Welcome to the accounting and finance update.
Here’s a couple of questions: “Is making tax digital a solution to an old way of working? … [and] … As more advanced tax technologies become commonly used, employing AI and real-time data feedback, will the problem MTD is trying to solve become obsolete?”
The answer is probably ‘yes and no’ useful look at this whole area on Accountancy Age. Here’s a brief rundown of where we’re at.
Anti-fraud measure
HMRC introduced MTD to reduce errors made in tax returns. Other countries, such as Mexico, Spain and Italy, digitised their tax systems as an anti-fraud measure.
The ICAEW has said the implementation of MTD for VAT (MTD for income tax etc comes later) has been a (qualified) success.
“For the past several months, a standard part of the agenda has been to get a sense of progress from the different stakeholder groups.
“In the October… over one million businesses had submitted a VAT return under MTD using compliant software, with over 30,000 agents having created a new Agent Service Account to help service their clients.
Clean bill of health
“Moreover, for the first time in all our meetings, all the participants largely gave the implementation a clean bill of health.”
So, if nothing else, MTD is acting as an accounting technology catalyst. And it seems loical that the old way of working will over time become the new way of working.
According to Shaun Shirazian, of QuickBooks, “Accountants can play an indispensable role in highlighting the myriad opportunities digital has to offer, but the learnings from MTD are clear: businesses need to see the benefits to believe in them.
“Our MTD sentiment tracking research has shown this – with the number of businesses more likely to say MTD has a positive impact on their business, increasing by 32 per cent, once adoption and use was more prevalent.”
Who’d be an auditor…?
As the world of audit continues to ‘attract’ a seemingly never-ending stream of stories about huge fines, big four break up predictions, and watchdog warnings, KPMG appears to be making an effort to break the mould.
The big four outfit has launched an “audit only” apprenticeship, and is looking to recruit about 140 school-leavers on to the scheme.
KPMG audit head Jon Holt says: “Starting out in audit is a great career choice as it provides a broad education into how a business works.
Development programmes
“Our apprentices will be learning every day through working with experienced auditors and our structured in-house learning and development programmes.
“No two days will be the same as they help us run the rule over a large variety of different organisations across global markets, from the biggest multinationals through to innovative start-ups.
“Advances in new technology such as AI, blockchain and predictive analytics are fundamentally changing how we work and the sort of skills we’re looking for.”
