Transcript Higher Apprenticeships in Professional Services

An Introduction to professional
services
Professional occupations
Here are some examples of professional occupations. Some may
be more familiar than others. For how many of them can you
explain what the job is?
Actuary
Engineer
Accountant
Lawyer
Management consultant
Architect
Tax advisor
Let’s go through some of the trickier ones...
1. Actuary
2. Accountant
3. Tax Advisor
4. Management Consultant
Remember,
the only stupid
question, is the one
you don’t ask!
Actuary
This is a professional who analyses the financial consequences
of risk.
So what is risk?
Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to
study uncertain future events. They make predictions on how
serious an impact an event could have and how likely it is.
Actuaries are needed for insurance companies, government,
large businesses, hospitals, banks or, more generally, in
businesses that need to manage financial risk.
Accountant
This is a professional who keeps track of the
financial activities of a business or organisation.
Think of your favourite football
club...
from?
What do they
spend money
on?
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•
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•
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Pitch maintenance
Food and drink outlets
Stadium
Players
Tickets
Merchandise
Kit
Brand
Think about all the amounts of money that goes out and comes into a
football club. That’s a lot of numbers to think about...
Tickets, food,
brand
Income
Players, pitch,
stadium
?
Costs
It's an accountants job to work out the balance of costs and sales:
Accountants help to ensure that firms are run
efficiently, public records kept accurately, and taxes
paid properly and on time.
They analyse financial information and advise
organisations on what they could be doing better.
What would
happen if a
large business
didn’t perform
the role of an
accountant?
What does that mean practically?
• Reviewing financial accounts and data
• Selecting samples of accounts for testing
• Identifying staff and conducting interviews with them about working practices
• Update the client on risks and errors, and advising on the action to take
• Preparing and submitting clear and concise audit reports
A common task for an accountant is performing an audit
All companies have to be audited by law. It is a process that
accountants follow to ensure the financial statements of a business
are accurate and / or profitable. The results of it effect whether or not
investors will want to buy shares in the company. The work of
accountants determines the success of every large company you
know...
Tax Advisor
What is Tax?
Everyone who earns money pays taxes in one form or
another, but even you pay taxes...
VAT is 20% in the UK, so if you buy an iPod for £120, how
much of that would go to the taxman?
But why do we pay these taxes?
How can a Tax Advisor help?
A tax advisor is a financial expert specially trained in tax law, the
system of rules which governs economic transactions. They use
their knowledge of legislation to advise companies and
individuals.
Tax planning
Keeping up to date with changes
in the law and advising clients
lawfully to minimise future tax
costs.
Tax compliance
Making sure a client meets
all tax regulations by
preparing and submitting tax
returns to the tax authorities.
Tax scenario – an athlete
When an athlete competes in the UK, they must pay tax.
They must pay 50% of their appearance fee.
They must also pay a proportion of their global earnings from things like sponsorship.
Say a runner has a £1 million sponsorship deal and runs 10 races in a year. If one of these was in the
UK, then 1/10th of their overall sponsorship could be taxed. The tax would be £50,000.
They government would also get tax from the race fee.
If the race fee was £100,000, the athlete would have to pay £50,000 tax on the fee, and would have to
pay £50,000 on the yearly sponsorship deal.
If you were her Tax Advisor, would you advise her to race in the UK?
It’s the role of a Tax Advisor to:
Make sure the tax compliance process runs smoothly
Research, analyse and interpret changing tax law
Research issues that will affect clients’ tax issues
Preparing and submitting tax returns
Planning ahead to help clients understand their financial futures
What is a Management Consultant?
This is a professional who helps businesses to improve
their performance
Quick exercise
Think of a fashion label which is very
unsuccessful....not enough people buy its clothes.
How could it be more successful?
What would you try to find out?
.....The list is potentially endless
• Improve the quality of their products
• Change their marketing strategy
• Reduce the cost of their sales (the cost of buying the products
from suppliers / reducing staff salaries
• Implement efficiency savings
A consultant may perform all of these tasks for a company.
But it doesn’t just include retail businesses. Government
departments, public services, charities and multinational
organisations all employ consultants to help them find
solutions to their problems
Some of the roles of a management consultant...
• Carrying out research and data collection and conducting
analysis
• Interviewing clients’ employees, management team and
other stakeholders
• Preparing business proposals/presentations
• Identifying issues
• Formulating and implementing
recommendations/solutions
• Ensuring the client receives the assistance needed to
implement the recommendations/solutions
Guess the profession...
1. A hospital wants to reduce waiting times and
needs someone to assess the problem and
think of solutions. Who should it look to?
2. A company wants to buy an island hotel on
the Maldives but wants to know the risks
involved concerning the rising sea levels.
What kind of insurance coverage would it
need? Which professional can help them?
3. A theme park needs to keep track of income
and expenditure in order to submit its
financial report. Which professional does it
need to employ?
4. An American retail company is looking to
expand into the UK, but is unsure how the
VAT increase will affect them. Who should
they go to?
Accountant
Actuary
Management
Consultant
Tax advisor