1 / 16

Information and its impact on practice efficiency Julia Penny FCA

Information and its impact on practice efficiency Julia Penny FCA. Contents. Information overload – can you really know it all? Right First Time Knowledge of the business and business focus CPD Vision of the future. Information overload – can you really know it all?.

phillip-larsen
Download Presentation

Information and its impact on practice efficiency Julia Penny FCA

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Information and its impact on practice efficiency Julia Penny FCA

  2. Contents • Information overload – can you really know it all? • Right First Time • Knowledge of the business and business focus • CPD • Vision of the future

  3. Information overload – can you really know it all? • How many pages of UK GAAP and directly related guidance are there? • How many pages of IFRS are there? • How many pages of auditing and related standards? • How many pages of accountancy are there each month?

  4. Right First Time (RFT) • What is right first time? • How would it benefit efficiency? • How does information help you achieve this?

  5. Using information to get it RFT • ISA 200 paragraph 19 states • “19  The auditor shall have an understanding of the entire text of an ISA (UK and Ireland), including its application and other explanatory material, to understand its objectives and to apply its requirements properly. (Ref: Para. A58-A66)” • Imagine staff are having to audit accounting estimates: although there will be tasks or checklists within the audit programme, what is actually required is to ensure that ISA 540 is complied with?

  6. Using information to get it RFT • Staff or partners use CCH online or the paper version of auditing and reporting to look up the ISA • Paragraph 8 seems to have relevant steps, so the team follow these, discussing the implications and work required • CCH information online • The team can review to make sure they have covered this in their working papers (documentation as always is key in an audit) and look at other areas in the standard • As staff and partners become more familiar with the standards this process becomes even quicker, leading to both increased quality and efficiency • The latter is particularly important to regulators

  7. Knowledge of the business • Is it important to understand your clients’ business? • Do you specialise in just one type of business, or do you sometimes have clients in a business with which you are not familiar? • How do you ensure that you understand enough about a business type to either get a new client, or keep an existing one happy? • Reading trade journals? • Looking at other similar businesses? • Talking with colleagues? • Digests? Example of digest on agriculture • Business focus?

  8. Business Focus • Imagine a new client or potential new client comes to you • They own a cattery • Do you know how many cats there in the UK?

  9. Business Focus • Do you know how many boarding kennels/catteries there are? • Do you know what profit margin might be achievable in the industry and the major impacts on margins? • CCH online - business focus

  10. Business focus • The information in Business focus can be used for a number of areas where you need to know your client or potential client: • Planning stage of the audit • Business overview and laws and regulations • Substantive analytical review • More precise expectations (issue raised by AIU) • Tax investigations • Normal ratios expected for the industry and therefore areas to consider in defending any action by HMRC

  11. CPD, information and efficiency • Some training needs to be face-to-face • But some development works better if it is available on demand: • A new issue arises, such as how to do LLP accounts or audit • There is some downtime, such as a train journey when accountancy can be read • There is a question on UK GAAP by a member of staff who trained under IFRS, or by a partner who wants refreshing on this • CCH eCPD September 2011 • Accountancy magazine online or the app • CCH UK GAAP Guide • UK Accounting Standards

  12. Vision of the future

  13. Conclusion • You can use information whether access is online, on paper, in an app, in a podcast, in an e-book or some other format to help increase efficiency and quality • You can use information about business sectors in, for example Business focus and Accountancy, to improve your ability to get new clients and to work more efficiently and effectively with existing clients • Information and eCPD can both be a part of your CPD, essential from a practical and regulatory aspect • You may need to change the culture to a “right first time” one and encourage staff and partners to make the most of the resources available

  14. Questions?

  15. Thank you! Julia Penny FCA Content Manager (Audit and accounting) CCH, A Wolters Kluwer Business Julia.penny@wolterskluwer.co.uk

More Related