With intense deadlines, demanding clients and the ever-lurking threat of fines dangling above your head, accounting can be a stressful profession to join.

With the Any Answers community asking whether the pressure of the job is worth it, podcast guests Rachel Harris and Lucy Cohen sympathise with their fellow accountants. As the leaders of their respective businesses, Cohen and Harris have been through the ringer when it comes to stress.

Sharing their own stress-inducing experiences in accountancy, Cohen and Harris share their tips and tricks to keep the cortisol levels low and growth high in the face of difficult circumstances.

Touching on everything from building a successful brand to becoming the leader your team wants to follow, Cohen and Harris offer listeners a sneak peek behind the curtain of two superstar accountants at the top of their game.

Podcast Speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

Lucy Cohen

Rachel Harris

Editor/Producer:

Will Cole

Once a staple on the UK highstreet, the ever-present retail giant has been subjected to a spectacular fall from grace after falling into administration last week.

Citing supply chain issues and the cost of living crisis as main drivers for its downfall, Wilko's future remains uncertain as administrators continue to weigh up bids.

While Wilko's collapse may seem sudden, how exactly did it get to this point? Joining us this week, Kirsty McGregor, head of the Coporate Fianance Network, examines the retailers demise and what it means for other companies unprepared for the rocky economic road ahead.

Also on the pod, we're joined by newly appointed associate director at Accounts and Legal, Max Whiteley. Still only in his twenties, Whiteley discusses his meteoric rise to accounting success, as well as examining the less-trodden, yet equally valuable, paths young accountants can take in order to acheive in the profession.

Speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Kirsty McGregor

Max Whiteley

Editor:

Will Cole

As costs continue to rise across the board, it's no surprise that the age-old conversation of fee increases has resurfaced on AccountingWEB.

In a recent episode of Any Answers Live, one viewer admitted that they had not increased their fees in over a decade, due in part to the fear of confrontation. Yet, in light of inflationary pressures, is this strategy sustainable anymore?

Joining us on the podcast to discuss this is Minerva Accounting founder Della Hudson. A practitioner who has increased her fees year on year in order to remain profitable, Hudson reveals how and why she has kept to her guns on fee increases, as well as the various pitfalls and opportunities that come with such a strategy.

Also on the podcast, we take a look into the future and discuss how AI could change the way accountants run their business. As AI-assisted continue to gather pace, could these new innovations free accountants up to focus on the work that matters to them most?

Podcast speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

Della Hudson

Producer/editor

Will Cole

HMRC's HMRC’s accounts, consultations, as well as it's annual Charter report has finally been released. Now that the dust has settled, the newly released documentation has been thumbed through by the AccountingWEB team to give you the lowdown on the tax authority's reports.

To help us sift through the papers, we are joined by Glenn Collins, Head of Technical and Strategic Engagement at the ACCA, who offers some keen insights into HMRC's reports.

Collins also had some interesting thoughts on R&D tax credits, in particular the massive levels of error and fraud plaguing the operation.

Also on this week's pod, tech editor Tom Herbert takes a deep dive into the murky world of Big Tech and accounting after American tax software companies were caught sharing sensitive data with tech giants Google and Meta.

Podcast speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

Glenn Collins

Podcast producer:

Will Cole

Podcast notes:

Error and fraud hounds HMRC’s annual accounts

Agents slam HMRC's performance in Charter report

Is your tax information being shared with BigTech and others? Maybe!

As accountants feel the pressure over increased scrutiny of their AML reporting, the Treasury has tabled a new consultation that is set to overhaul anti-money laundering supervision as we know it.

The Treasury have put forward four new ideas that could potentially reform the supervision of accountants and lawyers' compliance with money laundering regulations.

The options ranged from bolstering the current supervisors of supervisors OPBAS to the more extreme option of stripping the professional bodies and HMRC of its supervision responsibilities and creating a brand new supervisor - the one supervisor to rule them all.

On this week's podcast, David Winch explores the four potential reforms and offers advice to accountants anxious of upcoming changes. 

Also on the pod, the AWEB team discuss ICAS' recent review of MTD for ITSA and its call to scrap the controversial project's decision on quarterly reporting, as well as taking a closer look at AI and asking: is this new technology a friend or foe when it comes to tax? 

Podcast speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

David Winch

Producer/editor:

Will Cole

This week’s podcast picks through the bones of the blistering NAO report on Making Tax Digital in the company of Richard Wild from the CIOT and Andrew Burman from global tech firm Ryan. The panellists discuss the criticisms levelled against the tax transformation project and examine what can be done to get it back on the rails.

After some expert sleuthing from our tech editor Tom Herbert, AccountingWEB discovered that the government's much-lauded 'Help to Grow' scheme, designed to small businesses adopt new technology, including accounting software, shut up shop hitting a paltry 1% of its sign-up targets.

Costing the taxpayer around £30 million, many were left some firms unsurprisingly angry at the way the scheme was handled, with Crunch CEO and founder Darren Fell being one of them.

Joining Tom and Richard on this week's episode, Darren recounts his experience with the doomed scheme and offers insights into exactly way Help to Grow failed to germinate.

Also on the pod this week, Richard and Tom take a look at the recent MOVEit data breach and discuss what firms can do better in order to protect their firms and clients from cybercrime.

Podcast Speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

Darren Fell

Producer/editor

Will Cole

With the news that HMRC was closing its VAT helpline on the 22nd May, a mere five days after its announcement, the AccountingWEB community were unsurprisingly incensed about the decision. And with the date of the closure spotted to be a whole year out of date, accountants are beginning to feel a "sense of chaos" from HMRC.

On this week's episode, Richard and Tom are joined by contributor Jason Croke to discuss HMRC's decision and its focus on Digital by Default.

Also on the pod, Tom and Richard chat about the recent announcement of Intuit Quickbook's desktop discontinuation and consider what this decision means for the UK accounting sector.

Podcast Speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

Jason Croke

Producer/editor:

Will Cole

Two accounting tech specialists join AccountingWEB technology editor Tom Herbert this week to discuss the themes running through the recent software conference season, with the biggest undoubtedly being the explosion in artificial intelligence tools available for accountants.

On this week's podcast, the AccountingWEB editorial team discusses ICAEW's letter to HMRC urging the tax authority to consider "fresh thinking" over the much-maligned MTD ITSA, and they round up the latest updates and announcements from the accounting tech vendors.

Due to a delay from HMRC earlier this year in introducing MTD ITSA, many believed that the widely criticised policy would remain absent from the news cycle until its introduction in 2026. However, some are viewing this delay as an opportunity to encourage HMRC to change course.

In a letter to the tax authority, the ICAEW has called on HMRC to consider "fresh thinking" leading up to the implementation of MTD ITSA, with the accountancy body proposing that eliminating quarterly reporting could significantly alter the narrative of MTD ITSA.

In this week's podcast episode, Richard Hattersley and Tom Herbert examine ICAEW's unexpected intervention in the MTD discussion and question whether HMRC could potentially make further concessions before MTD-Day.

Also featured on the podcast this week, Tom shares his experiences from this year's Accountex in light of numerous announcements from tech vendors, and engages in conversations with some of the prominent figures in the fintech sector about the power of AI.

Podcast speakers:

Richard Hattersley

Tom Herbert

Podcast producer:

Will Cole