Incorporating NQ magazine
April 2024
www.pqmagazine.com/www.pqjobs.co.uk
MAKING WOMEN COUNT
Making women count in the accountancy profession is not going to be an easy fix, according to Professor Nelarine Cornelius. Opening the ‘Women in Accountancy’ event at Queen Mary University of London to celebrate International Women’s Day, she stressed it is
difficult to make progress when there are people determined to get in your way. She is concerned some firms in the City of London are still able to bully and harass women with impunity, hiding behind non-disclosure agreements. This is not what nondisclosure agreements were
designed for and that has to change, too. That is not to say there aren’t good things happening in the City, pointed out Professor Cornelius. But there are still too many organisations that don’t see the problem. She felt there are now many women and men who know it is in everyone’s interest to see women in the top jobs too, and while some may resist women are on their way. Speakers joining Professor Nelarine Cornelius (Associate Dean, People Culture & Inclusion at QMUL) were Arlyne Chinyanganya (CIMA qualified), founder of Roots to Fruits; Lorriane Twist (National director, Hays Accountancy & Finance); and Ashwini Poopalasingham (ACA PQ, QMUL Alumni at PKF Littlejohn).
NEW INQUIRY NOW
We need a formal inquiry into the role of accounting and auditing in the Post Office scandal, says Lord Sikka (pictured). He has already called for an inquiry in the House of Lords, and he said he will now be pushing further on this. In his keynote speech at PQ’s recent online conference – ‘The Accountant’s Odyssey: How do we shape the future?’ – he said the corporate governance of the Post Office has been brought into question, and that the board members, the non-executive directors, and both the internal and external auditors all need to be brought before an inquiry. Lord Sikka explained the introduction in 1999 of new computer system, called Horizon, shows the huge scale to this kind of project. In all, 40,000 new computers needed to be connected to the system, and 67,000 people trained in how to use it to handle billions of transactions. However, as we all know now, the Horizon system was prone to errors and crashes, and between 1999 and
2019 Jujitsu, who supply the system, changed the software code 19,842 times. You can see the huge scale of problem, stressed Lord Sikka So, where were all the accountants he asked, when screens froze, or sub-postmasters encountered the ‘reversal bug’? And remember, he said, at the same time Jujitsu itself was able to change any transactions being submitted. He explained that between 2000 and 2023 the Post Office had more
than 80 directors, and he feels all must have known that the system was flawed. Why did they keep quiet, he asked: was it so they maintained their bonuses? Then there were the nonexecutive directors, the chairs of the audit, risk, compliance and remuneration committees. Lord Sikka stressed the key role of the NED is to challenge management, including the CEO, on financial and operational matters. He felt so far
there is little evidence to show any of these NEDs asked any questions. The Post Office also has an internal audit department, reporting to the audit committee. Lord Sikka wondered: “What did the internal audit do? Did it never notice the money in the suspense account and any of the press clippings, did it never notice that the Horizon system was fundamentally flawed. Or maybe someone reported it all, but then someone else sat on it. Again, lots of questions to be asked.” Then there are the external auditors, EY. Lord Sikka claims they knew there were problems, pointing to management letters to the Post Office Board (2011), and internal reports from the head of product (2010), and forensic accountant’s Second Sight’s sidelined report (2013-2015). Lord Sikka stressed accountants can’t shape the future if they can’t learn from the past. He said there were huge consequences for thousands of individuals for the accounting failures, yet no accountants have been brought to account. That has to change. You can check out all of what Lord Sikka has to say on the Post Office scandal at: https://youtu.be/ ibnC3Ts8k64. His talk starts at 3.56.
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