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Spearmint Rhino tempts accountants
The Spearmint Rhino case about whether or not punters make a contract with the club, or with the dancer (relevant for VAT), is before the courts again.
The case has reminded TS of one of the strangest jobs we have come across in recent times, one that might even tempt the odd accountant or two from number-crunching.
Paragraph 41 of last year's Tribunal judgment reads: 'To avoid any possibility of prostitution or solicitation, [Spearmint Rhino] engages 'mystery shoppers' from a third party firm to visit SR clubs regularly in order to test the dancers are complying with the SR Code of Conduct.'
Outsourcing visits to lap dancing clubs. Sounds like an interesting (personal) service line.
Official: Steve Maslin's new haircut
As you can see in the blog below, TS was delighted to have caught a glimpse of GT's Steve Maslin and his new spiky hair.
Unfortunately TS didn't have a pic to show you yesterday. GT's intrepid press officers got to grips with a digital camera, and here is the result. Maslin's new 'fro. Enjoy:
TS snoozes at Oxera meeting
Another roundtable on the Oxera report, another hour-and-half of bald men talking about audit competition and saying the same things they said six months ago.
And so it proved to be at the Houses of Parliament last week, where TS snoozed through seemingly endless speeches regurgitating the findings of said Oxera report.
If only the members bar was open to the public, TS thought, as it sought to make the time go faster. Well done to Grant Thornton's Steve Maslin, though, who brightened the session up with a trendy spike haircut that would have been the pride of the Chelsea FC team photo. Congratulations Steve. TS salutes you.
Unfortunately Steve doesn't have his spikey hair in this shot (above), but as a GT spokesman said to TS: 'We don't update our corporate shots every time someone changes their hairstyle.'
Colin adds up school consulting fees
Colin gives his opinion on the need for more accountants and businesspeople heading up schools, which came out of a PwC report for the Department for Education and skills. You can click here to view it.
TS allowed into parliament
TS was treated to a quick whisk through parliament this week as ever and was in total awe of the ornate high ceilings and very distinguished men and women quietly huddled in important-looking groups. No doubt discussing matters of state or the latest events in the Big Brother house.
The gracious host, Lib Dem treasurer Lord Clement Jones, treated TS to high tea in the dining area, where everything from the carpet and upholstery to the Lords emblems on cups was a deep red.
Lord Jones told TS that this was in contrast to the House of Commons, which is decorated throughout in green. ‘It’s simple really,’ Lord Jones explained. ‘No matter how blotto a member may be from the night before, they always know where they are.’
Jeremy faces a grilling
Everything in the world of accountancy is going a bit ‘blogtastic’ with Jeremy Newman’s new blog on all that is BDO.
One reader of Jeremy’s musings took the opportunity to put the BDO chief on the spot over TS’s point about BDO’s auditor; one PricewaterhouseCoopers.
TS had wondered why a firm so keen on pushing audit choice and the merits of mid-tier auditors was employing the UK’s biggest firm.
‘Obviously in an ideal world we would have BDO Stoy Hayward as our auditor,’ was Jeremy’s response to the online question. ‘Seriously, the issue for us was do we give our audit to a direct competitor… or do we go to a ‘Big Four’ firm with the possible consequence it implies something about our view of others? …At the time of course the current ‘competition & choice’ debate had not even started.’Of course, PwC is now a direct competitor. Isn’t it? A bit of auditor rotation around the corner for BDO perhaps?
The 'Dishonest' Accountant
TS nearly fell out of its canopy in the private rainforest at TS Towers after this professional faux pas came to light:
It appears the plucky young author of a book entitled 'The Honest Accountant', Peter Milwain, thought he'd maximise his marketing potential by sending a copy of the blockbuster to one of the dailies.
But there was problem for our intrepid writer - the hack it was sent to entered into a spot of research. The journo contacted the book's publicist, Sam Simpson of Solway Publishing, for more info. When asked who Milwain was, Simpson said: 'Er well, it's me. I'm an accountant and I set up the company to publish the book,' reported the Daily Telegraph.
On further grilling, Milwain also admitted that a gushing review of the book on the internet was written by a personal chum.
Shame on you Milwain/Simpson. More like 'The Dishonest Accountant'.
Stick to Sarbox Ed!
TS’s scores of dedicated fans will recall recent musings about why the good people at ACCA had taken it upon themselves to issue press releases on what seemed anything and everything but accountancy.
Well, Ed Balls, the economic secretary to the Treasury and chancellor in waiting, trumped ACCA last week when he decided to spread his views on Big Brother.
Not satisfied with lunching in the Square Mile, Balls went for the spotlight by commenting on the controversial reality show: ‘This is not simply a piece of fun this is a problem,’ Balls philosophised of the alleged racism suffered by Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at the hands Jade Goody.
Thanks for your views Ed, it was no doubt a good opportunity to rack up some column inches.
In the future, though, maybe it will better to stick to things like Sarbox and the capital markets.
Fieth breaks into ICAEW board
TS noted with some interest the new appointment at the ICAEW: Robin Fieth, the institute's first executive director finance & operations.
Now it's a cheap shot, but Robin Fieth is a cracking name
for someone handling the financial affairs of the so-called (by those within
Can you think of any other 'unfortunate' names for business heads?
Answers please.
TS bookmarks AIDB judgment webpage
TS has got a new favourite webpage bookmarked. It's the tribunal reports page of the Accountancy Investigation and Discipline Board. Those in the know will realise that the page should contain the body's judgment into Mayflower, on which it offered its verdict last week. But it hasn't yet been released, for reasons others are calling 'inexplicable'. View TS' last glance at the page here, where the website states: 'Reports will be posted on the site following disciplinary hearings': We'll be checking the page regularly until it appears.
PwC eyes up schools as a service line
TS noted that our chums over at The Guardian have run a story saying that schools should bring in accountants and wordly-wise business heads to help run schools, supported by a head of teaching and learning.
OK, TS mused, education's the most important thing, but books have to be balanced etc More business people is not a bad idea. The firms will do well out of this, was the next thought. Especially the Big Four and their 'special relationship' with the government and public sector: secondments beckon.
The report itself? Undertaken by PwC for the Department of Education and Skills. Obviously audit and tax revenues are plateauing...so expect a breakdown on 'school consulting' fee revenue in next year's Accountancy Age Top 50 league table.
Frost loses ICAEW council bid
So Ken Frost, one of the ICAEW's arch agitators, has failed in his bid to join its council.
Needing the backing of 10 ICAEW members in his Croydon constitiuency, he got one.
Frost has blamed the Croydon District Society for failing to get in touch with local members on his behalf, despite his request.
'It is ironic that at a time when the ICAEW claims that it wishes to take a more active role on the international stage, it is still using a voting model (local constituency based nominations and votes) more suited to a Victorian trade association,' said Frost on his blog.
TS thinks the ICAEW council will be a lot quieter and less exciting without Ken on board.
Hartnett knocks 'bland' tax paper
Is this what passes for a row at the Business Tax Forum, the body where HM Revenue & Customs sit down with big business figures to chew the fat?
The latest minutes show Philip Gillett of the CBI had prepared a paper on a general anti-avoidance rule.
'DH [Dave Hartnett] commented that PG’s paper about GAARs and approaches to avoidance had been surprisingly bland.'
Ouch!
Gillett said it had been a 'team product' i.e. it was written by a committee (as the saying goes), and was bound to be dull.
A fuller explanation has been scratched from the record - the document 'had been a "team product" which had [fill the gap yourself] than otherwise might had been possible,' is all we are told.
What could have been said?
The Taxman Takes It All
TS took a second's breather from helping Accountancy Age staff write good stories, to peruse NME's wonderful website.
Imagine our horror when we read that ABBA bloke Bjorn Ulvaeus had been hit by the Swedish tax authorities for a bit of tax dodging, to the tune of $2m!
Mama Mia! thought TS. It's always about Money Money Money.
That's the Name of the Game for celebrities sometimes. TS can ask Bjorn only one thing: Does Your Mother Know?
TS correct on ICAEW's new logo
So the new ICAEW logo has finally been unveiled, and Economia, the lady who dominates the logo itself, has lost a little weight over the last 150 years.
TS' take on the new logo, seen here, was pretty close to the mark, and some might even suggest is more funky than the effort from Moorgate Place:
Anyway, go to AccountancyAge.com to see the new logo.
Vicar of Dibley marries accountant
So Dawn French, the Vicar of Dibley, finally got married. To an accountant no less.
While the chap's 'accountingness' was not really played on too heavily in the sitcom, Dawn did crack a very funny joke that TS is sure you've heard before - but won't hurt going over again.
Vicar of Dibley: 'What do accountants do when they're constipated? They get their pencil and work it out.'
Yuk. A good one nonetheless.
