12pm to 1pm GMT - John Borland and Billie Mcloughlin

Objectives

Understand how to overcome the challenges of retaining and recruiting quality people in our modern world. Dispelling some of the out-dated myths about what makes firms attractive and creates company loyalty, whilst discovering what truly is most influential for your current and future staff.

Key topics

During this session, we will be taking a deep dive into the 4 C’s vital to know for attracting and retaining talent whilst ensuring focus on key considerations such as:

• The basic human psychology behind retention and recruitment and how to use it to your advantage
• The importance that connection plays in recruitment
• How well your current processes are working and what needs to change
• Dealing with the staff you don’t want to retain.

Who should attend

Partners and managers in practice who are involved in the recruitment process and dealing with the retention and development of current team members.

Recording Slides

12pm to 1pm GMT - Ian Fletcher

Objectives

The world is shrinking and becoming smarter as a result of new technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI). 2023 saw continuing geo-political problems and economic uncertainty. So, what should accountancy firms do to take advantage of this disruption? In this webinar we will outline strategies for success and illustrate them with examples of firms who are leading the way.

Key topics

• Industry overview;
• Setting a strategy for success;
• Winning formulas to embrace technology;
• Educating clients on your range of services;
• Winning new and exciting clients; and
• Being different!

Who should attend

Partners and managers who are looking to stay ahead of the competition by increasing revenue and improving efficiency.

Recording Slides

12pm to 1pm GMT - Billie Mcloughlin

Objectives

Discover ways to amplify productivity in your accounting practice. This session is designed to shed light on distractions you may not be aware of and offer robust strategies to counteract them for you and your team, as a result, enhancing efficiency.

Key Topics

• Understanding the true impact of distractions on productivity.
• Discover some of the most popular productivity techniques.
• Explore the benefits of a distraction-free work environment.
• Practical strategies to eliminate common distractions in an accounting setup.
• Implementing technology to aid focus and reduce interruptions.

Who should attend

Those who often find their workday disrupted by numerous distractions and want to reclaim their focus to achieve their productivity potential, from trainee up to partner level.

Recording Slides Notes

12pm to 1pm GMT - Gordon Gilchrist

Objectives

Selling your Accounting firm can be a complex process, but it can also be a very rewarding one. If you're thinking about selling or want to know more about selling your firm, this webinar will take you through the steps involved, how to maximise the value, and identify the pitfalls to avoid.

Key Topics

• Doing your research. Before you put your business on the market, it's important to do your research and understand the current market value of accounting firms of your size and location
• Where to find professional help and support - Selling up could be one the biggest financial deals you will ever do so it’s a big decision, and it's important to get professional help from a business broker or investment banker. These professionals can help you assess the value of your business, market your business to potential buyers, and negotiate the sale
• Preparing your firm for sale. Before you start marketing your firm, it's important to prepare your business for sale. This includes cleaning up your financial records, updating your marketing materials, and making sure your firm is in good working order
• Market your firm – How to put the word out to the right buyers
• Negotiate the sale. Once you've found a potential buyer, you'll need to negotiate the terms of the sale. This includes the purchase price, payment terms, and any contingencies
• Completing the sale. Once you've agreed on the terms of the sale, many deals don’t complete for various reasons – it’s best we understand what these reasons are and how to avoid them.

Selling your business can be a long and complex process, but it can also be a very rewarding one. By following these steps, you can increase your chances of selling your business for a fair price and on your terms.

Who should attend

Partners in practice who are interested in succession planning, including the option of selling up.

Recording Slides

12pm to 1pm BST - Sophie Parkhouse

Objectives

Our panel of presenters will discuss their own experiences and help us to understand the practice-wide benefits of adopting working practices that are sustainable for the planet. They will also share their practical advice on how to take the first steps in realising those benefits and how to keep the momentum going.

Key Topics

With a core focus on practicality, this session will cover:

• The why. Together we will explore why this is an initiative that your practice should be working on now. This includes benefits in relation to your team, your practice, your profits and, naturally, the planet.
• Examples. A look at what firms leading in this area are doing.
• A case study – How Albert Goodman LLP achieved BCorp status, what this means for them and how they did it.
• Practical pointers on harnessing the same benefits for your firm, including how to get started, obtaining buy-in and help from your team.
• Guidance on how you can help your clients do the same, while building your client advisory revenue streams.

Who should attend

Accountancy firm leaders and those interested in re-positioning the firm as one that clients and team members alike want to work with and for.

Recording Slides

12pm to 1pm BST - Gordon Gilchrist

Objectives

Pricing with confidence is the ability to set prices that are fair to both our clients and our practice. It is a skill that takes time and experience to develop, but it is essential for any business that wants to be successful. This course will show fee earners how to do it well.

Key topics

• Understand our costs. The first step to pricing with confidence is to understand our fee earner costs, our charge out rates, the way we allocate costs to our clients, our recovery rates & therefore our target gross margin.
• Understand our value. We need to understand the value of our various services. Some services are far more valuable to our clients than others are we should differentiate these internally as well as externally. Once we know our value, and when we are worth more, we can start to agree fee quotes that are in line with our clients' expectations.
• Consider the competition and knowing when that is relevant – when are we indispensable and when are we most at risk? We don't want to price ourselves too high, but we also don't want to price ourselves too low.
• Being flexible between cost sensitive services and benefit driven services. For price sensitive services, the price of our services will need to change over time, especially when we are suffering from a period of high inflation. For benefit driven services, the margins may be very high and the value to the client is the driver of change and the need for us to be flexible is driven “in the moment”.

Who should attend

Partners in practice who are interested in taking a fair fee for a fair reward.

Recording Slides

12pm to 1pm BST - David Norris

Objectives

While firms may use the term “manager” differently, most firms will have a level of staff that are involved in reviewing the work or others, dealing with clients, managing assignments and generally ensuring that the technical work progresses as smoothly and profitably as possible.

Balancing these different (and sometimes conflicting) pressures can be a real challenge, and so the course aims to highlight the key areas a manager needs to deal with and offer practical ideas to deal with them.

Key topics

• Setting expectations
• Knowing your own limits
• Drafting and controlling the budget
• Communicating the approach
• Managing the people and processes
• Deciding which areas should be reviewed
• Dealing with problems
• Sharing skills with the team

Who should attend

The course will benefit anyone currently reviewing the work of others as well as those seeking to progress to this role in the near future.

Recording Slides Notes

12pm to 1pm BST - Gordon Gilchrist

Objectives

Organic growth can never replace growth through acquisition! The largest firms in the world, the mid-tier firms and the strong regional firms provide all the evidence we need that growth through acquisition trumps organic growth – that said, most firms support their growth through acquisition with additional organic growth.

This course will show how firms successfully go about acquiring firms.

We will especially focus on how Private Equity Houses have brought a new dimension to the profession.

Key topics

• Identifying firms that are perfect for acquisition
• Size of firm
• Location
• Client average fee
• Compliance V’s added value services
• Potential Profitablilty
• Succession plans
• Cultural fit
• How to approach target firms
• Agreeing the right price
• Payment terms
• PUT options
• Clawback
• Demerger provisions

Who should attend

Partners in practice who are interested in taking a fair fee for a fair reward.

Recording Slides

10am to 12pm BST - John Selwood

Objectives

This session will help attendees with the practical implementation of ISA 315 risk assessment. It will cover audits of all sizes.

Key topics

This session will cover the significant changes, in audit risk assessment, arising from the implementation of ISA (UK) 315 (Revised July 2020) Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement

Revised ISA 315 is effective for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2021. In most cases this means that the changes will apply to December 2022, year ends,

This is a practical course that will look at all aspects of audit risks assessment and its role in driving audit quality and audit efficiency.

This course will cover:

ISA 315 (Revised)

• Overview of the revised ISA
• The more granular risk assessment
• Spectrum of risk
• Identifying significant risks
• Internal controls – general IT controls
• Testing of internal controls
• The impact on sampling
• The stand back
• Addressing the audit documentation challenge
• Other detailed revised requirements

Who should attend

This session is for all senior auditors, including audit seniors, managers and partners.

Recording Slides Notes

12pm to 1pm BST - Clare Jones

Objectives

To cover all recent developments in IFRS and any topical issues within the current economic environment. This session will include any commentary from the interpretations committee (IFRIC) and an overview of the IASB current project plan and timetable for future developments.

Key topics

• The latest amendments to existing IFRSs
• New IFRIC interpretations
• An update on the current IFRS work programme
• An overview of IFRS S1 and S2

Who should attend

All levels of staff involved in preparing and/or auditing financial statements prepared under IFRS.

Recording Slides Notes

10am to 12pm BST - Julia Penny

Objectives

Audit quality is a must and with the new quality management standards in place we have a risk-based framework to guide us. But quality is also about a mindset, or culture. How do we ensure that everyone is doing the right thing?

Key topics

• ISA 220 Quality Management for an audit of financial statements
• Key aspects of ISQM
• How to obtain efficiency and quality in:
• Creating a culture of right-first-time
• Creating an action plan to implement learnings
• Pre-audit preparation
• Planning an audit
• Fieldwork
• Review
• Completion

Who should attend

Audit Partners and managers, or those responsible for managing or reviewing elements of an audit file.

Recording Slides Notes

12pm to 1pm BST - Clare Jones

Objectives

This session will focus on the recognition of goodwill in a cash generating unit and the practical impairment considerations for entities applying IFRS requirements. With economic uncertainty and the impact of climate change, impairments continue to be a relevant and often challenging area for entities.

Key topics

• Recognising goodwill in a cash generating unit (CGU)
• Applying the impairment principles of IAS 36 Impairment of Assets to a CGU
• Considerations of the key assumptions used in measuring the recoverable amount
• Overview of the key disclosures
• Key differences with UK GAAP

Who should attend

All levels of staff involved in preparing and/or auditing financial statements.

Recording Slides Notes

10am to 12pm BST - Clare Jones

Objectives

To apply the requirements in ISA 570 Going Concern to the current economic environment and awareness of the challenges faced by auditors. With collapses of entities in recent years and uncertain market conditions, the auditor’s assessment of going concern and the challenge of management assumptions must be supported by reliable audit evidence. It still remains a topical and interesting area for auditors.

Key topics

• The practical approach to applying the key requirements in ISA 570
• Indicators of potential going concern issues in the current environment and the impact on management’s future forecasts
• Obtaining sufficient and appropriate evidence and challenging management key assumptions in their going concern assessment
• Drawing conclusions on the going concern assumption and any material uncertainties
• Disclosure requirements in the financial statements and the audit report

Who should attend

All levels of staff in practice involved in auditing financial statements.

Recording Slides Notes

12pm to 1pm BST - David Potts

Objectives 

The objective of this session is to provide auditors with a summary of any regulatory changes in the last few months and also to consider some of the more challenging ongoing issues when providing a statutory audit for both PIE and Non-PIE clients. The course will also look at regulatory comment from organisations such as the QAD and FRC. 

Key Topics

• Summary of all recently issued or changed ISAs
• Update on compliance issues especially relating to ISA 315 and ISA 570 – going concern
• Comment and areas for improvement identified by QAD and FRC
• Update on changes to audit regulation in Companies Act and similar

Who Should Attend

Auditors at all levels involved in the preparation of financial statements.

Recording Slides

10am to 12pm BST - Julia Penny

Objectives

ISQM 1 (the IAASB’s international quality management standard) requires that Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is performed whenever a deficiency is identified in the monitoring activities (eg cold file reviews). But do you really understand how to undertake a root cause analysis and drive quality improvements in your audits?

Key topics

• What root cause analysis (RCA) is
• When RCA is required
  • What is a finding and what is a deficiency.
• How to undertake RCA
  • Asking “Why, why, why?”
  • Considering category of problems identified
  • Identifying solutions to the root causes
  • Recording and tracking implementation of solutions
  • Examples to illustrate the process.

Who should attend

Audit partners and managers, in particular:

• Those with responsibilities for monitoring quality within the System of Quality Management for audit and those who are expecting to undertake or supervise root cause analysis.
• The person with ultimate responsibility for the system of Quality Management for audit, which is the most senior person in the practice.
• Those carrying out cold file reviews who wish also to be able to conduct root cause analysis.
• Partners in other areas of the business with a responsibility for quality will also find the course useful.

Slides Slides Notes

12pm to 1pm BST - Clare Jones

Objectives

To summarise the most common disclosure problems encountered by preparers in producing a fully compliant set of IFRS financial statements. Being aware of the impact of the changing current economic environment on financial statement disclosures.

Key topics

• Common disclosure weaknesses identified and discussed by accounting regulators
• Key disclosure issues identified by audit file reviewers
• Awareness of disclosures impacted by the current economic environment

Who should attend

All accountants and auditors of all levels who are involved in the preparation and/or audit of IFRS financial statements.

Recording NOTES SLIDES

10am to 12pm BST - Franki Hackett

Objectives

Participants should come away with up-to-date knowledge of the latest technology in data, analytics, and AI that accountants and auditors can use to improve efficiency and add value to their firms or clients.

Key topics

• what new forms of AI like CoPilot, GPT and LLM mean and how they are relevant to automation and audit
• practical examples of the latest applications and how they enhance the service to clients and improve efficiency
  
• benefits both for the accountant and the client when a data-driven approach is taken.
• guidance on implementing a data-driven approach to accounting and audit

Who should attend?

Managing partner, partners, practice manager, auditors, client managers and those with an interest in practical uses of analytics in a firm.

RECORDING SLIDES

10am to 12pm BST - David Potts

Objectives

The objective of this session is to provide auditors and preparers of financial statements a summary of how ESG and sustainability should be reflected in their annual report. The session will look at the requirements from law including Directors and Strategic Reports, the ISSB and also guidance issued by the Task Force on Climate- Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The session seeks to clearly summarise and explain the expected approach to this issue to be taken by the management.

Key topics

• Summary of requirements of IFRS S1 and S2 – sustainability and climate related disclosures
• Summary of current legal requirements for sustainability statements including listed and private company reports and transparency disclosure requirements
• Wider impact of ESG on financial statements and other narrative reporting such as management judgements, estimates and materiality

Who should attend

Auditors and accountants at all levels involved in the preparation of financial statements.

Recording Slides

12pm to 1pm GMT - Paul Newton

Objectives

• Cyber security can be scary, lets take away some of the fear
• Your people can be massively proactive in helping you stay secure
• We should take security seriously but need to make sure it doesn’t stop us from doing our jobs.

Key topics

• Cyber Security
• Physical breaches leading to cyber breaches
• Can a Mind Reader steal your information?

Who should attend

• Owners of companies
• Managers of people
• People with access to important client data
• Those in charge of people and security issues.

Recording