Moorgate Place

This week’s report from senior Labour MP Alan Milburn on Fair Access to the Professions challenges the accountancy profession on how we source the brightest available accounting talent in the future. Accountancy and other established professions have been, says Milburn, increasingly the preserve of the more privileged.

Thirty years ago, the report tells us, fewer than 2 per cent of accountants were from well-off families, and today that propor...

Looking at the latest recommendations by Sir David Walker on corporate governance of UK Banks, I believe the Bank of England and the FSA have the best opportunity yet to take a leadership role in convening annual briefing meetings of non-executive directors of banking institutions to discuss issues and regulatory risk outlooks. Both authorities produce valuable information.

In addition, there is a case for large banks having enhanced systems of...

Just having passed the halfway point of 2009, I’ve been reflecting on the whole subject of continuing professional development (CPD) and where I’ve got to in terms of my own plan.

CPD is a critical component of maintaining the quality of our qualification. The ACA doesn’t just stand for something that you work hard for at the start of your career and then put on a shelf to admire. It’s a mark of a financial professional who ensures he or she ke...

You would have thought that European Union Finance Ministers had had enough for now of financial reporting issues following Sir David Tweedie’s presentation to the June ECOFIN meeting. But no, it was on the agenda again at yesterday’s ECOFIN, though this time in a different context.

On Tuesday, ministers debated the subject of pro-cyclicality, concluding that the absence of counter-cyclical buffers and the lack of flexibility of accounting rule...