This Summer 70,000 Games Makers and 8,000 London Ambassadors will give up their time to help put on the Olympic Games in London. One thing is clear: in this of all years, volunteering has never had a higher profile. So what does that mean for you? Well, there has never been a better time to get involved with a local charity or group. Volunteering can add vital skills to your CV, while also enabling you to make new contacts and friends. The possibilities are endless. One of the most common pieces of feedback we receive from AAT members is about a lack of work experience. Many members find themselves in the unenviable position of achieving the AAT Accounting Qualification but without any relevant work experience. Volunteering is an ideal way to address this. Indeed, we wrote a very popular post in February showing you how to get started. One such person to give it a go is former police officer Kirstie Allison, a student member of AAT who works as a purchasing officer at the State Hospital, an NHS highsecurity mental hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire. She also works one day a week as a volunteer with the Braveheart Association, a charity that helps people with heart problems. Although she was studying for an AAT qualification, Kirstie was finding it difficult to move into the finance role she coveted as, despite her other skills, she did not have specific finance experience. ‘I kept getting knocked back,’ she says. ‘They said because I have no finance experience they couldn’t consider me.’ So, with the help of AAT, she took the unpaid position. It’s been a real boon. ‘I was given the post of bookkeeper,’ she says. ‘It’s been a huge task. I’ve been exposed to a lot of finance work and have been put in charge of the whole finance system: doing the payroll, creating spreadsheets to show income and expenditure over the past three years, reporting to funders and board members, doing reconciliations, budgeting, forecasting, developing codes, doing profit and loss, balance sheets, trail balances, tax. It’s a great deal of responsibility.’ Now, having completed her AAT course in June and backed by seven months’ experience as a finance officer, she hopes for a job in finance. ‘Working as a volunteer is something I would definitely recommend. It’s certainly beefed up my CV on the finance side.’ So, there you have it, Volunteers’ Week is an ideal chance to get that vital work experience, whilst doing some good at the same time. It’s a win-win, so what are you waiting for? Want to volunteer but don’t know how to get started? Then check out our post showing you five ways to find work experience through volunteering. Alternatively, visit the official Volunteers’ Week website.
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee: the big numbers Posted 06/01/2012 by Steven Perryman & filed under News. To some it’s a cause for celebration, for others just an excuse for a long weekend off work. Whatever your view, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee remains an impressive six decades of public life, taking in significant social and cultural change. Steven Perryman crunches some of the numbers 1 – The number of times the Queen has had to interrupt an overseas tour. The case in question was in 1974 during a tour of Australia and Indonesia. She was called back to the UK from Australia when a general election in the UK was suddenly called. The Duke of Edinburgh continued the programme in Australia, with the Queen re-joining the tour in Indonesia. 1 – The number of visits the Queen has made to the Republic of Ireland. It was an historic occasion: the first visit by a British Monarch since Irish independence (King George V’s had visited in 1911). 3 – The number of Diamond Jubilees of Heads of State celebrated throughout the world during the Queen’s reign. They are: • King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand celebrated 60 years on the throne in 2006 • The former Sultan of Johor (now a part of Malaysia) celebrated his in 1955 • The late Emperor Hirohito of Japan celebrated his in 1986. 12 – the number of Prime Ministers the Queen has given regular audiences to. They are: • Winston Churchill 1951-55 • Sir Anthony Eden 1955-57 • Harold Macmillan 1957-63 • Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1963-64 • Harold Wilson 1964-70 and 1974-76 • Edward Heath 1970-74 • James Callaghan 1976-79 • Margaret Thatcher 1979-90 • John Major 1990-97 • Tony Blair 1997-2007 • Gordon Brown 2007-2010 • David Cameron 2010 – present 30 – The number of corgis she has owned during her reign, starting with Susan who was a present for her 18th birthday in 1944. A good proportion of these have been direct descendants from Susan. She currently has three corgis – Monty, Willow and Holly. 35 – The number of Royal Variety performances she has attended. This year she has a dancing dog to look forward to. 59 – The number of times the Queen has made a Christmas Broadcast to the Commonwealth. The one year she didn’t – 1969 – a repeat of the film Royal Family was shown and a written message from the Queen issued instead. 129 – The number of times she has sat for a portrait during her reign. Rolf Harris is one of the many artists to paint her. 600 – the number of charities and organisations that the Queen is currently a patron of. 750 – The number of times the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service has been awarded to across all four countries in the UK. Winners of the award have included local scout groups, community radio stations, groups who care for the elderly and environmental charities. You can find out more on volunteering in our post. 50,000 – The number of people that the Queen has hosted at banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace. 404,500 – the number of honours and awards she has conferred over. AAT’s Chief Executive, Jane Scott Paul, is one of those, receiving an OBE in 2008 for services to the accountancy industry.
Key changes to financial regulations Posted 05/30/2012 by Tania Hayes & filed under Accountancy resources, Financial accounting and reporting. New changes to financial regulations covering tax crime, fraud and risk are coming into force. AAT’s head of conduct and compliance, Tania Hayes, gives you the low-down The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) created 40 recommendations on anti-money laundering. These were revised to become the 40+9 special recommendations after the terrorist attack on the US in 2001. The European Union incorporated the FATF’s recommendations into the third directive on money laundering, and the UK has introduced them in anti-money laundering legislation, including the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Money Laundering Regulations 2007. FATF announced revisions to its recommendations in February this year. These revisions have been welcomed by the UK government. We at AAT have looked at the changes, and the key ones to note are: Stronger requirements when dealing with politically exposed persons (PEPs) Expanding the scope of money laundering predicate offences by including tax crimes An enhanced risk-based approach that enables countries and the private sector to apply their resources more efficiently by focusing on higher-risk areas Better operational tools and a wider range of techniques and powers, both for the financial intelligence units and for law enforcement, to investigate and prosecute money laundering and terrorist financing What do these mean in practice? Well, for the UK, little will change: it has taken a more robust approach to implementing the FATF recommendations than its peers. It adopted an ‘all crimes’ approach to predicate offences, so accountants are obliged to report money laundering suspicions where tax evasion is suspected. Therefore, the UK is already compliant with that aspect of the changes. The change most welcomed by supervisors is likely to be the focus given to reflecting on feedback given by financial intelligence units and law enforcement on suspicious activity reporting and money laundering. Accountants should welcome this amendment as it recognises that there has been divergence in the interpretation and understanding of risk, depending on who is assessing it. The proposal seeks to ensure flexibility in the approach, so resources are focused in higher-risk areas of business. Due-diligence requirements have provided practitioners across the board with sleepless nights – how much diligence is enough? The most perplexing legacy of the former recommendations was the focus on foreign PEPs. While practitioners would obviously want to bar access to financial services to the likes of Colonel Gaddafi and President Bashar al-Assad, many domestic PEPs – for example the MPs Elliott Morley, Eric Illsley and David Chaytor after their convictions over the expenses scandal – show their risky nature with the benefit of hindsight. The new recommendations will refer to domestic PEPs and will be extended again to include those with high-profile international roles that are not necessarily political – Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, would fall into this category. At the moment, there is nothing you need to do, other than be aware that changes are afoot and note that the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 incorporate global standards as set by the FATF. We’ll keep you posted as and when the UK regime changes.
How to make CPD work for you Posted 05/28/2012 by Glenn Gosden & filed under Career, CPD. CPD Prize winner, Glenn Gosden MAAT, overcame redundancy to climb the career ladder at Raymond Brown Group. An innovative approach to CPD was key to his success. Here he explains why My first career was as a locksmith when I left school. I then left to work in various companies in an accounts environment, before returning again to be a locksmith. Over time my role changed to include commercial and accounts management – this was because of a change in staff and the directors of the business recognising the need for someone full time working with the accounts of the business and general management. I then realised I had a passion for working with numbers. I enrolled to do the AAT Accounting Qualification to pursue a career in accountancy and, shortly after, I was made redundant. This would be a challenging situation for anyone to face but, for me, it was an opportunity to seek out an accounts-related role to complement my study. It was actually a blessing in disguise. I applied for a position as an Assistant Accountant at Raymond Brown Group; a group of large limited companies in the construction, building and waste industries, which I secured. Since then, I’ve used continuing professional development (CPD) to push myself, learn and develop each day. Nearly nine years later, I’m now the Group Management Accountant for the company overseeing 11 staff, in various accounts roles. I’m certain that my career development is a result of my thirst for self-improvement and growth. As I see it, many people think the only way to gain CPD is to attend course. This is not the case. I’m a strong believer that we can develop our knowledge and skills in any environment – classroom training, online courses, webinars, podcasts etc. Even by conducting research, attending meetings or simply having a conversation, we all learn something new each day. I carry out a variety of activities each year that contribute to my overall development, some are planned and some are not. Some are required for my job, and some I simply do purely out of interest. A lot of the time it’s about dedicating time and effort but this isn’t a burden; I’m thoroughly interested in risk management techniques, sources of finance, changes in government policies, managing fuel costs, changes made by manufacturers to cars and vans and the implications of this on our fleet. The list goes on. So how have I done all this? The answer is simple planning. At the beginning of each year I literally write down the areas where I feel I need to improve. Call it a form of ‘new year’s resolution’. In some cases, I recognise opportunities where my development will save my company costs in the long term. For example, I recently set up sole supplier agreements for my company, identifying key areas of spend, targets for cost savings and process improvements. This project gave me an opportunity to extend my knowledge into the commercial side of the business and make recommendations of significant cost savings through economies of scale. Other times, I choose to develop and learn new areas of work just to add to my skill set. Throughout the year, my plan usually changes drastically. Mostly because I end up adding lots of new items to my schedule, but also because some items become more urgent than others. Over the past year, I have used techniques such as shadowing our Finance Director, learning from colleagues and conducting research to ensure I am competent in my current role and always challenging myself. Earlier this year, I was awarded the AAT annual CPD Prize. I received £1,000, half of which I could spend on my training and development, and the other half however I choose. I was honoured to receive an award for something that I feel is a crucial part of anyone’s professional career and is essentially part of my role at Raymond Brown. As accountants, we train hard to obtain our qualification, so putting in a little effort to keep our knowledge current and up to date makes sense. The prize was an added bonus. Using everyday tasks for CPD has given me better technical knowledge as an accountant by growing and expanding my knowledge. More importantly, it has led me to where I am today. So my advice to others would be: Have a plan – set out a plan at the beginning of each year identifying the areas you wish to improve in and stick to it. It’s easy to become too busy and for other things to take priority, don’t let this happen, dedicate 10 minutes of time each week and stick to it. It can really be a little as that. Think outside the box – use every day opportunities like meetings or researching projects to assist your development. The internet has also become such an invaluable took for keeping up to date on issues and research, I’m constantly embracing technology to keep up to date and share information with others. Embrace new opportunities – don’t be afraid to explore new areas. Challenge yourself by exploring something new – the short and long term benefits will be worth it. AAT members can access the CPD Zone on AAT’s website, which offers resources to plan and undertake CPD and develop their careers.