Beyond Finance

On the latest ICAEW Insights in Focus podcast, we take a look at The Fabian Society’s new pamphlet on delivering value for money on public spending.

Transparency in public spending has never been more important. With public services under increasing pressure, government debt rising and targets in areas such as carbon emissions to be met, any spending must be backed with evidence that it will deliver value to the taxpayer.

The Fabian Society, Britain’s oldest think tank, has been developing ideas around progressive political ideas and public policy for 140 years. Its recent pamphlet 'Prizing the public pound', outlines its thoughts and recommendations on how to deliver value for money to the taxpayer in the 2020s.

In it, the Fabian Society reviews the current architecture for public audit and value for money, recommending that all expenditure proposals should be assessed against its five ‘E’s of value for money:  Effectiveness, Efficiency, Equity – ensuring fair allocation of resources to meet need, Equality – pursuing both equality of opportunity and addressing all forms of inequality, and Environmental sustainability.

The pamphlet’s authors, John Tizard and David Walker, sat down with ICAEW’s Director of Public Sector and Taxation Alison Ring to discuss the recommendations within the pamphlet and the wider context in which it was written.

Host:
Alison Ring, Director of Public Sector and Taxation, ICAEW

Guests:
- John Tizard. A strategic adviser and commentator focusing on public policy, public services, and governance. John is a former county councillor and joint council leader, and has extensive board experience in the public sector, in business, and in charity, social business and arts organisations.
- David Walker. David is an honorary member of CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. He was Managing Director for communications and public reporting at the Audit Commission before it was disbanded. He was previously an editor of Guardian Public and has co-authored books with Polly Toynbee, including 'The Lost Decade' and 'The Verdict – Did Labour Change Britain?'.
- Martin Wheatcroft. Martin is an adviser and author on public finances who works closely with the ICAEW Public Sector team. He helped write ICAEW’s response to the Fabian Society pamphlet. Martin has extensive business experience as a former Big Four auditor, a chief accountant and a financial controller in international businesses. He is the author of several of ICAEW’s Better Government Series publications, ICAEW’s chart of the week and the Simply UK Government Finances series of books.
 
Links:
- The Fabian Society's 'Prizing the Public Pound' pamphlet.
- David Walker’s book with Polly Toynbee, 'The Lost Decade'.
- ICAEW’s response to the pamphlet.
- ICAEW Insights.
- ICAEW Public Sector Community.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 27 October 2021
Podcast recorded: 15 October 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance.

In this special edition, we’re joined by experts from across ICAEW’s tax and public sector team to preview the government’s Autumn Budget 2021 and Spending Review, which takes place on Wednesday 27 October.

Normally one of the biggest financial events of the year in its own right, this Budget has assumed even greater significance, being the first since the easing of lockdown measures and the tapering down of a number of key Covid support schemes, and also because the same day will see the first three-year government Spending Review in six years.

Will Rishi Sunak produce any tax rabbits from his hat, or has the biggest policy announcement already come in the form of the new Health and Social Care Levy? How much headroom does the Chancellor have to act? And what of longstanding issues such as Brexit, Making Tax Digital and the net zero agenda?

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- ICAEW Budget 2021 hub.
- Webinar: Tax Faculty Autumn Budget 2021 Update.
- PM confirms 1.25% increase to NIC and dividend tax rates.
- Government to fast-track rules enacting healthcare levy.
- Webinar: MTD for ITSA - back to basics and myth busting.
- MTD ITSA and basis period reform postponed.
- Use Budget to speed up tax modernisation, says ICAEW.
- Freeports: business needs greater clarity.
- COP26: acting together on climate.
- Use Spending Review to establish a "financial platform for delivery".
- IFS pre-Budget report warns of difficult choices for the Chancellor.
- Chart of the week: UK public debt profile.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Alison Ring Director, Public Sector & Taxation, ICAEW.
- Frank Haskew, Head of Tax, ICAEW.
- Anita Monteith Technical Lead & Senior Policy Adviser, Tax, ICAEW.
- Martin Wheatcroft, an adviser on public finances who works closely with the ICAEW Public Sector team.
 
Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode published: Tues 19 October 2021
Episode recorded: Weds 13 October 2021 

On this week’s ICAEW Insights in Focus podcast, we take an in-depth look at a real-life cyber attack.

It was a seemingly ordinary day in Gareth’s* life. Then the phone started ringing, and it never stopped. His company was the target of a ransomware attack. Years later, he shares his story with journalist and author of 'The Dark Net', Jamie Bartlett, as part of ICAEW’s Cyber Crime Week.

Cyber attacks such as phishing and ransomware are on the increase, as cyber criminals identify new ways to breach company systems in the new hybrid working environment.

According to the latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey, four in 10 businesses and just over a quarter of charities experienced security breaches or attacks during the first 12 months of the pandemic.

Host:
Jamie Bartlett, internet culture and technology journalist, author of 'The Dark Net', 'The People Vs Tech' and 'Radicals', host of 'The Missing Cryptoqueen' podcast.

Guests:
- Gareth*. Gareth is an IT manager whose previous employer suffered a major ransomware attack in 2014, before such attacks were common knowledge. He was able to overcome several hurdles in order to restore the company’s systems, and learned some valuable lessons about how to protect organisations from such attacks.
- Mike O’Neill. Mike O’Neill is managing director of Optimal Risk Group and a member of the Chartered Security Professionals Regulation Authority. He and his team provide security and risk consultation services to organisations around the world, including penetration testing.
- Sophie Wales. Sophie is the director of trust and ethics at ICAEW with responsibility for ethics, economic crime, fraud and business law. Sophie leads ICAEW’s policy work in these areas, engaging with government and other regulators, as well as providing guidance for members.

*Name has been changed

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 15 October 2021
Podcast recorded: 7 October 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights ‘In Focus’ podcast. This is where we interrogate a specific but timely topic from the world of accountancy, business and finance. This time we examine Less Complex Entity (LCE) audits.

There’s been a lot of talk about LCE audits recently and that’s because the international auditing standard-setter, the IAASB, recently issued an exposure draft for a standard for LCE audits.

This is major progress. The exposure draft issued is far from perfect, but the fact that it has been issued is a cause for celebration. ICAEW has been a robust supporter of less complex auditing standards for the audit of LCEs for many years.

The issue of an exposure draft is the start of a journey. There are significant technical issues to address before we even think about the potential for adoption and it is important to remember for now that the exposure draft has been issued by the international standard setter, the IAASB – and not by the Financial Reporting Council in the UK. 

Today’s podcast panel is well versed in all the issues.

Host:
Sophie Campkin, ICAEW Technical Lead, Audit and Assurance

Guests:
- Fiona Wilkinson. Fiona was President of ICAEW from 2019 to 2020 and is a Board member of the International Federation of Accountants, and Chair of its Public Policy and Regulatory Advisory Group. She has been a member of the ICAEW’s Council since 2003 and has also served as chair of the Professional Standards Board, an ICAEW Board Director and chair of the Ethics Advisory Committee. She qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant in 1980 with Deloitte and spent 11 years in the firm’s Audit Department before setting up her own practice as a technical consultant providing engagement quality control reviews and audit compliance reviews for small and medium-sized firms.
- Catherine Hardinge. Catherine is a partner with Price Bailey. She joined the firm in 2003, having qualified with EY. She’s the firm’s compliance partner, chair of ICAEW’s LCE Audits Working Group, a member of ICAEW’s main auditing committee and an ICAEW Board member for Education and Training.
- Katharine Bagshaw. Katharine is a long-standing staff member with ICAEW’s Audit and Assurance Faculty. She qualified in 1990 with EY and is a former member and deputy chair of IFAC’s SMP Committee. She’s Secretary to ICAEW’s LCE Audits Working Group.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 8 October 2021
Podcast recorded: 4 October 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance.

On the show we speak to Eleanor Fairford, the National Cyber Security Centre’s Deputy Director for Incident Management, about the rising tide of ransomware, and how chartered accountants can protect themselves and their businesses.

ICAEW Tax Faculty’s Lindsey Wicks outlines the details of the government’s new health and social care levy and talks us through the Office for Tax Simplification’s report on the costs and benefits of moving tax year away from 5 April.

And ahead of Charity Fraud Awareness Week (18 – 22 October 2021), Mia Campbell, Head of Fraud Advisory Panel and Kristina Kopic, Head of Charity and Voluntary Sector, ICAEW tell us about fraud in the sector, how the pandemic has changed criminals’ behaviour, and how charities should react if the worst happens.

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- PM confirms 1.25% increase to NIC and dividend tax rates.
- Government to fast-track rules enacting healthcare levy.
- OTS provides valuable insights on changing the tax year.
- COVID sick pay rebate scheme ends on 30 September.
- The Charity Fraud Awareness Week website.
- Managing the risk of fraud and financial crime – an overview for charities.
- ICAEW virtual event on Charity Governance.
- The National Cyber Security Centre website.
- The growing threat of ransomware.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Lindsey Wicks, Technical Editor, ICAEW Tax Faculty.
- Eleanor Fairford, Deputy Director for Incident Management, the National Cyber Security Centre.
- Mia Campbell, Head of Fraud Advisory Panel.
- Kristina Kopic, Head of Charity and Voluntary Sector, ICAEW.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 23 September 2021
Podcast recorded: 15 September 2021 (ransomware section) and 21 September 2021 (tax and charity fraud sections)

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights ‘In Focus’ podcast. This is where we interrogate a specific but timely topic from the world of accountancy, business and finance. This time we examine the gender pension gap.

We hear a lot about the gender pay gap – the difference between the average earnings of men and women, but the pensions gap has had little attention, yet it is actually more acute. While the gender pay gap among full-time employees in April 2020 was 7.4%, and it was 15.5% among all employees, the gender pension gap is much wider. A recent report found a 40% gap in pension savings between women and men – that's an average difference in pension income by gender of about £7,500 a year.

According to research released by Scottish Widows earlier this year, the average woman in her twenties is on course to have £100,000 less in her pension pot at retirement than a man of the same age. Women face a higher risk of retiring in poverty than men. And the pandemic appears to have increased the gender pension gap, because women were more likely to be furloughed or lost their jobs.

Women live longer, earn less and save less. They are more likely to take long breaks from their career for caring responsibilities or to work part-time. Even the state pension is based on how many years you’ve worked or National Insurance credits you’ve received during time off for parenting or caring.

This podcast will explore all these issues, and explain how individuals, businesses and government can go about closing the gender pension gap.

Host:
Rosamund Urwin
 
Guests:
- Jane Portas, a former financial services partner at two big 4 accountancy firms, the co-founder of Insuring Women’s Futures which is a market-led programme for improving women’s and society’s financial resilience, and the author of ‘The Risks in Life’ series of reports and practical including ‘Solving women’s pension deficit to improve retirement outcomes for all.
- Philippe Seidel of AGE, the largest EU-funded network of organisations of and for older people in Europe. He specialises in the fields of employment of older workers and social protection, as well as gender equality. Philippe also coordinates AGE’s relations with the European Parliament.
- Philippa Kelly, ICAEW’s Director of Financial Services who leads ICAEW’s work across banking, insurance and investment management. She qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 16 September 2021
Podcast recorded: 13 September 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance.

On this show, we’ll speak to Liz Barclay, the government’s new Small Business Commissioner, on efforts to tackle the scourge of late payments.

ICAEW Tax Faculty’s Lindsey Wicks outlines the implications of the government’s proposed reforms to basis periods.

Football finance expert and chartered accountant Kieran Maguire gives us the story behind his hit podcast ‘The Price of Football’.

And ICAEW’s Katharine Bagshaw explains why the IAASB thinks we need an audit standard for less complex entities.

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- Getting paid sooner: the vital role of accountants.
- Contact the Office of the Small Business Commissioner.
- TAFR gets real with consultation on basis period reform.
- Basis period reform – feedback needed.
- Speed of basis period reform risks integrity of tax system, warn professional bodies.
- Digital marketplaces to report sellers’ incomes to HMRC as early as 2023.
- Football clubs should target accountants this transfer window.
- An Evening with Kieran Maguire.
- The Price of Football podcast.
- Less complex entities: ICAEW salutes IAASB’s initiative.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Katharine Bagshaw, Manager, Auditing Standards, ICAEW
- Kieran Maguire, Football Finance Lecturer, University of Liverpool and co-founder, Price of Football podcast
- Lindsey Wicks, Technical Editor, ICAEW Tax Faculty
- Liz Barclay, Small Business Commissioner

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 26 August 2021
Podcast recorded: 24 and 25 August 2021

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights ‘In Focus’ podcast. ICAEW’s Head of Corporate Finance, David Petrie, is joined by a panel of experts to discuss debt, equity and other funding options for small businesses in the light of government intervention as a consequence of the pandemic and the return to growth.

Host:
David Petrie, Head of Corporate Finance, ICAEW;

Guests:
- Graeme Sands, Corporate and Growth Banking Director, Virgin Money UK;
- Steve Cordiner, Head of Unquoted Investment, Gresham House Ventures;
- Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, Chief Executive, Funding London;
- Asif Ahmed, Founder & Managing Director, Acclivity Advisors;
- Wendy Smith, Senior Innovation and Growth Specialist, Innovate UK EDGE North.

Producer:
Natalie Chisholm. 

Episode first published: 19 August 2021. 
Podcast recorded: 12 August 2021. 

Welcome to this ICAEW Insights podcast, where we analyse the latest news from the world of accountancy, business and finance. 

On this show, we’ll look at how the boundaries between accountants’ personal and business lives have blurred during the pandemic, resulting in a rising number of disciplinary cases involving social media. What are the professional bodies doing about this?

ICAEW has responded to the government’s future-facing Tax Administration Framework Review, which is likely to affect all taxpayers, businesses and those who advise them. We’ll examine the review and ask why the Institute has called for more resourcing for HMRC to deliver the government’s vision.

Details of the fifth self-employment income support scheme grant have been released - how different is it from its predecessors and what should you look out for? 

And what is the difference between an e-money business account and a traditional business bank account, and why does it matter?

Links to resources discussed in the show:
- HMRC needs more resource to rebuild the UK's tax system.
- In-year tax estimates wouldn’t be an accurate basis for payment.
- FCA: fintech firms must clarify non-bank status.
- E-money and what you need to know.
- HMRC publishes guidance on the fifth SEISS grant.
- Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) - the fifth grant.
- Accountants battle blurred boundaries between personal and professional life.
- CCAB Guidance on Boundaries of Personal and Professional Life in Ethics.

Host:
Tom Herbert, online editor ICAEW Insights, We Are Sunday

Guests:
- Philippa Kelly, Director, Technical Strategy Business Group, ICAEW
- Lindsey Wicks, Technical Editor, ICAEW Tax Faculty
- Sophie Wales, Director, Technical Strategy, Tax, Ethics & Law Group, ICAEW

Producers:
Guy Ruddle, Natalie Chisholm

Episode first published: 22 July 2021
Podcast recorded: 19 July 2021

The pandemic has pushed back gender parity across the UK FTSE 350 to 2036, with women holding just 22% of all executive committee roles. Just 15 of the top companies have female chief executives. While we’ve made some progress in recent years, what needs to change to reach true equality? ICAEW's Susanna Di Feliciantonio and Jane Berney discuss the issue with a panel of experts. 

The panel:
- Andrew Weir, Regional Senior Partner of KPMG in Hong Kong and Vice-Chairman of KPMG China, and Global Chair of Asset Management for KPMG.
- Leda Condoyanni, Chair of the Non-Executive Directors’ Club in Greece + board member of ecoDa.
- Catherine Musakali, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and Chairperson of Women on Boards in Kenya.
- Susannah Haan, a non-profit leader currently holding a portfolio of non-executive director roles.