THE ACCOUNT
The latest in finance and business
Rise of the bots
In this issue, you can discover the results of the 2024 ICAS Practice Survey. The last time we conducted this survey, in 2022, AI didn’t make the list of the greatest challenges facing the profession – now it is ranked fourth.
For anyone trying to understand AI beyond the headlines – many of them misleading or just inaccurate – Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the race that will change the world is a new book telling the story behind the boom and giving readers a glimpse into what the future may hold.
For all the potential AI has to change the world for the better, from finding cures for disease to tackling climate change, big tech is, of course, desperate to monetise it.
As the promotional material for Supremacy warns, the danger is less some Terminator-style threat to human existence, more “that these untested automations will undermine our way of life more insidiously, sucking value out of our economy, replacing high-level creative jobs and enabling a new, terrifying era of disinformation”.
The author is Parmy Olson, who covers tech for Bloomberg and was previously a reporter on the Wall Street Journal.
Rise of the bots
In this issue, you can discover the results of the 2024 ICAS Practice Survey. The last time we conducted this survey, in 2022, AI didn’t make the list of the greatest challenges facing the profession – now it is ranked fourth.
For anyone trying to understand AI beyond the headlines – many of them misleading or just inaccurate – Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the race that will change the world is a new book telling the story behind the boom and giving readers a glimpse into what the future may hold.
For all the potential AI has to change the world for the better, from finding cures for disease to tackling climate change, big tech is, of course, desperate to monetise it.
As the promotional material for Supremacy warns, the danger is less some Terminator-style threat to human existence, more “that these untested automations will undermine our way of life more insidiously, sucking value out of our economy, replacing high-level creative jobs and enabling a new, terrifying era of disinformation”.
The author is Parmy Olson, who covers tech for Bloomberg and was previously a reporter on the Wall Street Journal.
CAs in the news
Simon Cowie CA
Simon Cowie CA is going for the treble at this year’s Accounting Excellence Awards. The MD at Infinity Partnership features on the shortlist for Practice Leader of the Year, an award he won in 2022 and 2023. Following last year’s success, Cowie wrote on LinkedIn, “This recognition highlights our team’s exceptional work and dedication.”
Janice Alexander CA
In 1998, Janice Alexander CA won the award for top ICAS trainee. She now heads the audit department at Robb Ferguson, and as ICAS Training Principal she will oversee the progress of five new CA trainees the firm has just taken on. “We are confident that they will make a significant contribution as they progress through their training to become fully qualified CAs,” said Alexander.
Clive Bellingham CA
ICAS Past President, Clive Bellingham CA, has recently been appointed as an advisory board member at Makosi, a South African-based accounting partner that provides audit, assurance and advisory services to firms around the world. Earlier this year, Bellingham also became an advisory member of the Fife College board.
Stress test
Advancetrack’s Accounting Talent Index has found that a whopping 90% of accountants worldwide say increased working hours, caused by a critical skills shortage, are “significantly” harming their mental health and work-life balance.
World Mental Health Awareness Day, which falls annually on 10 October, is a useful reminder of the host of free online tools available to help firms of all sizes. One of these is the ICAS wellbeing toolkit, launched in 2023, which was created in conjunction with Chartered Accountants Worldwide.
The toolkit provides a blueprint for understanding, educating and supporting managers in all types of organisations across the profession. It includes practical advice on how team managers can spot the signs of mental distress, engage in early interventions and understand the importance of referring staff to additional support resources.
Stress test
Advancetrack’s Accounting Talent Index has found that a whopping 90% of accountants worldwide say increased working hours, caused by a critical skills shortage, are “significantly” harming their mental health and work-life balance.
World Mental Health Awareness Day, which falls annually on 10 October, is a useful reminder of the host of free online tools available to help firms of all sizes. One of these is the ICAS wellbeing toolkit, launched in 2023, which was created in conjunction with Chartered Accountants Worldwide.
The toolkit provides a blueprint for understanding, educating and supporting managers in all types of organisations across the profession. It includes practical advice on how team managers can spot the signs of mental distress, engage in early interventions and understand the importance of referring staff to additional support resources.
Digital first
Almost half (46%) of business leaders trust online-only banks as much as their bricks-and-mortar legacy rivals, according to a recent survey carried out by financial comparison website, NerdWallet UK. There was a significant generation gap in the findings, with the over-45s being more likely to favour traditional banks than their younger counterparts.
The two most desirable features for business were a free business account (chosen by 43% of respondents) and free basic UK transactions (34%). Customer service, including the ability to contact an adviser easily, was cited by 31%. And only 20% said convenient branch access was an important consideration, just over half the number (37%) who said easy online access was key.
NerdWallet UK spokesperson Amy Knight said: “Challenger banks, such as Revolut, Monzo and Starling, have designed their user interface to create frictionless digital experiences that appeal to millennials and Gen Z. To compete with these newcomers, traditional banks need to up their game, ensuring banking apps are intuitive and engaging, as well as being inclusive and accessible to a wider demographic of business owners.”
Faking it
Many people working in business will at some point have come across somebody who simply wasn’t up to the job, but had somehow managed to bluff their way through the interview process with a combination of charm and a bit of CV creativity.
But it’s one thing to wonder how such a person got the job, quite another to think they didn’t – and are simply pretending they did. “The guy who started today is clearly not the guy we interviewed and no one else has noticed” was the headline on a recent Reddit post relating a wild story about a – successful – job applicant the poster is calling Josh. This Josh came across well, was likeable and informed and, understandably, got the gig. So imagine the interviewer’s surprise when an entirely different Josh turned up for his first day at work a few weeks later.
There is an obvious caveat to this tale: it may be complete nonsense, posted purely for online acclaim – and sure enough it currently has more than 19,000 upticks. However, the sheer volume of responses to the post from people sharing similar stories suggests that, even if the original is a work of fiction, impersonation in interviews is an issue.
Sometimes, for instance, providing a fake interviewee for a role is done for reasons of corporate espionage, to see what can be learned about the inside workings of a competitor.
Increasingly, the competitive nature of the job market in certain sectors means candidates are resorting to more outlandish ways to secure a particular role. The onset of lockdown, during which interviews had to be conducted on video-conferencing apps where candidates could conjure up any number of excuses to obscure their identity, made such dishonesty much easier. And AI may add another option to fool the interviewers.
Some people are simply much better than others in an interview setting, even if they may not ultimately be the best person for the job. So, now you can use a stand-in to do your talking and rely on AI technology to make them sound and look like you.
Of course, the assumption is that a charlatan will be found out when they prove unable to do the job. But the cost of having to find a replacement for that role, as well as potentially undoing any damage they’ve done, is one that many companies, especially SMEs, can ill afford.
Firms may now need to be vigilant and establish better processes to ensure the next appointment they make doesn’t end up going viral for all the wrong reasons.
RYAN HERMAN
Faking it
simply wasn’t up to the job, but had somehow managed to bluff their way through the interview process with a combination of charm and a bit of CV creativity.
But it’s one thing to wonder how such a person got the job, quite another to think they didn’t – and are simply pretending they did. “The guy who started today is clearly not the guy we interviewed and no one else has noticed” was the headline on a recent Reddit post relating a wild story about a – successful – job applicant the poster is calling Josh. This Josh came across well, was likeable and informed and, understandably, got the gig. So imagine the interviewer’s surprise when an entirely different Josh turned up for his first day at work a few weeks later.
There is an obvious caveat to this tale: it may be complete nonsense, posted purely for online acclaim – and sure enough it currently has more than 19,000 upticks. However, the sheer volume of responses to the post from people sharing similar stories suggests that, even if the original is a work of fiction, impersonation in interviews is an issue.
Sometimes, for instance, providing a fake interviewee for a role is done for reasons of corporate espionage to see what can be learned about the inside workings of a competitor.
Increasingly, the competitive nature of the job market in certain sectors means candidates are resorting to more outlandish ways to secure a particular role. The onset of lockdown, during which interviews had to be conducted on video-conferencing apps where candidates could conjure up any number of excuses to obscure their identity, made such dishonesty much easier. And AI may add another option to fool the interviewers.
Some people are simply much better than others in an interview setting, even if they may not ultimately be the best person for the job. So, now you can use a stand-in to do your talking and rely on AI technology to make them sound and look like you.
Of course, the assumption is that a charlatan will be found out when they prove unable to do the job. But the cost of having to find a replacement for that role, as well as potentially undoing any damage they’ve done, is one that many companies, especially SMEs, can ill afford.
Firms may now need to be vigilant and establish better processes to ensure the next appointment they make doesn’t end up going viral for all the wrong reasons.
RYAN HERMAN
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