Friday, August 26, 2016

Dominic Frisby, 'Let’s Talk about Tax'

I am indebted to Philip Fisher for sharing a review of this 2016 Edinburgh show in Taxation magazine.  Philip's observations include the following about Dominic's show:
  • While tax specialists will know much of what is on offer, they should learn some new facts, whether about the history of tax, the size of our code, now over 10 million words - being 12½ times as many as the bible – or ephemera such as the average telephone wait for HMRC, 47 minutes.
  • He also makes many intelligent observations, for example that if tax gets too high, people merely avoid it using those time-honoured ‘Fs’: fight, flight and fraud. He observes also that HMRC is technically not answerable to parliament but to the Queen (who is technically exempt from funding herself but pays tax on a voluntary basis)
Other reviewers include additional points of note:
  • When he steps onto the stage you can instantly see Frisby’s dressed for money. Suited, booted and topped by a bowler hat, the comedian looks like the quintessential City man. It doesn’t take long to realise the comedian has a compelling interest in cash, and in particular how the government goes about taking ours.
  • His knowledge of tax history is encyclopaedic – the UK window tax of the 17th century and its adverse effect on the population’s health and the Roman’s desire to tax urine (which was apparently a valuable agent in clothes laundering and the prevention of tooth decay) just two amusing examples.
Warning: The video interview with Dominic below talking about the show includes sexual references!



Friday, July 08, 2016

Funny message on gift card for retiring accountant

Message seen on the front of a greeting card given to a tax partner on his retirement from a sizeable firm of accountants:
All I ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work.

Friday, July 01, 2016

The accountant song (Money all day)

This song seems to have been inspired by working for one of the big 4 accountancy firms



Friday, June 24, 2016

New style acronyms for accountants


YAPAs - Young Ambitious Professional Accountants

EWES - Experts With Expensive Style

TAPAS - Top Accountants Planning Awesome Setoffs

MAGIC - Masterful Accountants Generating Instant Credits

TRICKs - Tax Returns that Interest Cute Kittens

CARDS - Clever Accountants Reading Dull Standards

PAULA - People Against the Use of Lousy Acronyms

Friday, June 03, 2016

Stand Up comedian reveals why he gave up accountancy

Indian comedian Kunal Rao starts his set by explaining why he gave up chartered accountancy.


He moves onto other topics after 2 minutes.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Outrageous late payment excuses

This only has a tangential connection with accountancy but still feels worth sharing here. Drawn from a survey conducted by FreeAgent and summarised on AccountingWeb:

  • Can I just buy you a pint and call it quits?
  • Our chief executive is still on his sailing holiday
  • I have been in hospital for 2 weeks to have my tonsils taken out (they hadn’t)
  • My cat is sick
  • My dog ate your invoice
  • Your invoice was unethical
  • I have no money left, but you’ll get what you’re owed if you work on my new project. And move with me to Qatar.
  • You didn’t chase me enough for payment
  • (to a professional photographer) The photograph you took is of me, so I don’t need to pay you
  • I referred you to a friend, so I thought that would mean you wouldn't charge me
Any more?

6 things I hate accountants doing on Linkedin

 Overly personal posts better suited to facebook  Being negative and critical   Starting something they fail to complete   Sharing simple li...